Functional typology

Why are the same methods of work easily implemented in one team, but never take root in another? Why, having received the same end result, one can experience different degrees of satisfaction with the work done. Of course, there are many possible answers to these questions. In this article I want to talk about the functional typology of the person, which helps me to answer such questions to me, and of which I have repeatedly been convinced of the usefulness on my own experience.

What you will find under the cut:

• Description of functional typology
• Explaining the mechanisms of several well-known practices
• Examples from my own experience

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I do not know what the typology I am going to describe is actually called. I was told about this typology by one person, in turn, learned about it by visiting some kind of training. The source is unknown to me, but I will call this typology functional. If someone can give a link or say the correct name, I will be very grateful to you.

Description of functional typology

Legend

The basis of the system of notation psychogeometric typology S. Dellinger.

Triangle

This symbol indicates leadership, the desire for power, setting to win, self-confidence, determination, risk appetite.

Square

Characteristics characteristic of the square: punctuality, strict adherence to rules, instructions, analytical thinking, orientation to facts, accuracy, rationality, pragmatism, firmness in decisions, caution.

A circle

High need for communication, contact, care for others, ability to empathize, developed intuition, indecision, ability to persuade others, flexible daily routine.

Zigzag

The need for change, new knowledge, creativity, enthusiasm, impracticality, inconstancy, craving for the new, aversion to the routine.

Functions

Each of the listed figures defines one of the following functions in human behavior:

1. The goal is what a person wants to achieve, what makes him act.
2. A means to achieve the goal. The shape that performs this function determines the set of tools that a person uses to achieve his goal.
3. Role function - that who wants to seem a person, or how it is perceived by others.
4. Pain function. What a person lacks, where he experiences the greatest difficulties.

It should be noted that the pain function does not mean that a person is not at all able to fulfill the corresponding role. Just to fulfill this role he will need more effort and energy than for everyone else. In addition, the level of each function is different for different people, and it may be that a figure as a pain function for one person will be stronger than the same figure as a goal for another.

Consider a few examples.

Peter I - perhaps the most popular king in Russian history. The purpose of Peter was to build a strong state. The state is the order, the law. That is, the goal function is square.

Power was the means to achieve the goal: by the tsar's order, century-old traditions were broken down, serfs were massively sent to hard and exhausting work, to the army. Riots brutally suppressed.

Despite the fact that many people died and were executed, ruinous taxes, even under Soviet rule, the image of Peter I was evaluated very positively. The love of the people he received, first of all, because he worked on a par with the peasants and distributed the ranks according to merit, and not according to origin. Although it should be understood that Peter I simply physically could not engage in permanently rough work, otherwise he would not have enough time for everything else, and the ranks of the serfs were heard not because of justice, but because it was necessary to achieve the goal. This is how the circle works in the role function.

Peter I lacked his own ideas for the development of Russia, so he followed the path of complete copying of the Western model. Sometimes, it came to the point of absurdity. When he forced the boyars to shave their beards and wear wigs, it went against the age-old traditions, but who could argue something?

“Connections decide everything” is a slogan for those who have a circle - a means to achieve a goal.

A large leather chair that stands out from the rest, the scepter and orb are visible attributes of power, and a scarf around the neck instead of a tie is a creative person.

Communication between functions

One of the key ideas of a functional typology, which distinguishes it from the same psychogeometric, is that the figures are distributed over roles in a strictly defined sequence. The easiest way to demonstrate this is in the figure:


On the left is a triangle, on the right - a zigzag, on the top - a square, on the bottom - a circle. Having fixed any of the figures as a target, all other functions are determined either by a clockwise detour, or counterclockwise. For example, Peter I in this typology is

It is easy to calculate that in this way there are 8 options that correspond to different types of people. In fact, there are 16 types of functional typology - for each of the 8 options there are extraverted and introverted subtypes, but for this article it is not essential.

Rational vs irratio

Most programmers are irrational types. This is simply explained. There are two types of activities: analysis and synthesis.

Synthesis is the process of combining or combining previously disparate things or concepts into a whole or set.

Analysis is a logical method of defining a concept, when a given concept is decomposed into attributes into its component parts in order to make its cognition clear in its entirety.

Synthesis is an irrational activity, and analysis is rational, and programming is a synthesis.
So the most likely types for programmers:




In this article I will not describe the features of each of these types of personality, I will only note that for them the circle is either a goal or a function of achieving a goal.

How do practices work?

Agile

Let me remind you the Agile Manifest:

• People and interaction is more important than processes and tools.
• A working product is more important than comprehensive documentation.
• Cooperation with the customer is more important than negotiating the terms of the contract
• Readiness for change is more important than following the original plan.

The Agile values ​​listed put people (circle) above the rules (square), relationships (circle) above contracts, powers (triangle), variability (zig-zag) above plans (square). product above documentation (square). No wonder Agile is so hotly received by developers.

Cookies, Xbox and other buns in the office

It is obvious that programmers can not work all 8 hours in a row with the same efficiency. There are such periods of time when it simply does not work. How to improve the efficiency of programmers?

You can gather everyone and say: “Guys - we are all adults. The company buys from you 40 hours of your time per week, and if you understand that you have been sitting for an hour and have not done anything, then please kindly linger after work and work this hour to be honest! "Maybe I was unlucky, but I myself attended such conversations 2 times. To rely on the rules, call to order - this is the toolkit of the square. It is not difficult to predict the consequences of this conversation.

Instead, companies buy board games, consoles in the office, invent other ways to organize free time. Here I initially wanted to write that it would not occur to a person, to consider the time of playing the console as their working time. But a colleague suggested that there are companies where this time is really working. Therefore, I can only speak for myself - it is much easier to explain that playing tennis is not working time than calling out the labor code. My colleague and I, who introduced the amendment, used to work in such a company. This approach is from the tools of the circle.

In both cases, the message is the same, but the form of filing is completely different, as is the result.

Planning poker

People who have been working with programmers for quite a long time can accurately predict the time to complete a task. But, if the programmers to declare these estimates, they are likely to disagree with them, and, most importantly, will not feel responsible for their implementation.
Planning Poker is a practice that makes a person feel that his assessment is his own. Assign grades is a triangle tool, and Planning Poker is a circle.

Company executives

Of course, I cannot say that this is a general situation, but most of the leaders of IT companies that I was able to meet were of two types:



I wanted to talk about them separately.

For both types of circle is a function of achieving the goal. They are characterized by the statements: “People are our main capital”, “We are a team of professionals”, etc. Management style can be described by the phrase: "The right person in the right place." That is, their main task is to find a person who will perform the necessary functions. Further - this is the concern of the man himself. They are unlikely to help you: “Well, you're a professional!” On the other hand, you get complete freedom of action and you simply cannot find a better opportunity for your professional growth and experiments. You will not be limited in anything until you, by your actions, contradict the goal of such a leader. When you hear from him compliments that you are a cool and wonderful specialist, then do not take it to heart - remember that you are a tool and you are tuned to the working mood. At the same time, if the tool “deteriorates”, then it will be replaced with another one, not paying attention to past merits.

I will make a reservation that I am not trying to present more than one of the types in a negative light. These are not flaws, but behavioral traits that any other types have. In general, one of the advantages of a functional typology is that it allows not to divide people into good and bad, but to take them without value, understanding and taking into account their peculiarities of their behavior. This approach allows us to achieve a more efficient interaction.

The two described types differ only in goals that they want to achieve.

One of my friends the head of the company is simply obsessed with the idea of ​​open source. His company was built around this idea. This is not just a beautiful sign - I saw how I repeatedly refused the project if the customer did not like the open source solution. On the other hand, he has another idea - mental workers only work effectively under stress. And, believe me, these stresses are created with enviable regularity. For example, he may come after lunch to the department, ask everyone what they did during the day, then sit in a chair in the middle of the office and say: “Guys! I had such a nasty mood in the morning that I wanted to fire someone of you! But! Well done! I was pleased, so I will not fire anyone. ”Such statements are shocking to beginners, but newcomers with experience know that he rarely brings his undertakings to the end. By the way, the backbone of his team has been working with him for more than 10-15 years.

Another friend of mine is of the type:

He gives the impression of a very creative and progressive leader, who attracts to the team the same creative and talented people as he. In fact, such companies need employees so that they can work independently without any direction from outside. Work style: do something already so that I can earn. Employee retention occurs through various retention schemes. The standard practice required by the candidate salary is divided into two parts: the mandatory and bonus, which is paid once every few months and is lost if you quit before the next period ends. As soon as you voice the desire to leave the company, you immediately turn into a “bad”, “lazy”, “unaware” employee. This is natural, since dismissal is the negation of the leadership of the leader of the triangle. This company also has employees who work for 10-15 years. You just need to remember that when such a company gives you something else besides salary (a separate office, a loud position, a company car for personal use, etc.), this is not a recognition of your current results, but a hook with which I will manage you in the future.

My own experience

I once worked in an outsourcing company. This company has already gone through several stages of development. At one of the first stages, a project management and time tracking system was introduced. Everyone was simply told: “Work! And so that everything was! ”There were a lot of layoffs and just dissatisfied people.
The implementation itself took about a year. After a few years, the company decided to implement an ERP system. Remembering your past experience, we decided this time to do otherwise.
We collected all the employees, told them about the tasks that the company faces, why these tasks need to be solved, how it will affect the employees, why we need an ERP system when solving these tasks. After this, a vote was taken: whether to introduce an ERP system or not, while promising that if the majority would say no, the company would refuse to implement it and look for a way out differently. The result: 90% voted for the implementation, there was not a single dismissal, and the implementation phase itself took just 1 month.

I had two subordinates: a boy and a girl. They are in serious conflict with each other. There was not a single week, whenever they came to me in turn with a complaint against each other and a proposal to dismiss my opponent. The arguments of the girl were: “He violates all agreements. He persuades other employees to sabotage decisions. ”Arguments of the guy:“ They don’t like her in the team for being too tough ”. If you look at them from the point of view of functional typology, then the guy:

and the girl

The reason for their conflict, speaking abstractly, is the struggle for influence in the same sphere. After the cause of their conflict was eliminated in principle, their relationship returned to normal. Now they continue to work in the same company.

Another company decided to introduce monthly bonuses for its programmers in the amount of 15% of the payroll. Problem: if everyone is paid in proportion to the wage, then this is no different from the usual wage increase and the meaning is lost - encouragement. If the head of the department will distribute bonuses, then there will always be a problem with the justification of the amount of the bonus and they will be dissatisfied.

We decided to do this: remembering that it was mostly the developers of the irrationals, they let them determine the size of each bonus each. To do this, each issued a leaflet with the names of all employees of the department. On this leaflet, in front of each, you need to put% of the total contribution to the result. You can not put yourself and the amount of each deposit should be 100%. Voting is anonymous. After all the leaflets are handed over, the general results of each person’s contribution to the total result are summed up and the size of the award is calculated.
The guys decided not to know the general results of the vote, but only their own. Therefore, according to the results of voting, each sheet is given with its premium and the number is 1,2,3, if, by the results of voting, the contribution of this person was in the first, second or third place, respectively.

What the company received from this procedure: there are no conflicts about the accrual of premiums. What is interesting is that the opinion of the management and the employees themselves regarding the troika of the “best” and the troika of the “worst” often coincide. And they were able to find a couple of underestimated programmers who perform a large amount of useful work, but colleagues simply do not know about it.

A person with a type of

Since the direction was only created, a lot of organizational work was required: to work out the rules for receiving and processing announcements, hiring and training moderators, controlling the work of moderators and developing new rules, etc. It was clear that the work required

that for this person was a pain function. Three months later, he quit with the words: "I feel not as a manager, but as a content manager." Now it works at this place.


Another example, an analyst - a girl who graduated from the philological faculty, with the type

JSON, version control systems and even automated tests are not a problem for it. Prior to that, she worked in a call center and never dealt with IT at all.
Well, a competent presentation of thoughts and the correct Russian language became a pleasant bonus for us.