Elaine was desperate. Her IT project was approved and ready to go to the next step (funding), but as the business sponsor she couldn’t find an IT project manager who was willing to take it on. The project involved a lot of technical risk and a distinct possibility of abject failure. Every IT project manager was willing to help—but not willing to own, and the estimates reflected the fear, uncertainty, and doubt they felt, ranging from the ludicrous to the insane.
After months of searching on Elaine’s part, a software engineer with project management ambitions stepped up to the plate. Joe didn’t try to attack the entire problem at once; instead, he suggested focusing on the single most important business capability Elaine wanted to implement, to see whether they could be successful with that one aspect of the project. He also proposed a project management approach that was completely out of the norm for their large IT organization—introducing Agile project management principles into an organization that was decidedly waterfall. To Elaine, this plan seemed to be little more than "Let’s just jump in and figure it out as we go." But she didn’t care. By that point, she was so desperate for results that she would try anything. They waded into the problem, guns blazing, and within two months were able to deliver the business capability Elaine needed most, at a fraction of the cost of the original estimates.
The upside from this risk? Less than a year later, Joe isn’t a software engineer anymore. He’s a program manager, with a multimillion-dollar budget and several important business initiatives under his control. More importantly, Elaine’s once-stalled initiative is moving forward, adding value quickly and helping the business to compete more effectively in the marketplace. Joe and Elaine moved ahead because they acted like gunslingers, taking full ownership of the project to get the job done.
Why Be a Risk-Taker?
In the dramatic conclusion of the 1990 film Quigley Down Under, the hero, Quigley, squares off against the villain, Marston, and two of his thugs. The men draw, bullets fly, and Marston and his thugs drop to their knees, mortally wounded. With his dying breath, Marston says, "I didn’t think you could use a revolver." Quigley responds, "I said I never had much use for one. Never said I didn’t know how to use it."
Quigley didn’t care for combat at close quarters, but he was smart enough to know he still needed to be good at it. Likewise, successful risk-taking in today’s world requires the development of risk-taking styles and an understanding of when to use them that extends beyond those skills with which we feel most comfortable.
Emulate the Styles of Snipers and Gunslingers
I sometimes think of the Quigley scene as I contemplate risks that I might take in the workplace. Bullets and guns are replaced by words, proposals, and presentations, but parallels exist. Sometimes it’s better to take a risk from a distance, lending help to an effort without getting personally involved. At other times, it’s better to get personally involved, taking responsibility for a problem and seeing it through to a conclusion.
Each of these styles boils down to two distinctive factors: involvement and exposure.
- Gunslingers are the most involved. They’re right there in the blood and dirt, exposed to every stray bullet and broken beer bottle in the saloon. When they succeed, everyone knows who did it. Likewise, when they fail, their failure is well known.
- Snipers avoid involvement and exposure. They stand on the periphery of the risk, waiting for an opportunity to strike that’s effective and doesn’t expose them to any of the negative consequences of failure.
As a general rule, gunslinging is the best way to grow, particularly early in your career. You need to get deeply involved with problem-solving in a very direct way if you want to develop skills that will promote your reputation as a valuable contributor in any situation. Another benefit of being a gunslinger is the type of experiences it can bring you. Once you get past your inhibitions about volunteering for efforts when you aren’t an "expert" in the subject matter, you’ll be exposed to a wide range of problems and experiences. This practice helps to round you out as an IT professional and develop problem-solving skills (which are timeless) versus technical skills (which quickly become dated).
Corporate Bullets Are Rubber: They Hurt But Won’t Kill
A real gunslinger in the Old West usually got to make only one mistake, and then he was dead. Not so in the corporate saloon. Mistakes seldom kill or even maim. Instead, they sting. The bruise they leave is a lesson, not a mortal wound. We’re frequently as apprehensive of risk-taking as a participant in a real gunfight may feel, and sometimes we mistake a bruised ego for a career-ending blow. Don’t do this. See the bullets for what they really are—lessons from which to learn, knocks on your ego that help you to subject yourself to discipline, professionalism, and a focus on results.
There are worse things in the world than screwing up at work. I’ve survived a million different mistakes that I thought would end my career—before I made them, and then realized that they weren’t such a big deal after all. Messing up, learning we messed up, and then avoiding the same mistake in the future is how we grow.
Be a Gunslinger, But Own Your Mistakes
You can’t wade into difficult problems and take personal responsibility for solving them without screwing up a good portion of the time. Tackling difficult problems means failing sometimes, and you need to be prepared.
Remembering that there are worse things in life than getting fired is one way to develop comfort with gun-slinging, but perspective alone won’t help you deal with the mistakes you do make. If you want to be a gunslinger, you have to learn to take bullets without losing the fight—you have to become skilled at dealing with mistakes.
The hardest part of dealing with mistakes is admitting that you screwed up. People just don’t like to do that. You’ve been trained all your life to be right, and it takes a special effort to admit in an effective way that you’re wrong. Once you’ve admitted to making a mistake, the rest is easy. If you work in a healthy organization, people will usually rally to help overcome the consequences of your mistake. If not, consider it an opportunity to improve your working environment by being the one "lone ranger" who isn’t afraid to be honest. You might be on your own to solve the problem, but at least you’ve found a way to improve.
Being a gunslinger takes practice. Don’t start with Dodge City. Start with smaller risks that will help you develop skills and confidence. Then crank it up a notch and take on bigger assignments. Don’t shy away from tasks that seem difficult or require significant personal involvement. Be involved. Remember, to be a real gunslinger, you have to put yourself in the line of fire and wade in with energy and commitment, ready for the rubber bullets and willing to go down trying.