How do I maintain professional ownership of a potentially inflammatory, but awesome, project?

July 5, 2007 7:36 PM

I have an awesome secret work project, but I'm worried that I'm going to get in trouble if I pursue it. Who can I get to help? How can I best negotiate the office politics? Essentially what I want to do is overhaul our website, but it not my place to do so, nor can I easily keep credit for my idea. A little more detail inside (sorry to be so vague)...

They just redesigned the website of my workplace. Quite frankly, it sucks, and it does not suit our youthful, web-smart user-base. I have a great idea to make it more helpful and intuitive. I believe I also have two big problems.

Firstly, web design is not my departmental thing, and I believe that the web design people will hate me and take this as a criticism (which it is), even if I pose this as a personal project (I am beginning relevant graduate studies in the fall). I am already especially not friendly with these folks.

The other problem is that the proper course for such an idea is to introduce it to a particular committee. I do not want to do this because I am slowly realizing that the point of this committee is to steal ideas of junior staff and turn them into "group initiatives". As far as I can tell, this just means that someone else does the project and gets the credit. This irritates me.

How do I do this? Do you have any advice? So far, my only plan is to ask for forgiveness when I'm done, once I've presented it or written it up. But I would really like to be able to discuss it with web people/experts in advance, because as I said, I don't really know how to go about it (tech-wise) even though it seems like a really simple reorganization to me. I could wait to learn it in my upcoming graduate studies, but that could take years and I'm really excited right now. How could I make contact, outside of my work, with someone who can help?

I apologize in advance for my inability to clarify.

posted by anonymous to work & money (18 answers total)

step away from the website.

(1) Your changes aren't as easy as you think they are
(2) Everyone else has their own pet idea of how to make things better
(3) You are leaving in a few months anyway, so you wouldn't have time to see the project to completion, or maintain it anyway.
(4) You are already on bad terms with the people responsible for this stuff, so they certainly aren't going to support you.

Fight battles you can win. Do what you were hired to do until you get enough recognition to grow beyond. Don't step on other people's toes.
posted by b1tr0t at 7:46 PM on July 5, 2007 [3 favorites]

Why don't you just get a domain and some hosting and give it a shot? You don't have to use your company's info, just change it enough so it's obviously a mock-up and not violating any privacy or data security.

I'm betting you find that (1) listed above is quite true, but you'll get a head start on your grad studies.
posted by Liosliath at 7:55 PM on July 5, 2007

I second the opinion of b1tr0t above, this is a battle you really can't win. You're going to be stepping on so many toes that you'll end up way more frustrated than energized. If you have an interest in this stuff, I think you would be better to be a part of the "group initiative" committee than try to lead a crusade to improve a project that may be so mired in politics that you'll just end up shooting yourself in the foot.

And, since you're leaving, what do you care about getting credit for this project? Take your ideas and test them in your studies. Move on from this project.
posted by amanda at 8:01 PM on July 5, 2007

You can't spend at-work hours on this. Would you be willing to work on this in your free time at home?
posted by Eringatang at 8:12 PM on July 5, 2007

Follow-up from the OP.

Although I am going to grad school soon, I will continue to work for this employer. I don't know if this is good or bad.
posted by jessamyn at 8:13 PM on July 5, 2007

Take a step backwards and look at a slightly bigger picture.

If your workplace culture is dysfunctional enough that it doesn't reward people for making genuine improvements, find a better workplace.

If, on the other hand, your enthusiasm for this secret project is primarily driven by (a) a failure to appreciate b1tr0t's first point due to your present unfamiliarity with the technology involved (b) your desire to stick one up those idiots in your web design department: find a better workplace attitude.
posted by flabdablet at 8:22 PM on July 5, 2007

How can I best negotiate the office politics?

The only way you're going to win that battle is if you have a champion in senior management who's as subversive as you are. Start looking for one. If you can't find him or her, then I'd go with Eringatang's at-home suggestion.
posted by YamwotIam at 8:38 PM on July 5, 2007

Grad school + work = not very fun, depending on what type of grad program that you're going to. Why not try the first few months of grad school before commiting to a long-term project.
posted by k8t at 8:43 PM on July 5, 2007

Plus, who cares that they have a sh1tty website? You're leaving in a few months anyway. You've made your case to senior management. They may or may not take what you have to say into consideration. Let them revamp the website or outsource it.
posted by k8t at 8:45 PM on July 5, 2007

Where I work, this is my job, I do know what I'm doing, and I still can't get any major web changes through "committee." Relax. Hang out at work. Finish grad school and find a company that values your ideas and is willing to implement them.
posted by Joleta at 9:05 PM on July 5, 2007

My advice is not to do this if you are interested in staying with the company.

How can I maintain professional ownership...

I doubt you can, even if you do it on your own time. At the point where you offer your stealth re-design for review to anyone in the company -- presumably using company imagery, logos, product-relevant content -- you've demonstrated corporate intent, and they can argue (fairly) that it's work product. Alternatively, if you argue that it's not really for the company, it was for your own purposes... there's a chance you might be in violation of your non-compete if you have one.

I don't really know how to go about it (tech-wise) even though it seems like a really simple reorganization to me.

If you aren't even sure that your awesome, greatest-idea-ever will actually work, you should really, really tread carefully here. If you decide to go forward, I heartily recommend that you find someone completely outside your company off of whom to bounce your idea. Without knowing the idea it's hard to suggest resources, but

Essentially what I want to do is overhaul our website

...even though you don't really know how to go about it. Would that be a fair assessment? That's extremely ambitious.

I believe that the web design people will hate me

Yep. There's a reason you're not on their team. No matter what that reason is, your current job is not web design for this company. The people who actually have that job, even if they didn't already dislike you, will not like you crapping all over the new accomplishment they just unveiled, and presumably spent much time working on.

The other problem is that the proper course for such an idea is to introduce it to a particular committee. I do not want to do this because I am slowly realizing that the point of this committee is to steal ideas of junior staff

That the committee sucks isn't the solid justification you think, for going around what you yourself acknowledge is the proper procedure.

So far, my only plan is to ask for forgiveness when I'm done

Are you prepared for the worst-case scenario? You'll have crapped on not only the web people but the leadership committee who greenlights projects... are you okay with getting fired? Or having your future with this company permanently iced?

It sounds to me like what you want most of all is two-fold: to see your great idea get executed, and to get full credit for having had it in the first place. Only, you can't guarantee either one, and you already know the work climate isn't all that receptive to what you're proposing. (And, I hate to sound mean, but do you even have independent corroboration that the idea is that great?)

In fact, what you're suggesting sounds like a CLM of the highest order: little chance of success, great chance of repercussion. This doesn't belong to your department... this doesn't fall under your job description... you don't have all the tech know-how you need... you want to do an end-run around proper channels... and the company has just launched a brand-new website on which they've already expended time and resources.

BUT. If you feel that strongly about this, do it the right way. Instead of trying to execute a skunkworks project, you could write up a very simple but well-crafted one- or two-pager on your awesome idea (while taking great pains not to criticize the web design team or their recent efforts)... then email it to your boss, CC:ing a couple of key people on the greenlight committee and a couple of key people on the web design group.

Worst that can happen is someone with the authority to do so dismisses it -- but you still walk away as the person who has great ideas, can articulate them well, and demonstrates respect for channels and office politics. Best that can happen is someone goes, "Wow, this does rock, let's incorporate it into a next-phase website update" -- and no matter who ultimately takes the credit, the people who matter (and who are in a position to reward you with promotions, responsibility, compensation, juice in general) will always know that you conceived it. Either way, you keep your job. And you use this to springboard a campaign to get on the greenlight committee yourself, so that you can affect important future decisions.

Merely sharing an idea with management is not actionable. Secretly redoing the work of another department -- with no support or approval because you believe you know better than two separate teams of people above you on the food chain -- is.
posted by pineapple at 10:01 PM on July 5, 2007

Something I noted on reviewing:

flabdablet said, "If your workplace culture is dysfunctional enough that it doesn't reward people for making genuine improvements..."

k8t said, "You've made your case to senior management..."

Joleta said, "find a company that values your ideas and is willing to implement them..."

I don't get the impression that OP has made a case, with a valuable idea, for a genuine improvement, to senior management (or anyone else), and been rejected. My interpretation is that the OP has specifically not done these things, but is instead trying to circumvent these steps. I don't think we should rush to knock the company for rejecting the OP's idea if they haven't actually done so.
posted by pineapple at 10:03 PM on July 5, 2007

Instead of trying to execute a skunkworks project, you could write up a very simple but well-crafted one- or two-pager on your awesome idea (while taking great pains not to criticize the web design team or their recent efforts)... then email it to your boss, CC:ing a couple of key people on the greenlight committee and a couple of key people on the web design group.

Seconded.
posted by hootch at 10:43 PM on July 5, 2007

Make some mock-up graphics that communicate the concept and look good, but don't take much time, put your name on them along with the location on a company server where anyone can grab the files to print them out for themselves. Have a few copies printed so they look great, and present them to the committee.

The hope is that the committee turns it into a group initiative, so someone else does all the work (this is a GOOD thing), but the concept images are inspiring enough that they're the graphic that gets flashed around and shown to the brass when the project needs to approval for this or funding for that, and your name is on them.

I've had a (well known) company photo-edit my name out of my art that they were publishing, in order to not have to include me in the credits, so I'm the first to admit that people can just be assholes, but I think the win-win situation to go for here is to stop thinking of this project as your baby - let someone else "steal" the project and make it theirs, set it up so you're likely to get some credit on the way, and not care too much if they screw it up or let it die - or if you don't get your credit.

Also, bear in mind that many of your superiors (and myself) are of the opinion that great ideas are cheap, it's the work of implementing them that matters. So if someone else is implementing them, DO NOT think it is unfair if people give that person the lion's share of the credit - you will come off as an ignorant jackass if you give the impression you think you're being shortchanged in the credit department.

And no-matter how much you invest in this, it may get screwed up or left to die though no fault of your own, so don't pin your hopes and dreams on it, just give it a fair go, and hope for the best.
Good luck.
posted by -harlequin- at 11:47 PM on July 5, 2007

How about this: propose focus group/ usability testing of the current web site. Don't go into it to "prove" that the site is badly designed; rather, you get benefit for the company (finding out what works _and_ what doesn't in the current site), plus benefit for you (learning about usability testing).

Be prepared to actually learn about usability testing first. This will be a huge benefit to you and potentially to your company.

A lot of design is created based on one person's, or a group's, feelings/beliefs of what "would be good", but if you can do actual testing -- _good_ testing, unbiased, with an appropriate sample size, administered neutrally, with a plan for what to do / not do with the results -- you'll be way ahead of most people.

I recommend reading through the articles here as one starting point. The writings of Donald Norman are also a great beginning.

Have fun in graduate school!
posted by amtho at 12:16 AM on July 6, 2007

I am already especially not friendly with these folks.

Jeez, what did you do, spit in their coffee? I find designers incredibly easy to get along with.

Leave it alone. Design your own site. If someone directly asks you for your opinion of the company web site, give it to them. Otherwise, shut up. Don't let this kind of stuff irritate you, because it will happen repeatedly throughout the course of your career, and you'll be 40 with an ulcer. Other people make stupid design/business decisions; learn to deal with it and don't become an ass by repeatedly pointing them out. Or worse, constantly fuming to your friends/family/S.O.
posted by desjardins at 8:10 AM on July 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

"I don't really know how to go about it (tech-wise) even though it seems like a really simple reorganization to me.."

Speaking as someone who works in web design/development for a fairly bureaucratic organization..

Design by committee sucks. Sometimes (often) I have no choice and just have to negotiate the committee as best I can. It's kind of irritating when people who have no idea what my job is like drop in and tell me all sorts of awesome stuff they could do so easily! I'm like - no, actually, you can't!

I can't even begin to tell you how many requests I get to do things or change things that someone is certain would be "simple." But it's not simple, often - even if the technology is simple, the impact on other things is not simple, nor is the impact on the committee/powers-that-be who just greenlighted your last change after you made your way through utterly byzantine organizational politics.

PS - There's no better way to piss off a lot of people than to make a big change all in secret, because you don't trust them, and then dump it on their heads when they're not expecting it!
posted by citron at 8:49 AM on July 6, 2007

If you really want to do this, which I strongly suggest you DON'T, I'd couch it in terms of user feedback.

"Hey Manager/Bossman, some of my friends use our service/website, and have been having difficulties with X, Y, & Z. I'm no web designer, but it seems like we might want to take a second look at the redesign, in terms of usability and organization--I've got no problems with the "look" and "style," but if our clients/audience can't find what they're looking for, they will not have a favorable impression of our Awesome Company.

"Here, I took the time to write up a concise analysis of user problems and issues that I've discovered. Perhaps I could get in touch with the lead designer/programmer during a slow period at work to look at these issues?"
posted by lychee at 12:38 PM on July 6, 2007