Merge

When I was thirteen, I was working a summer job at a mobile home park in Michigan, where I did a slew of miscellaneous manual work. I literally was digging ditches, painting fences, and anything else that needed to get done.

One of the things that needed to get done was to fertilize a field that was probably about 4 acres of grass (or so it seemed like that to me at the time). So instead of just getting behind the spreader and pushing my way through it, I had an idea and a better way of going about it.

I tied the spreader to a John Deer riding mower and pulled it. I thought this was pretty ingenious. I was going to get through this task in no time. That is, until the owner pulled up. From an acre away I could see he was not happy. He told me to stop playing around, put the tractor away and get the field done how it’s supposed to be done -- by pushing the spreader.

So I complied. Obviously, this story sticks with me even today. At the time I thought it was such a pitty that the owner was unwilling to allow his employees to innovate. I still do. He instilled in me that day: There is always a better way [and let your employees experiment to find the better way].

In the past two weeks I’ve seen two innovations Merge employees have instituted. I had nothing to do with it. They came up with it on their own. I think they’re going to add a good bit of value to how we do things, which in turn is going to help our clients.

By the way, one of the “innovations” a member of Team Merge, Kim, implemented this week was a technique called sketchboarding to help onboard the team in planning a web site. I don’t know if it’s the way, but we can’t figure out a better way unless we try.

So Kim, thanks for taking the tractor out of the barn. Don't worry, we won't make you put it away :)

Bottom Line: There is a better way to do things, and in order to be innovative, a company must allow its employees to, well, innovate.