During a recent conversation with a new manager undergoing the transition from individual contributor, they described a difficulty they were having in holding a new employee to adherence of a certain process. Uh oh.

The request was to send this manager a weekly summary of their work by a certain day and time each week. It wasn’t happening. Each one was late, or didn’t come at all.

There are so many different ways to handle this type of situation. Without deeply understanding the relevant context and background, let’s not entertain a recommendation here.

It stoked the memory of a story from Apple, uncovered by Adam Lashinsky of Fortune in his book “Inside Apple” and discovered via a Ben Thompson Stratechery article linked at the bottom of this post:

Steve Jobs gives employees a little speech when they’re promoted to Vice President at Apple…Lashinsky calls it the “Difference Between the Janitor and the Vice President.” Jobs tells the VP that if the garbage in his office is not being emptied regularly for some reason, he would ask the janitor what the problem is. The janitor could reasonably respond by saying, “Well, the lock on the door was changed, and I couldn’t get a key.”

It’s an irritation for Jobs, but it’s an understandable excuse for why the janitor couldn’t do his job. As a janitor, he’s allowed to have excuses. “When you’re the janitor, reasons matter,” Jobs tells newly minted VPs, according to Lashinsky. “Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering,” says Jobs, adding, that Rubicon is “crossed when you become a VP.” In other words, you have no excuse for failure. You are now responsible for any mistakes that happen, and it doesn’t matter what you say.

Excuses can be valid, especially for newer hires and those with less experience. Expectations need to be set early, and likely reset again. But, the question is not whether you are at a VP level. Factoring in the level of the no-update-giving employee isn’t always relevant either.

The question is are you willing to take a stand and let your team members know where and when the Rubicon has been crossed?

Each manager is given the responsibility of choosing a set of standards that must then be enforced in order to preserve the commitment and operational efficiency of the group.

So next time there is a phantom traffic jam, Caltrain delay, mudslide, BART emergency, Monday illness, rain, car trouble, e-mail stuck in drafts, e-mail stuck in outbox, WiFi failure, VPN connection issue, dentist appointment, other appointment or just plain ignorant gusto…refer back to the line that’s been drawn.

Good thing performance reviews are around the corner this fall. The die has been cast!

Stratechery Feb 21, 2019 daily update: Nest’s Secret Microphone, YouTube and the Pollyanish Assumption — Again, Pinterest and Anti-Vaxxers