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Does Your Work Matter?
"All people are different people" is definitely true.
But most of us have one thing in common: we’re seeking meaning. We want to know that our life has a purpose and that our time and energy are spent making the world a better place.
Except, for some reason, when it comes to work. A lot of us take crappy jobs with crappy bosses and crappy customers. We count the days until retirement. We spend 8-10 hours a day having the life drained out of us, trying to shore up whatever defenses we can so it doesn't infect the rest of our life.
Why do we do this? One-third of our lives are spent at work, which might be more than any other single category across our relationships and activities. When we spend more waking hours with our co-workers than we do with our family, we should probably choose co-workers very carefully.
But the problem is a lot bigger than just co-workers or work culture. Other things just aren't working about work:
employers aren't forthcoming about their priorities
teams are often dysfunctional
we treat work like a zero-sum game
Employer Priorities
Have you ever worked for a company that printed its core values on the walls?
Most core values are aspirational—a wish list of things employers want their staff to be. If a company actually values those things, you’ll see them in every person at the company. Hiring, firing, rewarding, and promoting decisions are based (at least partially) on them.
Most employers’ priorities seem to be about maximizing the returns of stakeholders. There's nothing wrong with this, but if all of your policies and decisions come back to a financially-driven target, you can lose sight of the bigger purpose and create an unhealthy work environment.
Dysfunctional Teams
In "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," Patrick Lencioni writes a brilliant parable and business model for the things that prevent teams from thriving. You'll notice that the foundation for this model is trust.
Do you trust your co-workers? Lencioni would argue that if you do, you are probably more likely to engage in healthy conflict. When you trust your team and get a chance to have your voice be truly heard, it's easier to commit—even if you don't agree completely. This leads to increased accountability and, of course, better attention to the results your team needs.
For most of my life, I've heard the people around me complain about work and their co-workers. I don't think there's a lot of trust going around these days.
The Zero-Sum Game
Perhaps the root of our problems with work is treating it like a zero-sum game. Every hour spent at work takes away from time at home, right? Success at work must cost you something, right?
But what if you genuinely enjoyed your work? What if your work made the world a better place? What if you learned and grew and became a better person every day?
If we can answer these questions with a resounding "yes" then we can have full confidence that our work is not a zero-sum game. Anything less is unacceptable.
What Can We Do About It?
So how do we find assurance that what we do matters? Where's the litmus test for whether or not our work is meaningful? It's not perfect or complete, but there are steps we can take to define our work and purpose:
Read The Truth About Employee Engagement. Lencioni describes three signs of a miserable job, and I think we all should push hard to find the inverse in our work (Measurement, Relevance, Being Seen/Heard).
Discover your core values. EOS® has a pretty cool approach (here is something similar) to this where you examine your top employees—your role models—and find what they all have in common. Once you have your core values outlined, repeat them often and use them in all your business decisions.
Work the Venn diagrams. If you're familiar with the hedgehog concept or Ikigai, you know what I'm talking about. The Hedgehog Concept (as outlined by Jim Collins) encourages businesses to simplify based on what they're passionate about, what drives their economic engine, and what they are capable of being the best in the world at. Ikigai is a bit more subtle but focuses on the individual instead of the business. Both can be used to zoom out and gain some perspective on how your work impacts the world.
The Noble Cause
Everyone needs a reason for work beyond profits, and it can't take mental gymnastics to connect day-to-day work with that purpose.
If you're a middle school janitor, your calling is far higher than cleaning bathrooms. You don't just take out the trash or mop floors. You positively impact future generations. You create an educational environment where kids can thrive and learn and grow.
If you take pictures of utility poles, your purpose is far greater than being the fastest fielder this side of the Mississippi. You don't just measure attachments or record down guy specs. You protect the reliability of the electrical grid. You ensure local communities have access to reliable, high-speed internet.
The Invisible Heroes
But let's be honest: in the world of pole attachments, it’s fairly easy to question the value of your work. Unfortunately, we don’t always get to see the effects of diligent data collection or safe engineering in real-time. Without tangible reminders of the difference you’re making, it’s easy to become burnt out.
So let me ask you a different question.
How are you reading this right now?
Sure, you may be on your phone, a tablet, a laptop, or a PC. But how are these words showing up on your screen?
It all comes down to telecommunications.
All the information we could ever want or need, more than ever before, is at our fingertips. Anywhere, anytime, instantly—because of telecommunications.
Telecom is a manner of communicating over distances. It’s a modern answer to an age-old question:
how can I, in this place where I am, communicate with you in the place where you are?
We used to use smoke signals, flag waving, and lit beacons. Fast forward to the mid-1800s, and modern telecommunications was born with the invention of the telegraph.
For the first time, people communicated using tiny electric signals through Morse code to get complex messages across long distances. Around the same time, Pony Express riders were galloping across the country, setting new standards as the fastest way to send and receive messages. Think of it—news of Abraham Lincoln’s election to President traveled from the east coast to the west in only eight short days!
But the Pony Express wasn’t faster than the telegraph. Poles quickly took over the country, making cross-country communication possible in seconds. (When Abe was assassinated, news reached California instantly.)
From the telegraph, we rapidly moved to the telephone. Poles began carrying telegraph, telephone, and electric lines, creating monstrosities like this early 1900s pole:
From telegraphs to telephones, television, and computers, we finally got to the internet. From there, things really sped up. Connection was everywhere—homes, offices, cars, your pocket!
You could talk, text, share, email, tweet, repost, play, stream. You could get an education, learn a language, go to work, and see your doctor—all over a screen. And it kept getting faster and faster, more and more advanced, with unheard-of download and upload speeds.
Cell phones had access to 3G cellular, then LTE, and now 5G ultra-wideband and were nearly as versatile as computers and laptops. And then?
A global pandemic.
Thankfully, we could still attend class (in the shower), visit the doctor (from our beds), and Zoom into meetings (with no pants on).
The Divide
But not everyone had those options.
Covid-19 demonstrated our deep dependency on reliable, high-speed internet. It also highlighted the communities that desperately lack it. Across the country, underserved communities still struggle to keep up with a world that sees online education, telehealth, cloud backups, streaming services, and video calls as a given.
Before we write those folks off as stubborn luddites or the few residents of Alaska or Wyoming, remember that 1 in 10 households have speeds less than 25Mbps and 1 in 3 internet customers have speeds less than 100Mbps.
The US government is working hard to provide public funding to incentivize providers to build networks in rural areas. RDOF, BEAD, and Internet for All are efforts to provide high-speed internet to the areas most in need. Providers are leveraging public and private capital to chip away at the number of underserved communities while also hitting ROI goals.
And their best option for broadband deployment?
You guessed it— the humble utility pole.
Maybe not the same death traps of the 1900s, nor the ones carrying news of Lincoln’s assassination, but the poles you pass every day, stretching from cell towers and standing tall over suburban neighborhoods (where everything goes underground). The poles that carry internet to the most rural areas and beyond.
So, how are you reading this? How can you check your email, call your mom, like a post, or stream TV?
All thanks to the utility pole.
So next time you're struggling through permitting or sifting through applications and question if the headaches are even worth it... just remember: when a new attachment is safely added to a pole, or someone can pursue online education with stable internet access, or the lights stay on in the midst of a thunderstorm, it’s because you did your job.
The Virtuous Cycle
That being said, it's a pretty tough job.
Even though we’ve attaching communications cables to poles for nearly 200 years, we're still wrestling with the best ways to do it safely and quickly. In most places in America, it works like this (and this is a gross oversimplification):
A communications provider allocates private or public funds to bring service to a new place.
They plan out their route and identify where to go underground and where to go overhead.
They send someone out to collect data from the field so that they can submit requests to attach.
They submit permits for each pole to the correct pole owners.
The pole owner reviews their submission and puts it through their process to handle all necessary items like billing, engineering, and construction.
Once the necessary electrical work has been completed, the applicant coordinates all other construction work needed from existing attachers (their competitors) to create space for their new attachment.
The Perfect Storm
Two key issues in this process are causing headaches:
Issue one - Every pole owner has slightly different standards for engineering and construction, which means the permitting process varies drastically from one region to the next. Some pole owners only require locations and pole ID numbers, and others require full engineering (make ready and pole loading analysis). Most of the time, the applicant either over- or under-collects data in the field, so they've either already wasted time and money or they're about to.
Issue two - Existing attachers are incentivized to draw this process out as long as possible. The longer they wait, the better. Why would they spend time and energy helping a competitor get on the pole quickly?
And so we end up in a vicious cycle.
Applicants lose calendar days because they misunderstand the pole owners' priorities, only to finally get things right and be slowed down by their competitors at the one-yard line.
So some of them cut a corner. Or two.
Maybe they build based on existing guying instead of following the design package. Maybe they build before space has been made on the pole. Maybe they don’t ever apply and just continue to build out their network.
Applicants who follow the rules are left in the dust by the few bad actors who break them. They start to wonder why the system seems to incentivize bad behavior. System-wide audits are rare enough that most unauthorized attachments go years without being caught.
Maybe this leads more attachers to break the rules. Maybe it doesn’t.
But eventually, inevitably, something goes wrong. There’s a lawsuit, or unauthorized attachments are discovered and investigated. There’s an outage that could have been prevented. Someone gets hurt.
At this point, the pole owner must respond with more stringent standards, processes, and proactive defensive action. There’s hesitation now, and trust is eroding quickly. And the cycle continues.
Pole owners are forced to adapt processes to catch bad actors, and those playing by the rules have to adapt too. Frustration builds, mistakes keep being made, and on and on and on.
But we believe there is a way out.
One-Touch Make Ready
This feels like an important preface: the FCC didn't come up with the concept of one-touch make ready, but they have championed it in reports and orders over the past five years.
OTMR describes a new protocol to escape the vicious cycle. It works like this:
Certain types of engineering and construction are Simple and follow a streamlined process to expedite pole attachments.
Communications providers can approach approved contractors (or bring their own qualified contractor) to perform Simple work on the pole.
The approved contractor performs Simple make ready engineering safely and correctly, and any work requiring Complex make ready will go through the standard process.
Once all the Complex work has been completed, the approved OTMR construction contractor performs all existing attacher moves and installs the new attachment—all in one go.
A post-construction inspection is performed to ensure that construction follows the engineering design and that no new safety issues are created.
One-touch, when executed skillfully, flips the vicious cycle on its head.
A great OTMR process contributes to a healthy joint use program by building trust between all parties involved:
Safety and Reliability - Pole owners can maintain their engineering and construction standards for all make ready, and still utilize their internal processes for all Complex work. They also review as-built documentation to ensure the construction process was performed to their safety and reliability standards.
Full Alignment - Approved one-touch contractors are hired by attachers but also have a reputation at stake with pole owners. This healthy tension leads to decisions that expedite the attachments process, but never at the expense of safety or grid reliability. Because a misstep could result in their approval being revoked, OTMR contractors are very likely to push back on unsafe pressure or practices.
Inaction Leads to Progress - Existing attachers are invited to review the make ready plan and raise flags, but they can no longer bring the attachment process to a halt by dragging their feet. The one-touch make ready process provides attachers with full transparency and a platform to vocalize concerns.
What's Coming
Early versions of one-touch are taking shape in markets across the country with varying success.
The FCC will likely continue to update OTMR expectations as it regulates the pole attachments process. The FCC is also seeking input on how to improve broadband deployment across the nation. Many states self-regulate this process, however, and will be making their own determinations about whether or not OTMR is a valid approach.
It won't solve every problem, but OTMR is a start. And it's best complemented by a healthy joint use program.
Too Important to Overlook
It may not be sexy, but joint use is crucial to provide reliable utilities for people. Managing pole attachments has the potential to be a positive source that improves the quality of life for people across the globe.
Unfortunately, joint use has a pretty negative reputation. Failure in this arena is very public, and success comes with minimal glory.
Pole Attachments in the Spotlight
With broadband front and center in the public eye, and pole attachment requests steadily climbing, pole owners have been under immense scrutiny to streamline processes and improve timelines. The FCC has even put new regulations in place to apply pressure to pole owners across the country.
Some of the bigger communication providers respond to delays by taking utilities to court.
What's Worse than a Lawsuit?
Pressure from the FCC and attachers is significant, but it isn't the biggest challenge of joint use. The most important problem to solve is safety.
Every day, construction takes place across a utility's service territory. Human lives are at stake with every truck roll. Pole attachments aren't the reason for every construction project, but they do represent an additional dimension of safety risk—communication workers.
The typical workflow for a new communications attachment involves every existing attacher sending out their own construction crew to move their cables.
While working in the communication worker's safety zone is considered "low voltage," each new telecom attachment increases the likelihood of accidental injury or even death.
The concerns don't end with worker safety. Poorly engineered communication attachments can cause poles to bend or break—which leads to injury, property damage, fires, and outages.
You Can't Fully Enjoy Netflix When the Power's Out
Safety is first priority, and reliability is a close second. Keeping the lights on requires active measures to improve distribution infrastructure, as well as defensive measures to make sure half the grid doesn't lose power every time the wind blows.
A single communications attachment doesn't typically put the grid at risk, but it's a different story when many attachments are going in multiple directions with unbalanced loads. Improper engineering and construction add further volatility and increase the likelihood of avoidable outages.
It's tough to argue that broadband deployment should be priority number one, especially if you know a lineman or if you've ever lost power in below-freezing temps or the height of summer.
What Healthy Joint Use Looks Like
It's obvious that the stakes are high when it comes to managing pole attachments as an electrical utility, but what does success look like? I'd like to break it down into four categories:
Clear Priorities: attachers will cut corners and resist delays as long as the pole owner's priorities are unclear. Explaining safety and reliability concerns and how the attachment process addresses those concerns can build trust and get all parties involved on the same page.
Organized Process: between agreements, billing, applications, and construction, joint use departments have a lot to manage. Accurate, up-to-date records and reporting can reduce pain while providing clarity to vendors, attachers, and their contractors.
Transparent Workflows: the attachment process takes weeks (sometimes months), and the status of applications is often unclear. Transparency builds trust with attachers and helps highlight where energy should be spent to improve processes. This doesn't solve the black box of DOT permits, but it relieves pressure from the team constantly fielding questions about the status of applications.
Accountability and Results: a healthy program should be constantly improving. Success should be evident across measurables like safety, reliability, and time to build. Post-construction inspections should be used to provide feedback to construction vendors, and attachers should have a chance to voice concerns without resorting to legal escalation.
A healthy joint use program may not be sexy, but it's absolutely essential to bringing reliable utilities to people. Sitting at the crossroads of electrical distribution and high-speed internet, joint use work is uniquely positioned to improve life for Americans.
Reliable Utilities for People
As an important reminder, this didn't all start with Covid-19. Even before things shut down in 2020, requests were steadily climbing. In some markets, telecom attachment applications had doubled, and the teams managing these requests were often weeks or months behind.
But the pandemic did highlight just how dependent our quality of life in America is on our access to reliable, high-speed internet.
There are many ways to bring reliable internet to people: going underground, using fixed wireless, or even through satellites. Each has its own unique cost-benefit analysis, but attaching to utility poles is still the primary channel to maximize the impact of broadband dollars.
There are a lot of problems with the pole attachments process. In summary:
The biggest communication providers want a universal approach to applications even though every pole owner has a different process.
Pole owners and their vendors are struggling to keep up with the volume of applications while keeping workers safe and the grid reliable.
Existing attachers have too much power to slow their competition down.
The Attacher's Perspective
The OTMR approach we outlined above creates a win-win that allows teams to do more work without sacrificing the safety and reliability of the electrical grid. And it prevents incumbent attachers from introducing friction for competition's sake. But there’s another perspective to consider— that of the pole owners.
The Pole Owner's Perspective
Joint use management portals are the best option for pole owners to manage the headaches of joint use.
We've spent the last couple of decades solving the toughest challenges of joint use, both firsthand for a major utility and by supporting software customers across the country. Here's what we've learned and built along the way:
Fully-Administered Standards
Joint use departments are first concerned with the safety and reliability of the grid. Pole owners honor this priority in every step of the pole attachments process, from setting up initial agreements to post-construction inspections and attachment audits.
Attachers would love to steer the process toward an approach that fits their design workflow and timelines—and the FCC is working to make OTMR an option for certain types of work. But as pole owners, these expectations often distract from safety and reliability.
The Katapult Pro application management portal puts the power in the pole owner's hands to ensure consistency from their vendors. The portal facilitates pole owner standards for:
Attachment records
Standard and non-standard application processes
Make ready clearances and rules
Overhead power maps and pole locations
Pole loading standards and equipment specs
Construction packages
Creating these transparent, shareable standards allows pole owners to split work between trusted vendors to match incoming demand without sacrificing safety, reliability, or consistency of process.
Customer-Facing Attachments Portal
You can play defense against a flood of attachment requests by automating your process and providing transparent access to each application's status and next steps. The two approaches complement each other by reducing the risk of litigation and drastically cutting administrative costs.
Allowing attachers and their contractors to submit their own applications is critical to reducing the cost of joint use. It's also an opportunity to put the attachments process on rails and ensure that all applications are pre-vetted for completion.
In Katapult Pro, you can allow attacher admin users to manage their users and permissions. You can also change what information is required to submit an application, as well as the statuses, timelines, notifications, and other actions taken as an app moves through different steps of the process.
Applicants can view all applications at a glance and see the real-time status without calling or emailing for a status update, so you can both focus on the applications that need attention.
Integrated Engineering Workflows
The best engineering teams across the US use Katapult Pro to design, collect, engineer, and deliver make ready solutions. We built these engineering tools so that teams of any size can do great engineering work and deliver transparent data to build trust with their clients and partners.
Katapult Pro's suite of engineering tools uses the same real-time engine as our application portal and can be configured on your server, which means vendors can do great work while:
using a familiar tool
operating within your standards and specifications
producing consistent, standardized deliverables
keeping records and info accurate and up-to-date
And they can do this with existing staff and established workflows to offer a better price and or service.
Education, Scalability, and Growth
Healthy programs must be able to adapt and grow. Increased regulation can cause pressure, as can technology changes, process tweaks, new standards, staff turnover, or a flood of attachment requests from billions of dollars entering the market.
Our approach to support growth is threefold:
Configuration, Training, and Certification - Katapult Pro workflows and models are self-configurable. We have out-of-the-box default workflows that kick-start your project, and our onboarding process includes extensive training to assist you as you own and conquer even the most custom of implementations. Our certification program allows you to evaluate vendors' knowledge of Katapult Pro tools and workflows and gives us confidence that our training works and that teams are properly equipped.
Continuous Improvement Packages - We know that something always comes up, and workflows and processes need to be invested in to grow and thrive. Our packages include monthly credits for custom coding, training, configuration, and more—so your most pressing issues can be solved quickly. Your vendors likely have a similar budget, which should give them the flexibility to capitalize on any opportunity you throw their way.
World-Class Support - We love what we do and we care about the impact of our work. When you call or email us, we'll respond quickly. Our experienced, empathetic support staff work closely with our software and engineering teams to understand the scope and relevance of the work you do. We commit to communicating clearly, resolving issues quickly, and taking accountability if we ever make a mistake.
A Noble Cause
Joint use can be an awkward landing place in your career—and it's almost impossible to explain to family and friends. Despite this, it's an incredible opportunity to positively impact others.
As broadband deployment becomes a hotter topic, joint use departments across the nation will have an opportunity to steer the ship in a healthy direction. By pushing the telecom attachments process to be better and faster without sacrificing safety or reliability, these teams will be instrumental in bringing two critical utilities to communities across the country.
Raising the quality of life for Americans—that's work that matters.
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