We all work in a team. Yes! even when you think you are the only person working on a given task, there would be someone who depends on you for this task, or you may depend (directly or indirectly) on someone else for this task to be complete. For a task or a project to be successful, we need to identify the right people who would optimally work on it and deliver the best. And hence it's crucial to identify who's best suited to carry out the set of tasks that comprise the project.
Every individual has different interests and skills. These interests and skills would normally be hidden, unless the individual is complacent or pompous. Thus, it naturally comes on the shoulders of the project manager or the team leader to identify these hidden skills. The question that comes up is: How to go about this finding, so that I'll have a database of the mapping between the skills and the person who possesses it?
I always mingle with my teammates and make sure that there's negligible gap between me and them. We hang around together, play pranks, indulge in some lightweight teasing. More often than not, this gesture puts the teammates at ease. I get to know the nature and interests of the ones I interact with.
But when it comes to the skills that are required for, say, estimation, or lateral thinking, I need to broaden my audience from which I can build my repertoire. The idea that readily struck me was to ask one classical question everyday. The questions were posted to our internal distribution lists. As expected, there were not many responses, but astonishingly, there was at least one person who responded with a correct answer.
I tried this idea as a pilot, with questions related to just two categories, viz.; Guesstimation and lateral thinking. And now I feel great that I have at least a few people in my reach who possess these abilities. Someday, when the need arises, I will ty this idea for other types of requirements
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The questions were:
1. How many liters of water do all the seas and oceans hold in them?
(Note:Accuracy is not important; how you arrive at the answer is.)
2. How much deep can you go in a thick jungle?
Do you have answers to the above questions? I'm curious to know.
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