The Merino's Eye - How To Turn Knowledge Into Energy1. © Copyright 1997-2013 Paul Merino - This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License - 1/18
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the merino's eye
How to turn Knowledge
into Energy
by Paul Merino, The Time Hunter
@SEUILS
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Original Title
The Theory Of Doorways (TOD)
Foreword
"Sui generis."
At the time this paper was written, I had no management education whatsoever.
I was just emerging from years of struggle, only mitigated by an early career
largely fueled by my everlasting self-learning thirst.
I had no intention to actually write anything.
But, my colleagues kept asking me: "How do you manage to keep knowledge flowing among us?"
"In spite of the many interruptions, fragmentations and silos which hinder our daily efforts?"
In other words:
"How could you look so ignorant, whilst being extremely effective at helping us?"
"And this, every time we found ourselves trapped into unexpected situations?"
The Merino's Eye
Meet the Merino's Eye, the model which holds entirely the Theory Of Doorways and
allows for its practical daily use:
fig. 1.1 – The Merino's Eye – Generic Analytical Tool
It is often observed that the most successful knowledge transfers are achieved by
never insisting about the nature of a given thing, but rather by introducing the key
thoughts which eventually led to the mental picture that we want to pass on.
It is from this mindset that I am inviting you to discover the Merino's Eye, based on
the 15 years of business observation and experiment which inspired it.
It will be up to you to form your own opinion, and to make it breathe for you,
depending on the various standpoints which will be yours in the future.
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The Fragmentation of the Possibles
The structural fragmentation
What it strikes when we watch people discussing in a company, is how much space
the structure occupies during the evaluation of the possible answers to a given
situation:
"We do not control this part, it belongs to the operations department to
specify how we must interface with their process."
"We cannot deliver this order in lieu of them. Only our local branch
possess the necessary codes to release stock in this region."
"If we unplug this machine, we put our worldwide network at risk of
breakdown. We cannot replace it just like that."
"Our sales management software does not allow us to operate this new type
of fee schedule."
The operational fragmentation
What equally strikes when we watch ourselves working, is the importance that the
lack of a totally trivial piece of information can take:
"I am waiting to find out how he set that up; I prefer to wait until she
gets back [from vacation, sickness, trip], otherwise it will take me hours
to figure it out on my own."
"Yes, the data are backed up every night, and he did show me how to restore
them. Now the stupid thing, I did not think to ask him how to read a tape
that is not from the night before. We are going to have to find a
specialist - and that won't be cheap yet again."
"What is the part number of your original part? The catalog shows two
models, one is 3 times as expensive as the other - and I very much doubt
that the cheaper one is compatible with your machine. The number is usually
printed on it. Isn't there anyone who can tell you? We need to know before
4 o'clock today or it won't get delivered before 1 month."
"Blast. I've wasted at least three hours today trying to get the power back
in the room. I didn't know that it was hitched up to a neutral line. We
spent the whole afternoon testing the relays in the dropped ceiling. It
looks like we'll be burning the midnight oil for nothing yet again."
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The time and the cohesion
These two types of daily occurrence stem from two major causes of corporate
vulnerability:
• the organizational form (structural vulnerability)
• the operating mode (operational vulnerability)
Both of these weaknesses combine to come together fragmenting the possibles of the
company - that is, to threaten its life expectancy by exhausting its vital resources:
• the Time
• the Cohesion
Therefore, I now invite you to reconsider the main types of corporate structures -
notwithstanding their legal, economic or organizational structure - from this
synthetical angle of "the possibles".
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The Organic Companies
The virtual company
In the virtual company, every person is considered as being part of the company as
soon as she subscribes to the company's objectives.
In this context, the legal binding of this person to the company is of secondary
importance.
The virtual company is typically embodied by a core team of co-founders, whose
mission is to centralize the cohesion of all contributions.
Therefore we would no longer speak of a co-worker (seen as an employee, non-
manager), but rather of a contributor (equally able to influence or lead actions that
are vital to the company).
Concurrently, the contributor is almost always involved in a structured activity,
which allows him to bring to the virtual company:
• some peace of mind (being already hired at another position somewhere else)
• a timely availability (at the margins of his primary calendar)
• a strong dedication (based on a free and reasoned choice)
For all these reasons the contributor will systematically seek excellence when it
comes to:
• speed of action (act well within the limited time set for a meeting)
• speed of understanding (understand well within the limited time spent with
members)
Communities of interest have always formed themselves on this basis, as do the
"foetups" - those placental startups that favor development over growth.
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The intermittent company
In the intermittent company, right from the start the activity is seen as the seasonal
repetition of a well-mastered cycle (for example, symposiums and professional
exhibitions).
The duration of the so-called "edition cycle" is known ahead of time and thus can be
planned in detail (for example, over a one or two-year span).
Unlike other types, the intermittent company has only one chance to get it right (even
a startup can hope to be granted the opportunity to agonize before actually dying).
Because of the financial stakes, only a few professional event organizers have
survived the failure of even one single edition.
This is why it is critical for the intermittent company to industralize its processes and
that, as soon as they are in place.
From one edition to the next, all efforts will then be focused toward the optimization
of this cycle.
Mechanically speaking:
• to optimize yield (marketing of the exhibition booths, tickets and business contact
list of the previous edition)
• to increase reliability (looking at implementing the most proven methods,
techniques and processes)
Practically speaking:
• to accelerate cohesion (the many contributing partners have at best 48 hours of
setup time available to learn how to work together...)
• to foster duplication (whatever can be reused will systematically be made generic
and perennial, the remaining will be classified as "volatile" and disposable at any
given time without impacting in any way the company's survival or operations)
On the field, the intermittent company embraces its partners and interact with them
in a "no-frills" fashion, regardless of their degree of legal integration (space lessor,
service provider, contractor, supplier, public utilities...).
From this standpoint, the intermittent company truly is a special type of virtual
company.
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The Mineral Companies
The structural company
In the structural company all activities are carried out in relation to the structure of
the company - as reflected in its organization chart.
Every change in the organization:
• hierarchical, matrixed, project-driven...
• arrival and departure of staff
Every evolution in the activities:
• trade, market, volume...
• development, production and end-of-life of products and services
Impact the heart of the company in both ventricles:
• the management system
• the information system
Because these modifications are essentially of a gradual nature, the changes that are
going to be brought to the heart of the structural company will inevitably be
incremental.
Yet in a well-established structure, every change leads to a crack - even a small one.
Little by little, this multiplicity of modifications is then going to:
• fragment its knowledge
• limit its scope of action
Strategically speaking:
• we lose the visibility of the overall plan
• the initial blueprint gets buried beneath layers of evolutionary strata
Operationally speaking:
• we get bogged down by the current state of affairs, since we cannot align
everything at once
• as it may break the entire structure
• and anyway, not all changes have necessarily been documented, or their initiators
have left
• in any case the background gets lost
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By nature, the structural company is vulnerable in the long run, because it is doomed
to lose its intellectual capital, that is to say:
• to see the depth of its internal knowledge diminish, and so its self-mastery
• to see its freedom of action lessen, hence its mobility
Dependent of a business logic buried beneath a drift of historical choices, the
structural company is destined to reincarnate itself through a takeover, a buyout or a
merger:
• by valuing its marketing seniority
• while forgetting most of its know-how in the transition, though
The extended or networked company
In the extended company, any external organization is viewed as an integral part of
the company's ecosystem as soon as it enters into a business relationship.
The extended company will therefore seek to integrate its natural economic partners
(customer, supplier, public administration, trade association).
For this reason it will seek to standardize the structures of the various partners in
order to register gain in terms of:
• speed of revenue streams (orders, payments, logistics, management)
• speed of channels (sales, positioning, delivery, advertising)
In this respect, the role of the extended company is simply to bind together otherwise
dedicated, structural companies to form a new, shared structure which reflects the
current state of the market.
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The startup
The startup is a hybrid between the structural company and the extended company-
and not, as one might think, a hybrid between the virtual and the intermittent
company.
Contrary to the virtual company, the startup will seek to bind itself into a structure as
soon as possible:
• into one of its own
• into that of a "structural company" partner
• into that of a buyer
Contrary to the intermittent company, the startup will delay As Next As Possible
(ANAP) the streamlining of its processes:
• recruitement
• design and development
• manufacturing
• sales and customer support
However the startup will immediately seek growth, respectability and other external
indicators of wealth:
• partnerships with large accounts
• brand policy
• financial valuation
Contrary to the structural company, the startup is desperately short of time but in
return, the concentration of its premises assures it - willy-nilly - a semblance of
cohesion.
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The Nano-Management
The nano-pollution
However, we will find the same symptoms of operational fragmentation everywhere.
Remember, that "trivial" information - at least apparently...
And this, regardless of the ambient company pattern – organic, or mineral.
Thus, there is obviously a factor, common to all forms of activity, whose quality
escapes all control and this, in spite of the enforced procedures and tools - no matter
how sophisticated they are.
This common denominator, it is the Human being.
And more precisely, it is the way we are going to steer - at the individual level - a
whole range of discrete choices, on a daily basis and for the company.
Considered in isolation, each of these choices is of so small a weight that it defies any
consolidation, the organizational studies as well as the management audits.
Most of the time, we are not even consciously aware of them, because from a project
level standpoint for instance, they are located well below the level of tasks - almost at
the level of the gestures of execution.
Yet, the entire operational fragmentation is directly related to the way each one will
come to operate these discrete choices of the company.
In fact, these discrete choices may penalize or on the contrary substantially improve
the ergonomics of each and every knowledge and of each and every action of the
company.
The nano-ecology
Just as we must know in order to act, we must act in order to know.
Between knowledge and action in truth there is no border.
So, as soon as you know, you have the key to action and vice versa.
It is this admission ticket - this "license to achieve" - that we call here a "doorway".
It is here and at this level that the Theory Of Doorways intervenes and offers to come
to guide these discrete choices, by providing a simple enough model – the Merino’s
Eye – so that everyone can assimilate it at a reflex level and practice it instinctively.
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The Merino’s Eye
The atom of the possibles
From a generic point of view, we can say that any company has internal goals and
external goals:
fig. 1.2 – The Merino’s Eye – Internal vs. External
The internal goals
The internal goals consist of acquiring means and taking care of them:
fig. 1.3 – The Merino’s Eye – Earn and Care
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The external goals
The external goals consist of showing its realizations and delivering them:
fig. 1.4 – The Merino’s Eye – Show and Give
The midfield magma
And in order to reach these shores, in either direction we must cross this midfield
"magma", which consists of knowing and acting:
fig. 1.5 – The Merino’s Eye – Know and Act
All these steps are marking up down to the execution of our most mundane tasks,
throughout what might be called our "trivial path".
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The unified performance
Indeed, these steps are found in each and every task we do, without even anymore
thinking about it:
fig. 1.6 – The Merino’s Eye – The Atom of the Possibles
If we accept that Knowing and Acting are only passageways, which must lead us to
the doorways of our means and of our realizations, logically we must seek to limit
this crossing time to the bare minimum.
Once reaching the desired bank, we can then get down as quickly as possible to the
next task.
In sum, we can consider that the purpose of work is to craft doorways, for that
ultimately we can overcome them.
Yet, nearly 75% doorways that we produce have already been developed elsewhere
in the company (source Korn/Ferry International, Davos 2000).
In practice this means that we spend 50-80% of our working time, stagnating on this
burning magma of Knowledge and Action, in pursuit of doorways which we are
unaware of.
We can therefore reasonably infer that the operational performance of the company
is directly function of the quality of the doorways it produces.
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The Space of the Possibles
The physical space
We are accustomed in everyday life to move in a physical space, according to three
axes X Y Z :
fig. 1.7 – The Physical Grasp – X Y Z
The physical axes
In this physical space we are drifting along six directions up and down [Z], left to
right [X] and back and forth [Y] :
fig. 1.8 – The Physical Grasp – Top:Down, Left:Right and Front:Back
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The Quality of Doorways
The neglected future
Just as we can hardly tolerate to be hindered in our movements, so it is disagreeable
to see our work blocked or slowed down for reasons that, obviously, could have been
avoided.
This kind of circumstance is all the more painful that it is expensive:
• in personal time ("I will not be back home until at least 19:00/7PM.")
• in time for those who depend on us ("And the others who are twiddling their
thumbs, waiting...")
• in nerve impulse ("This starts getting on my nerves...")
• in continuity of reflection ("I lost my train of thought, I do not remember
where I was...")
• in relational atmosphere ("Hi-how-is-it-no-I've-got-no-time-see-you-later-
on-maybe.")
It is precisely by methodically observing the characteristics of the doorways involved
in countless incidents of this kind, that the idea emerged to analyze the possibles
according to a model inspired by our physical space.
Let us see now what may well be those universal and permanent "meanings" which
determine the quality of a doorway.
The trilogy of doorways
If we want that everyone's doorways are to be nowadays within the reach of all –
today and tomorrow – and in a minimum effort, we must adopt this trilogy:
• after having agreed to EXPRESS them (which is a matter of capitalization of
knowledge and an intellectual capital issue)
• and before even thinking about to EXCHANGE them (which is a matter of knowledge
dissemination and a security issue, that is to say, of trust)
• we must, said I, EXPOSE them (which is a matter of knowledge sharing and as will
be understood, a productivity issue - both individual and collective)
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The snowflake
fig. 1.9 – The Snowflake - EXPOSURE
Writing vs. Design – Physical support vs. Vector – Availability vs. Security
Each branch of the SNOWFLAKE corresponds to a particular exposure scale:
w writing the degree of writing
p physical support the nature of the physical support
a availability the degree of availability
d design the level of ergonomics
s security the adequacy of the access path
v vector the means of diffusion
Here is a sample of the worst that can happen to a doorway:
w I am poorly drafted I have no sense
p I am scribbled on a greasy paper which endured the washing machine
a I am at the bottom of a safe of which the key is lost moreover, we have lost the safe
d I am hastily scribbled even my author would give up reading me
s I am guarded by a poorly adjusted system you are the boss and it mistakes you for a thief
v in view of my condition one should dictate me and send me by telegram
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Here is now a sample of the best that can happen to a doorway:
w I provide all steps required for immediate understanding I am used effortlessly
p I am in digital format I am updated without having to pulp stocks of obsolete
printed matter
a just think of me and I am displayed if I am destroyed I instantly regenerate myself
d I am laid out according to the rules of speed reading it is a pleasure to browse me
s you are an outsider of the company but I know that you
are here to help us win the Whatsit project
so you have access to our ultra-sensitive financial
proposal charts
v just click to print me, receive me by email, on your smart
device, by text and on the company’s extranet
I can go anywhere
One can easily as can be seen assign a score to each of these directions, according to a
generic scale.
The SNOWFLAKE is so called because in fact, each of the segments is scaled in turn by
means of a suitable Doorways Matrix.
Ultimately, the quality of a doorway is therefore measured in terms of its degrees of
exposure.
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Conclusion
Call
This introduction was aimed at helping you take quickly advantage of the Theory Of
Doorways (TOD) in your company:
• individually
• within your team /service
• and globally as an organization
Should this be the case, here are the semaphores I invite you to follow:
• decrease the number of doorways required to materialize any result
• increase the individual quality of the doorways produced within the company
I also invite you to follow the forthcoming developments: http://seuils.org
References
Joseph J. Katzman
"What Are YOU A Gateway To?"
Welcome To My Web Site!, Toronto 1996, Canada.
• A strategist? A technologist? A communicator? Strong marketing bent?
• Yes – coupled with a strong practical streak and deep understanding of the
dynamics and operations of networked business.
http://www.pathcom.com/~kat/
Korn/Ferry International
"Strategies for the Knowledge Economy: From Rhetoric to Reality"
World Economic Forum’s Summit, Davos 2000, Switzerland.
• Korn/Ferry has developed this landmark study in partnership with the University
of Southern California’s Center for Effective Organizations at the Marshall School
of Business—on how to build effective knowledge organizations and motivate
knowledge workers.
• Presented at the World Economic Forum’s Summit in Davos, Switzerland, 2000,
this thought-provoking study cuts through the existing rhetoric to identify what
leaders can do to turn knowledge into a competitive advantage for the
organization.
• Based on a survey of over 4,500 knowledge workers and on interviews and focus
groups with more than 500 business and technical leaders, the study shares case
studies and best practices gathered from technology-intensive companies across a
variety of sectors around the world.
http://www.kornferry.com/focus/pubs_knowledge_economy.asp