Sometimes the results of your performance work contain bad (expensive, disruptive, or embarrassing) news. If that is the case, here are two suggestions that will make delivering that news easier and ultimately more useful for all involved.
Avoid Negative Surprises
Never plan to surprise the person responsible for a problem in a public meeting. The goals of performance work are measured in response time and throughput, not in how much drama you create in the conference room when you point your accusing finger at the unsuspecting culprit.
When you locate a problem, the first person you should find is the person who is responsible for that part of the computing world. Discuss that problem with them first. Why? That person may know a lot more about that part of your computing world than you do, and may have further insights as to the root cause and the reason(s) why things are done this way. Often, I find that when I privately share my concerns and ask for help in crafting a list of possible solutions, that person is quite willing to be helpful.
I have made the mistake of not involving the person I believed was responsible for the problem and have suffered these consequences, usually in this exact order:
1. The person responsible for that part of the computing world gets angry and defensive and works relentlessly to tear down my work and credibility.
2. That person points out my ignorance and further points out the real problem is caused by some other part of the computing world owned by a different person. Now there are two angry people in the room.
3. Now the manager becomes angry with me for creating tension among the staff.
It always works better when I talk to the responsible person privately well before I write up my recommendations. We look at the problem and explore solutions. Then I can walk into the meeting and say something like: “The problem is here, and after working with Drew, we have a few ideas on how to improve the situation.”
Leave The Judgments To Others
When you present, you are not a superhero striking down evil. You are not an arbiter of good design. You are not there to make yourself look big by making others feel small.
You are a member of the team, dispassionately presenting well-checked information and potential solutions for problems. Stick to the facts, and leave the judgments to others.
I have seen presentations where the speaker delivered the bad news in a mocking and sometimes directly insulting way that hurt group cohesion and deeply offended people in front of their peers. That approach did not aid in answering the question, but it did unleash a wave of back-stabbing and other bad behavior. Every time I have seen someone be intentionally cruel or hurtful to a co-worker, it has not worked out well for them, especially in the long run.
Bob Wescott is the author of “The Every Computer Performance Book”.
Related Links:
More information on this, and many other useful ideas, can be found in Wescott's book:
The Every Computer Performance Book
