So, someone asked me about this ‘culture 2 sevens clash’ thing, and boy, does that bring back memories. It’s not some fancy theory for me; I lived through a version of it, and let me tell you, it was something.
I remember this one time, I was on this project. Everyone was pretty hyped up because we had these two lead guys, real whizzes, or so they said. Let’s just say, in our little world, they were like getting two sevens on a slot machine – a potential jackpot, right? So, we kinda started calling the whole setup the ‘Two Sevens’ deal, thinking we were onto a winner.
But here’s the kicker: these two ‘Sevens’, they came from totally different worlds. One guy, let’s call him Seven Alpha, was all about tradition. Everything had to be by the book, pages and pages of plans before anyone lifted a finger. Super detailed, super slow, very much “this is how we’ve always done it, and it works.” His team was like that too, quiet, heads-down, follow the leader.
Then you had Seven Beta. This dude was the opposite. All about “move fast and break things.” Sketch on a napkin, build a quick version, test it, change it. His team was loud, always brainstorming, challenging everything. They thought planning for weeks was a total waste of time.
So, you can imagine what happened when these two ‘cultures’ met. It wasn’t a jackpot; it was a train wreck. Meetings were the worst. Alpha would present his 50-slide deck, and Beta’s guys would be fidgeting, wanting to just jump in and start coding or building. Beta would throw out a wild idea, and Alpha’s team would just stare, probably wondering where the 30-page risk assessment document was.
My job? I was stuck right in the middle, trying to get my piece of the work done. I’d get one set of instructions from Alpha’s side – super rigid, very specific. Then Beta’s team would tell me, “Nah, forget that, just try this, it’ll be quicker!” It was confusing as heck. One day we were following a meticulous plan, the next we were told to “just wing it and be agile.”
We spent more time arguing about how to do the work than actually doing it. Lots of finger-pointing. Alpha’s side would say Beta was reckless. Beta’s side would say Alpha was stuck in the mud. Morale just went down the drain. All that initial excitement about the ‘Two Sevens’ bringing us success? Gone. Replaced by pure frustration.
In the end, the project did get finished, kinda. But it was late, over budget, and honestly, not that great. The ‘Two Sevens’ never really combined their strengths. They just clashed until everyone was exhausted. What did I learn? Well, having talented people or good ideas isn’t enough if their basic ways of working, their ‘cultures’, are totally at odds. It’s like trying to mix oil and water. Both can be good on their own, but together? Just a mess. You can’t just smash two good things together and expect magic if they fundamentally don’t align. That ‘culture 2 sevens clash’ – yeah, I saw it firsthand, and it wasn’t pretty.
