Finding a sweet solution
How to solve problems without killing each other
By Mark Scott
Smart Business Northern California | January 2010
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Paul Kocher, founder, president and chief scientist, Cryptography Research Inc.
Paul Kocher doesn’t let the pressure of solving complex data security problems get to him. That’s more than he can say for an old customer of Cryptography Research Inc.
“The people who were doing the testing and finding the problems would get so much anger thrown at them from the developers for criticizing their work, that it was necessary to put in a firewall to shield the testers,” says Kocher, the 50-employee company’s founder, president and chief scientist.
Kocher takes a slightly different approach when someone brings him a problem.
“As projects are getting ready to ship, if somebody finds a big bug, the person who introduced the bug in the first place is supposed to eat a pastry of the choosing of the person who found it,” Kocher says. “If the extent of the downside is you admit you made a mistake and you have to eat a pastry, it’s a culture that encourages that sort of interaction.”
Smart Business spoke with Kocher about how to help your business deal with problems effectively.
Seek the center. I’m somebody who looks toward moderation. I’ve worked with people and sometimes my instincts even go in directions where I’ll talk way too much or too little or get involved in minutiae or not be involved enough. Or I’ll be overprepared for something minor or underprepared for something major. It’s trying to find that question of, ‘Where am I?’
Which direction am I too far away from the center? You don’t want to tell someone who is already quiet to talk less. You also don’t want somebody who is dominating a conversation to talk more. The question of figuring out where are things out of kilter, how do you bring them into balance, is an important thing to think about.
If it’s a really critical issue, it’s important to make sure I’m there and participating. There are two reasons somebody might not be talking. One is they are inherently shy and the other is fear. If somebody is afraid of the repercussions of expressing an opinion, it doesn’t really matter who is leading the discussion. It’s the cultural issue that needs to be dealt with. The role of the group conversation is to make sure everyone voices their opinion. If there is going to be a strong objection, that’s not the first place you want it aired.
