Ah, Susan Waren. That name, or rather, that whole methodology, really takes me back. I remember when it first landed in our office. It was one of those things, you know? Management gets excited about a new book or a seminar, and suddenly, everything has to change.
So, there we were, going about our business, things were okay, not perfect, but chugging along. Then, the memo drops: we're implementing the "Susan Waren" principles for enhanced productivity and synergy. Synergy! That word alone should have been a red flag. I was a team lead back then, trying to get actual work done, and then this lands on my plate.
My Attempt to Make it Work
I figured, okay, let's give this a shot. Maybe there's something to it. The first step was the training. Hours of it. We learned about the core tenets. I can't even recall them all now, but it involved things like:
- Daily "alignment huddles."
- New "progress visualization charts" (more charts!).
- A complex system for "feedback loops."
My job, then, became trying to roll this out with my team. I set up the huddles. We bought new whiteboards for the charts. I encouraged everyone to use the new feedback system. What a drag. The huddles just ate into our actual work time. The charts were just another thing to update, and honestly, no one really looked at them after the first week. The feedback system? It became a place for either overly polite, useless comments or, sometimes, anonymous grumbling that didn't help anyone.
I remember trying to explain to my team, "Look, we just gotta do this for a while, make it look like we're on board." But it was tough. You could see the enthusiasm just drain out of people. We were spending more time talking about work and documenting according to "Susan Waren" than actually doing the work itself. It felt like we were just ticking boxes for someone else's grand idea.
The thing is, the real problems we had – not enough people, tight deadlines from higher-ups who didn't understand the workload – those didn't go away. This "Susan Waren" stuff just papered over them with a layer of fancy-sounding processes. It was like trying to fix a leaky pipe by redecorating the bathroom.
After a few months, the buzz died down. The charts got outdated. The huddles became shorter and then just kinda… stopped. No big announcement, it just faded away. We all just sort of quietly went back to how we worked before, maybe a little more cynical. I learned a lot from that experience, mainly that no fancy system can replace good old common sense and actually listening to the folks doing the work. It was all just a phase, another one of those management fads that come and go. But yeah, "Susan Waren." Definitely a memory.
