What…No Angry Birds?

As I rode to the airport this morning, an interesting conversation sprung up on twitter. It was a continuation of one that had started briefly the night before . It had started innocuously enough about the app Angry Birds, the game where you launch different birds into flight in order to destroy some pigs and their dwellings. The conversation quickly turned this morning to the fact that one of the issues with Angry Birds and games like it, is that they are addictive and can really eat into productivity. One tweeter mentioned that IT was not only the security police but the productivity police as well.

This has been an on-going theme the last few weeks, especially since Yahoo has declared that working from home would no longer be allowed at their company. This change in policy was ascribed to people not getting their work done while working remotely. I know of many companies that have banned all games and the like from COPE (Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled) devices as well as apps like Facebook and Twitter. They have at some places tried to do the same with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), which is shocking in itself. You own the device and you can’t put the apps that you would like to on it.

The problem is that IT has become the productivity Czars for the entire workforce. Not only is this misguided, but it just enforces the notion of IT as the naysayers, those who say “no”! It doesn’t help that many times we accept the role and for some of those in IT they relish the power that comes with it. They have tools that make it easy to implement policies of device imprisonment. You can blacklist apps. Depending on the tool it can be done by category or sometimes has to be done by app name. You can also go with the much gentler and nicer sounding whitelisting of apps. It’s not any better, it only allows your users the ability to install the apps that you deem safe or allowable. If you download anything that isn’t on the whitelist than you lose access to all corporate resources.

The real issue here is that we don’t trust our workers. There’s nothing wrong with trying to protect your users from malicious apps, malware and spyware. It’s good practice for you to do that. Trust me, your users don’t want their corporate or their personal data stolen and will be happy if you can help them out. Beyond that though, what happened to personal responsibility. It needs to be part of the company’s culture that people take responsibility for their own actions. Heck, it should be part of the person’s own moral compass that they should take responsibility for their own actions.
It doesn’t say much when you don’t trust your own people to get their work done. I, like so many others, have been known to take a mental break and break out a game of Soduku, Temple Run, and yes, even Angry Birds when I needed a mental break. I still do. Other times I hop on twitter and have short conversations with folks. Usually I do this because I need a chance for my mind to wander. I’ve spent so long contemplating an issue that I can no longer see the forrest for the trees. The break helps me to focus by actually letting my mind wander. It’s not a question of not getting your work done, but actually doing it better. I take responsibility for my time and I do what I need to make sure I meet my commitments.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who are addicted to these games and yes, their work product slips. There will always be people who have issues. The problem is that we become paranoid and let a few people cloud our judgement for the rest of our workforce. We have managers where we work and their responsibility is making sure that their teams get their work done. They need to manage effectively. When they see issues with people they need to be handled effectively.

March Madness starts this week, and there will be loads of people who will be streaming the games at work and will be very difficult to get a hold of if it’s the right game. Is the best way to handle that to cut off the streams at the firewall? Unless you can enclose the company in a giant Faraday cage, people will just use their cellular plans to get around it. Is it a bad thing? If your workers planned their day around it, so that they were more productive before the games started, and their work doesn’t suffer, why should you care? Maybe the better way to handle it is to organize a viewing party in a conference room. People still need to bring their devices and those that have to work need to, but you can build team camaraderie and good will. The next time you have to have someone stay late or work hard before a deadline, they will remember watching the games and will be more favorable towards it.

On the other hand, if you have a worker who completely shuts down and doesn’t get anything done during that time, then you as a manager have to step in. Maybe it becomes personal day for them, or maybe they lose the privilege. It’s the same thing with Angry Birds. If someone wants to play a game but is your top producer, why penalize them? They have figured out what works for them and for you, encourage them by enabling them to be flexible and agile, give them the freedom to work in a way that allows them to be even more productive.

Remember, before people were playing Angry Birds, they were playing Solitaire or Mine Sweeper on their computers and before that they were reading the news paper in the morning when they got in. Learn to say yes to those who can and let them take the responsibility for their own actions. Reserve your power for when you need to act. A company that has to treat all their employees like little children has little hope of succeeding when those that treat their employees with respect and value their contributions are growing as fast as they are these days.