Professional Rule Breaking

The nature of this job is to break all of the rules, but not to break people’s trust.

Supposedly descending from Germany, there is a card game called Mao with only two real rules:

1. You are forbidden to tell other players the rules.
2. Players are punished for breaking the rules.

You have to figure out what you are supposed to do through trial and error— and each group who plays the game has different rules. Sound familiar?

Whether it is an engine that powers a car or an online payment processor— every system has a designed purpose. Rules, documented or not, exist to protect the integrity and spirit of that system by requiring/requesting that you follow steps to maintain it’s operations. But rules are imperfect and they often leave room for ambiguity. How far we push these rules often impacts stability (and emotion). Lets look at three ways:

1. Using the rules to game the system
2. Breaking rules that protect the ‘spirit’ of the system
3. Breaking rules that break the system

Gaming the System

In judo, the intent of the sport is to “be combative” and throw or pin your opponent. So, if you try and run away from them by stepping out of the designated area to avoid a throw— you get a penalty. But how does a judge know ‘intentionally’ stepping out vs. otherwise? Knowing this, it is common for players to force their opponent to the edge of the mat space and force them to step out of the ring. Clearly this isn’t the purpose of the rule, but the system allows for it and therefore it happens. In general using rules in this ‘gotcha’ sorta way are frowned upon, but because the rule has to exist to prevent a bigger problem it isn’t often changed.

Breaking the ‘spirit’ of the system

Bending some rules, however, violates the the unspoken etiquette or commonly shared perceptions of a system. They might not break a system’s integrity directly (i.e. it still works), but these types of infractions often cause controversy of some sort. As mentioned before, you can win a judo match by a throw or pin/submission (aka: ground work). But fighting on the ground was historically only allowed because fights often continue on the ground. In the early 1900’s a university in southern Japan recognized that the north was superior in throwing, so they started to leverage ground work as a primary skill and started or forced matches to the ground*. They won a major tournament this way— and all hell broke loose. Though technically legal, fighting that way violated the spirit of the game. There was quickly a revision to the rules.

Rules that break the system

The last thing I’ll say about rules is that they don’t always reflect reality. They speak to a ‘happy path’ of use but not what people could actually do. It is far easier to say “don’t do this thing'“ than it is to build integrity checks that prevent it. While these are are often my favorite to break, they can really upset people the most. By their own nature, these rules violate the integrity AND the spirit of a system. In a judo match, kicking and punching is not allowed— yet clearly the reality is that people can do so. To break these types of rules you no longer operate within the system, you have reshaped the game entirely. These violations can indeed go way too far and as an industry we often debate the consequences of showing folks ‘truth’.

So how do you keep people from hating you when your job is to break rules?

1. Recognize that people really don’t actually want you to break ‘the rules’. People want to be impressed. It’s more likely want you to throw them with a new type of judo technique they’ve never seen, or just throw them with something so strong they couldn’t stop it. It is unlikely they want you to come in and push them out of the ring, pull guard on the ground, and kick them in the face.
2. Set expectations up front and communicate with all of the stakeholders. Scope (what are we allowed to access) and Rules of Engagement (what we can do) have to be very clearly defined. This helps both keep yourself out of jail, but also prepare people for what might happen and not upset everyone at the same time.
3. Don’t embarrass them. I believe the phrase is, "just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” Take that to heart and be proactive in walking people through reality, even if it is harsh. De-escalate things by showing them data and trends to help justify why you did what you did.

As a professional even if your client might expect a Judo match, it is your responsibility to prepare them for the something different that is coming. We are supposed to lie but not be liars, take evidence but not steal, break the rules but not be a cheater.