I came across a great quote this week. Elihu Root an attorney and secretary of state under President Theodore Roosevelt said in the context of litigation “About half the practice of a decent lawyer is telling would be clients that they are damned fools and should stop”. 
 
Many, many IT project contracts experience some form of programme challenges in the earlier phases of implementation. This is when the gloves and sometimes blindfolds of the procurement and contracting phase come off and the supplier gets to understand what the customer really wants. Generally, this leads to a bit of a hiatus, some raised voices and tempers and then a contract reset which puts everything back on track.
 
However, during this almost inevitable phase one of the options which somebody will invariably raise, generally without much thought and sometimes quite a lot of swearing is “right let’s go into dispute, we’ll sort them out in court”!
 
Now don’t get me wrong, for a truly entrenched project where the parties have tried for some considerable time to resolve their differences and ended up with very fixed and intractable positions, this may be a viable, and indeed possibly the only, way forward. Alternative dispute resolution processes (ADR) such as adjudication and mediation may work particularly well and are continuously improving – see for example the new SCL (Society for Computers and the Law)SCL Adjudication Procedure launched last year I have every admiration and respect for the litigation colleagues I have worked with over the years – their skill set can be invaluable.
 
But and it is a big but, going into a formal dispute process is a game changer for an IT project which tends to take on a life of its own. All the energy and efforts of both teams goes into proving they are right and supporting the lawyers as they crawl over the contract and all related correspondence. Despite the increased use ADR most litigation is based on an adversarial system where you have to prove you are right and the other side wrong. Resuscitating an IT project after the parties have had a go at each other in this manner, even in the early stages of dispute resolution, is never easy. The relationships of trust and open communication which are essential to successful development and delivery will have been severely dented at best and possibly irretrievably damaged. 
 
I actually think that working through project issues with the right mindset can often identify and manage and avoid the argument in the first place. See, for example, this short article The Ten Commandments For Avoiding Litigation On Construction Projects which includes basic advice like formalizing contract changes in writing. And again this Harvard Business Review article Five Ways to Keep Disputes Out of Court which advocates alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and comments There are few things managers dread more than litigation. Even petty cases have a way of damaging relationships, tarnishing reputations, and eating up enormous sums of money, time, and talent. Most managers know that lawsuits are steadily increasing. Smart managers know that they are also increasingly avoidable.
 
I suggest there are many ways of avoiding even using ADR and prevent projects going wrong.
 

• Contract for flexible processes to manage project delivery and performance
• Get the right team and personalities on both sides
• Use an obligation tracker visible to both parties to understand how the project is going
• If traditional development methods are not working consider agreeing to use Agile processes
• Remember there is a contract and try and follow it
• Make sure senior management know if there are any pending major issues so they can try and diffuse them
• Avoid taking fixed positions and blaming the other party
• Work together co-operatively – which sounds easy but I have seen customers and even suppliers take an arrogant and high handed attitude which almost invariably will doom the project or impair the quality of the service
• Ironically, despite my warning about litigation, keep your lawyers and commercial advisers close at hand and communication with their opposite numbers – this can diffuse many potentials disputes and misunderstandings 

 
On of Charles Dickens characters said in Bleak House of the Jarndyce v Jarndyce case in the Chancery court it chronicles The Lawyers have twisted it into such a state of bedevilment that the original merits of the case have long disappeared from the face of the earth.
 
Now I am a lawyer and I know things have greatly improved, but I still agree with the sage advice of another American President Abraham Lincoln Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbours to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.

Cabin fever is the phenomenon that occurs when someone is stuck inside for a protracted period of time, unable to get outside into fresh air or to interact with other human beings. The oldest known use of the term cabin fever to mean a type of claustrophobia caused by being forced into a period of isolation occurred in the early 1900s. It seems to have originated in North America. The image is one of a pioneer spending long winters by himself on the Great Plains, where severe weather and distances from neighbours were truly isolating.
 
Sadly, many of us are now at risk of something similar as we all work from our homes. Courtesy of broadband and the internet and laptops the technology is there to facilitate professional people working effectively and efficiently anywhere. Skype and Zoom and Teams all provide technology platforms we can use to have a virtual office in our front rooms. In fact, the current difficult circumstances are just accelerating a trend that was happening anyway.
 
See this article Global Remote Working and Statistics which says that Across the globe, working from home and remote locations has grown 159% since 2005, more than 11x faster than the rest of the workforcecommenting Many of today’s job seekers are searching for greater work/life balance, and broader choices in terms of where – and how – they work.
 
Whilst this Harvard Business Review piece Is It Time to Let Employees Work from Anywhere? comments A 2017 Gallup poll reported that 43% of employed Americans had spent at least some time working remotely, and US Census data released in 2018 reported 5.2% of U.S. workers being based entirely at home and discusses the positive advantages and the potential increase in productivity.
 
However as with all rapid changes in the work place this one has happened so fast that we are still adapting to the many changes it brings. See for example this article The 7 biggest remote work challenges (and how to overcome them) which comments It’s not all rainbows and unicorns. A report from the United Nations International Labour Organization found that while employees are more productive when they work outside of the conventional office, they’re also more vulnerable to working longer hours, a more intense work pace, work-home interference, and, in some cases, greater stress. It discusses the challenges of working too much, prioritising and dealing with interruptions (the doorbell, your dog barking during an important call).
 
It also talks about the risks of loneliness and lack of human interaction quoting the actor Cody Jones  “To a certain extent, your co-workers are your social circle. Sometimes it is hard to explain to others that all your friends are online.”This Virgin article The five challenges to working from home and how to fix them discusses the “always on” problem My desk is always there, like a siren song, calling me to take care of some small thing at all hours of the day. Mitch Leff, president of Leff & Associates Public Relations agrees, "Separating work from home is a challenge. It’s very easy to find yourself down in the office getting ‘just one thing done’ in theevening, when you realise it’s midnight and your family has all gone to bed!" we’ve all been there!
 
The other thing I have learnt over the past week is to use the technology to have virtual coffee breaks or tea and chats with colleagues, scheduling them if necessary. After all, in an office we take time to speak to our colleagues so why not do so virtually?
 
On line gamers have known this for ages and as Bob Dylan said in the lyrics for the song You’re a Big Girl Now You’ve known it all the time, I’m learnin’ it these days.
 
That for me is the thing: we will need to adapt and learn. Here are 10 Really Smart Quotes About Working From Home including building a stress free zone, get ready (don’t stay in your slippers) and  get up don’t work from bed, and again stay socially connected.  I particularly like 
 
Close the door 
 
"The most important thing is to have dedicated office space where you can CLOSE THE DOOR and have set office hours. ... I did the opposite and allowed work to swallow my home life for a while. ... Stupid mistake."
 
--Kathy Kristof, editor of SideHusl.com
 
Create routines
 
"Establish a pre-work routine and an after-work routine. Working in the same place where you wake up, eat, and sleep can make anyone go crazy without proper boundaries in place."
 
--Marissa Owens, Opportunity Business Loans
 
​I suppose as we leave our virtual office at the end of another virtual day it is really just a question of balance and finding time for our social and family selves as well as our work self. As Michelle Obama said “We Need To Do A Better Job Of Putting Ourselves Higher On Our Own ‘To Do’ List”.

We had a bizarre experience flying out of Gatwick to France a week or so ago. We had been told there was the usual air traffic control strike in France so we would have to wait for a flight slot. However, we were soon under way and taxied out to the main runway – and then stopped. Just where the engines normally increase their speed, and the plane accelerates down the runway. After 10 minutes or so it was obvious something was wrong as nothing was taking off or landing, and we were standing still. 
 
Then the captain finally came on the intercom. He apologised and said that during a routine inspection the airport had found of all things a pothole in the runway! They were now busy fixing it. He said he had never experienced this in 17 years of flying. We had to go off the runway where the engines could be turned off to save fuel – and eventually we got underway – now a lot later.
 
What it made me think about, especially in these rather troubled times, is that in professional life, in the business world, not everything is going to always go smoothly as planned. I can remember several critical deals in private practice and industry that almost didn’t sign because of one problem or another. A last minute procurement issue almost wrecked one public sector deal. An eleventh hour price reduction request from a private sector company nearly destroyed another. And these were both transaction that had been in negotiation in one form or another for around a year. In each case we found a solution and the deals were concluded.
 
It is not the fact that there will be issues and problems – it is almost inevitable and a fact of life. Of course, the scale of challenges varies and we are now living in unprecedented times. However as always it is not the problem that is really the issue. It is rather how we as business people and professionals react and seek to solve the difficulties we encounter.
 
Winston Churchill had an innovative approach to problem solving – and he surely had enough challenges saving the western world as we know it. He talked about corkscrew thinkers, ….. referring to individuals who possess creative problem-solving, initiative, leadership and emotional intelligence skills. Individuals who are able to look at problems in the world and see game-changing, innovative solutions. See this Guardian article Corkscrew thinking won the war. Here's how to use it in business.
 
It goes on to comment that By contrast our education system, which was designed in response to an industrialised Britain, is one that requires and promotes standardisation Many students today believe all you need to be successful is to reach an answer that has been predetermined as correct.
 
There is actually quite a lot of advice and literature about innovative problem solving – see this article The Basics of Creative Problem Solving – CPS which comments:
 
Creative ideas do not suddenly appear in people’s minds for no apparent reason. Rather, they are the result of trying to solve a specific problem or to achieve a particular goal. Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity were not sudden inspirations. Rather they were the result of a huge amount of mental problem solving trying to close a discrepancy between the laws of physics and the laws of electromagnetism as they were understood at the time.  It then proposes a framework for creative solutions to problems.
 
See also this article on Creative Problem Solving which cites the example of James Dyson being fed up with bags in vacuum cleaners leaking or breaking, covering you in dust, so While many companies focused on developing a better vacuum cleaner filter, he realized that he had to think differently and find a more creative solution. So, he devised a revolutionary way to separate the dirt from the air, and invented the world's first bagless vacuum cleaner.
 
I also like this Harvard Business Review article on “disruptive innovation” The 4 Types of Innovation and the Problems They Solve. This proposes an “Innovation Matrix” and also emphasises flexibility and creativity commenting:
 
There is no one “true” path to innovation.
 
Yet all too often, organizations act as if there is. They lock themselves into one type of strategy and say, “This is how we innovate.” It works for a while, but eventually it catches up with them. They find themselves locked into a set of solutions that don’t fit the problems they need to solve. Essentially, they become square-peg companies in a round-hole world and lose relevance.
 
As Albert Einstein said To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.
 
Or as Richard Branson advises Learn to use your brain power. Critical thinking is the key to creative problem solving in business.
 
And above all we have to be positive and fix the pothole and also look for opportunities in our professional and working lives – returning to Winston Churchill for the last word in two quotes Every man should ask himself each day whether he is not too readily accepting negative solutions. and The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

I was thinking this week about what distinguishes a successful team. This can be a team assembled for a bid for 6 months, a department or indeed an entire firm. Looking back over my time in private practice and in house as a lawyer there is one clear indicator of a coordinated, successful, functioning team. That is that there is an energy, a buzz of excitement and anticipation when the team works together.
 
It does not matter how challenging or stressful the task is, the individuals understand each other, work well together – and have a sort of collective chemistry that makes light work of difficulties. When you are part of such a group you can feel this vitality and drive. You can also definitely feel the absence of this sort of energy when a team feels flat and goes about its task in a perfunctory and indeed professional manner, but without that edge of excitement which makes it high performing.
 
I am not sure I know exactly what creates this difference but here are some ideas. See first his Forbes article 7 Ways To Re-Energize Your Team which comments You can feel energy in rooms. It radiates. When teams are energized, they feel like they can achieve almost anything. It suggests “calibrating” the energy levels at different times of the day and Personally model the enthusiasm—even when it’s hard. The author worked at eBay and says I learned from Meg Whitman’s [the American business executive who was CEO of Hewlett Packard] leadership. She made me laugh every day and that helped me get through the chaos.
 
Also see this blog 10 Ways Leaders Can Re-Energize Their Teams which comments  it is important for team leaders and managers to know how to re-energize their staff when neededand suggests encouraging continuous creativity, feedback and learning from team members.
 
I also like this article How to keep your Employees energised which says Top organisations around the world are starting to manage employee energy like a highly important strategic asset. They know that the ever-increasing pace of advancements requires more and more human energy. Any entrepreneur will tell you that it takes a tonne of energy to grow and build a business. It also like several of the other commentaries on this subject recommends “celebrating wins” – which can be big, like signing a contract, or just completing a crucial task one day or one week.
 
It seems clear that having the right sort of leader who encourages this interaction, and frankly having fun as well as being really committed, is essential. A team leader who, for example, just wants to hear their own views and talks over team members will not succeed in creating high energy levels. The team just won’t bother and will do what they have to, retreating into their shells. 
 
See this New York Times article How to Build a Successful Team which contains useful guidance including creating a clear map Leaders owe their teams an answer to the same question that young children often ask their parents before setting out on a long drive: “Where are we going and how are we going to get there?” In other words, what is the goal and how are we going to measure progress along the way?It also discusses the importance of respect and the dangers of a “bad boss” citing John Duffy, chief executive of the mobile-technology company 3Cinteractive "We make everyone understand that the reason the culture works is that we have that respect. There is a comfort level and a feeling of safety inside our business.”
 
It also of course matters who the team members are and that they are suited to the team and to their designated roles. As Jim Collins, the author of the best-selling management books “Good to Great” and “Built to Last” says you must Get the right people in the right seats on the bus.
 
Henry Ford said Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.
 
While as Pat Summit, the  American women's college basketball head coach, sagely observed Teamwork requires that everyone’s efforts flow in a single direction. Feelings of significance happen when a team’s energy takes on a life of its own.
 
Because as Abraham Lincoln commented If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.