Think, Make, Route, Do, Fix

I believe there are five buckets to put ourselves in when it comes to work. None are better and none are somehow less important. We need more people in some buckets than others, for instance. but it's good to consider which bucket you're operating from and which one might be necessary. Oh, and you can obviously exist in more than one bucket, but you at least have a primary mode.

Think - How Should This All Go?

While I'm starting here, this isn't the most important bucket. It's just the logical first. Because it's about ideas. Think. This is where people say things like, "Now that there's a pandemic, let's launch a bunch of ghost kitchens, because the whole 'restaurant' real estate part of the equation is expensive." We need fewer thinkers, though we do need them. Thinkers are great in that they consider what wasn't there before and will it into being.

The weakness of Think people is that they love to think up new things, but we don't always need something new.

Make - Let's Give it a Shot

Makers are the ones who get their hands dirty and try something new. They are very important because they go beyond the ideas explored by the Think people and make them a reality. And sometimes, makers make as a way of thinking, so they don't even technically need the Think people. Some makers just go off, tinker, explore. Software dev founders are like that: I've always wanted a portable version of this product. I'm just going to go make it myself.

Make people are exciting, but they can be wasteful. If you just make without thinking things through, how do you know what's worth it? And Make people need Do people to run things.

Route - Oh Manager, My Manager

Once more than a handful of people are involved, it's better to have some people in the Route bucket. Project managers and people who love spreadsheets are Route people. Is everybody good? Did you remember to bring your lunch? Route people are the "parents" of any organization. They have a lot of work making sure everything is going where it should go and if it's all getting done.

Route people should be the second smallest bucket. Most companies that find themselves gummed up tend to have too many Route people.

Do - There is no Try

The bulk of any business are the Do people. They make the sandwiches. They code the code. If you don't have a lot of Do people, you're not going to get anything handled. Because if there's no "do," there's no "done."

Sometimes, people feel bad that they're Do people. But that's silly. These are the most important people in any business. They might look to Route people to know what to do next, or what order, or how much, but Route people don't do. They just know where things should go.

Do people sometimes feel undervalued and they fade out in place. It's not often their fault. Also, sometimes if Do people don't have some guidance, they end up doing little things. But wow, the best of the Do people are like titans on earth.

Fix - What if We Try THIS?

People who find themselves in the Fix bucket are the fidgeters, the pokers, the "you just couldn't leave things alone, could you?" types. They look at the various configurations and setups and the people and say, "Let's try something else here." Fix people can be frustrating. They upset a lot of apple carts.

A business couldn't endure having too many Fix people. Fix people mess up the Route people and the Do people. They work great with Make people, and they usually dabble in Think work themselves.

None of These Buckets are Level-Specific

There are Do people at the executive level. There are Make people on the front lines. I say this to point out that the buckets rarely line up with any hierarchy. Some don't quite work as well. Think people can really stir up a team of Do people, so their ideas usually get shot down. Executives who are mostly Route people often find themselves struggling a bit, as well.

Do You See Yourself?

Like any kind of categorization, you might see yourself, or you could be thinking, "Huh, none of this really resonates with me." This isn't some encompassing framework like the Clifton Strengthsfinder or what have you. It's just a way to parse some of the primary forces at play.

For instance, there's no "Coach" bucket listed. Coaching's pretty important to a company and the development of people. Why doesn't it get a bucket? Because coaching is an ingredient to the other roles.

So, do you see yourself? What does it make you think?

Chris...