[kmcclary]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

there is another factor at work here - i dont have a catch phrase for it

its very difficult to come up with a geniune new idea - it takes a real flash of insight and brillance - and then to implement a new idea for the first time is 100% new territory

but once you have the first version of your new concept built and working, its VERY easy for someone esle to come along, take a look at what you have accomplished, and find many ways to make it better [...]

just remembered, there is a catch phrase for this: OneUpManShip

LOL!

Actually, I think you're searching for "Invention" vs "Process Improvement". Both of these classes of Intellectual Property are recognized by the Patent Office.

It's funny you mention that, as Process Improvement is MY business (I'm a "Mercenary Inventor" by trade... ). FIRST challenges help me keep my skills sharp, and my brain flexible.

Sometimes process improvements can be done by divergent thinking or "Ah HA"! creation, but often it can be by pulling one paradigm's concept into another area. But the easiest way to improvement of all is simply by getting a fresh or MULTIPLE viewpoint(s) on the problem. The New Guy is not INVESTED in a particular approach, nor blinded by past habitual solutions and their DETAILS. IOW, a new POV can often see the forest from the trees, and therefore has a better chance to find quicker and easier paths through the forest. That's why I love gaining new students and mentors, and brainstorming. They don't think like I do (nor does the "group mind"), and won't get caught in the same traps that I alone would.

There's an old Urban Legend of the argument between a teacher and a student in a college Engineering Class. The teacher spoke of "mature technologies that couldn't be improved further". The student claimed you could improve ANYTHING with enough thought and effort. The teacher then challenged him to improve Chopsticks, a technology that has been stable for thousands of years...

The next week, the student came back in with a bowl of noodle soup and some chopsticks. He sat and calmly ate the noodles normally. Then, to everyone's surprise, he stuck in one of the sticks and proceeded to suck up all of the soup through the long hole he'd drilled through its length, like a straw.

Point well taken...

I'm constantly amazed by the creative genius of many teams. EVERY time I attend, I either see something totally novel, or MUCH simpler than I expected would be needed to do a specific task... What fun!!! You could just see the "Ah HA!" and pride in their faces when they spoke of how they came up with it...

I swear at times I have MUCH more fun touring the pits, talking with the teams standing proudly by their machines, and seeing the non-obvious solutions or HOW their widgets and new drivetrain works, than watching the game itself.

If I wasn't such a FIRST fanatic consumed with the idea of starting up new FIRST teams to get more kids involved, and ever end up living in a place without a team possible, I'd definitely either be a Pit Groupie or Traveling Wrenchman long before considering becoming a Spectator...

Originally Posted by Redhead Jokes

That's so funny. I just heard about NIH about a couple of weeks ago from a mentor on another team who described how she'd experienced that in running her own business.

She was contracted to provide CEO's with a business report that was very expensive. The CEO would love it. If the CEO took it home to his wife it was often subjected to the NIH Syndrome and picked to pieces.

<chuckle> As a Process Improvement Consultant, I run into NIH *all* of the time. Some are often insulted by "an outsider" being brought in. To overcome it, it takes a management commitment FOR CHANGE. Then the MANAGEMENT will suppress NIH obstructing advancement, by overriding the stalled team's personnel. If I'm hired to change or improve something, that support is the first thing I insure I have. Otherwise, I'm wasting my time, because the changes won't be USED. Similarly with starting a FIRST team. A creation of a new team is a CHANGE in ROUTINE for a school. If you don't have both top management AND teacher approval (AND support) for it, your job of starting one is somewhere between hard and impossible.

I'm not sure I understand though. SHE suffered from NIH over her SPOUSE'S company, as in "SHE didn't think of it, so it was bad"? Or was it more akin to defense of her spouse "from attack", like "don't you dare be critical of MY spouse's company"?

BTW, another other biggie that runs rampant in large organizations (governments, companies, schools, whatever) is "Empire Building". Your friend may have inadvertently run into that one, too.

Empire Building is where people instead of being paid on profitability or service effectiveness are instead either paid proportionate to the staff size under them, or worse, are only allowed to advance by building a larger group beneath them. A HUGE motivator and IMHO one of the biggest causes of overbloated bureaucracies. Consider: If your pay is proportional to bodies, WHO CARES what they do, or if they do anything at ALL? In fact, any suggested improvement based on increasing effectiveness, which in the end may even POSSIBLY cause a staff shrinkage, is fought tooth and nail without regards to its merit. Governmental agencies often fall into this class. No profit motive for service efficiency, and large Empire Building forces. (Ever go into the DMV, or any major govt building and try to get something done quickly???)

Of course, they won't say their REAL reasons for fighting the suggestions. Instead, they'll attack or quickly try to "discredit the messenger". I once was on a three man team with the unenviable task of having to decide which of three competing over 100 head departments' separately evolved approaches were to be chosen by the parent company to be used for the future. That meant two department's Empires were at risk of being dispersed into other tasks. Not a problem for the employees as they'd be reassigned, but a BIG problem for two of the three managers, who'd lose their Empires, and may suffer a pay CUT. So, ALL THREE of them simply "played the odds" and started attacking our credibility even before we started.

That was a big reason OUTSIDE consultants were brought in to make the evaluation. Imagine an EMPLOYEE trying to politically survive THAT level of "NIH criticism" later after being charged with evaluating three powerful and politically connected Centurions' ways of doing business!

The bottom line is that there are MANY reasons people don't like to hear advice or criticism. Many of the reasons have NOTHING to do with the advice itself (pride, ego, hidden financial motivations, etc.), and people will often DEFLECT it with anger or resentment against the person.

OTOH, there are a lot of jerks out there, too...

The key to keeping sane in that environment is not to take "NIH retribution challenges" personally.

I hope this gives some insight that "being ticked off about criticism is NOT only a school age problem. Adults have to deal with it too. In fact, if anything, reactions may be even WORSE, as their pride, egos, political standing, status, mates, or even their livelihood at times may be perceived to be threatened by criticism from another.

- Keith