Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

Office politics are one of the most frustrating things in the business world.  There are people that live for this challenge.  However, they are often seen as detrimental to productivity.  We even have some arguments that this as something that needs to be removed from typical work experiences. The Value Of Different Voices One of the essential attributes of office politics is that an organization has multiple opinions on a topic.  There are examples we can look at that are purely self-serving.  However, let's refer to that as scheming rather than office politics.  Therefore, I do not include people trying solely to protect their job or extend their fiefdom as part of this discussion. We can all agree that people have different viewpoints, opinions, and beliefs.  These attributes add up to different points-of-view.  A different point of view can block someone from understanding a fundamental truth.  On the other hand, it can be required for the group to understand a topic better.  The fact that an organization has people voicing different opinions via office politics is a net good thing in my opinion.  Groupthink or silent dissension is never healthy in the long-run. Put Up or Shut Up A second highly valuable result of office politics is that it often generates debate.  We have seen numerous examples of organizations falling into a rut.  They end up doing things because that's the way they were always done.  We also know these situations are not healthy.  An organization that is set in its ways is not going to grow.  The debates brought about by office politics can be a sign of a vibrant organization.  For example, it displays people unafraid to express their opinions and even fight for them. Self Reflection None of us are perfect.  We make mistakes.  Those facts mean we all have opportunities to grow and get better.  Therefore, anything that nudges us to reflect on our current situation (singly or as an organization) has the possibility of pointing us towards an improved path.  These internal debates can be exhausting.  However, it can be argued that nothing worthwhile is easy. Episode Challenge: What did you learn from your recent office politics experiences? Read more about advancing your career.

Cellphones have become a constant in many of our lives.  They are the first thing we reach for in the morning and the last thing we put away at night.  This situation has led to plenty of complaints and worries about these devices.  However, there are upsides of cellphones we can focus on to keep that positive outlook. Cheaper Long Distance The ability to talk to people outside of your area code used to cost extra.  This feature could be costly.  The standard cell phone plans quickly dropped long-distance charges.  While many things have opened our ability to work remotely, that may be one of the most impactful ones.  Think about those zoom meetings if people had to pay long-distance charges in most cases.  Those daily stand-up meetings could become pretty costly throughout a few sprints.  Do not underestimate this oft-forgotten change. Talk To Anyone Anytime I have to admit, I use my cell phone (through my car) a lot.  It allows me to carry on informal conversations up to business meetings while traveling.  Those conversations provide me a substantial productivity boost and ability to work even during "travel days."  As a consultant, it makes it easier for me to ignore travel times as part of my job that I am comfortable billing a client as I can do "real" work during those times. The situation where you get to a location and forget to ask someone for a list or specific piece of information is long gone.  I even hear husbands on the phone, getting a realtime grocery list from their spouse at times.  Trust me, it would be far more challenging to find a payphone and figure that out.  Yes, I did add a link in case you have no idea what that is. Tracking and Location The power of a GPS in your phone is often berated as a big privacy concern.  However, one of the most popular upsides of cellphones is using that feature.  We use it to reach a destination or to find something useful nearby.  It is the feature that powers services like Uber and Lyft.  Our ability to untether from land phone lines is a game-changer.  Nevertheless, a GPS in our pocket is what brings so many positives home for us. Episode Challenge: What are your three go-to apps on your phone when you are waiting in line? Read more about advancing your career.

Our modern communication within a group is dominated by tools like MS Teams and Slack.  These messaging tools are the outcome of several years of working on the problem of quick and thorough communication.  We have looked at how e-mail is intended for lengthy or cumbersome conversations.  Now we look at tools that are designed for a quick response and often a short one.  These provide for much more transactional communication (Q&A) rather than full dialogues.  While the tools can be a nuisance and disrupt our day, there are positives in using them. A Paper Trail We have looked at the problem of forgetting details in a complicated conversation.  This issue is still a common one faced in simple conversations as well.  I think it comes from how little we need to engage mentally. We are not held to a standard of fully engaging our attention in these conversations.  Therefore, it is easy to forget precisely what occurred. Think about the last time you answered a question about an upcoming time for a regularly scheduled meeting.  You probably were on "auto-pilot" and responded without thinking.  You have done that many times in the past.  Thus, it becomes hard to differentiate amongst what answer was given in each situation.  Sometimes the question we answered was not precisely the one asked.  These tools provide a way for us to slow down a small amount and pay more attention while also having a way to refer back to what we said. Learn By Osmosis The best to learn from your co-workers is often by merely listening to their daily conversations.  I can remember numerous times that I was exposed to new ideas by only sitting next to a discussion.  This result is one of the values of the "bullpen" seating arrangement in offices.  It is most valuable to people early in their careers.  However, I find it never ceases to be of value.  These messaging tools provide that sort of environment.  Even better, they often include a way to search for past topics and details. Episode Challenge: When did you last review the market of these tools? Do you have a group that provides you good support and a forum for discussion? Read more about advancing your career.

We all use email daily.  Even though we have seen several new ways to communicate in recent years, it is still a staple of our lives.  That is why spam is so common. It is a way to reach almost everyone.  Of course, it also means we have more messages we delete than we read.  Nevertheless, we can look at email as a positive.  It provides us a needed option for communication online. Use Email As It Is Intended The headaches from email come as much from the misuse of it (or more so) as proper usage.  The first point to remember is that this is a tool for conversations.  It is not intended to do instant response communication.  These improper uses of email are at least partly responsible for tools like MS Teams and Slack.  There is a use for quick response, conversational solutions.  Just remember that email is not that tool.  This focus is the reason email is a positive utility for business and even our lives. A Measured Response The way to use email is much closer to traditional "snail mail" than anything else electronic.  It used to take days or weeks to have a back-and-forth discussion via mail.  There was time at each stop to thoroughly consider the message and to craft a response.  Think of any great examples of letters, and you will not see a reply like "k" or a simple emoji. In reality, email provides the best tool for an actual conversation.  It is better than a face-to-face discussion in many cases.  We can focus on what the other person is saying and then craft a response rather than the typical "listening," where most of our focus is on a reply.  Some people can genuinely listen and then respond.  However, that is not often the case in my experience. A Paper Trail In the business world, and sometimes personal discussions, email gives us a needed record of what has been said.  This benefit is critical in helping us avoid things that "fall through the cracks" while also ensuring we fully respond.  Even better, we can review how we reached a decision or even what the decision was.  It will not take long in your career before you find out how valuable this is. Episode Challenge: Are you using email as it is intended? Read more about advancing your career.

When you look at statistics on software development, the success rate is disappointing.  Many factors contribute to this negative trend.  However, scope creep is a stealthy form of derailing even the best-planned projects.  Nevertheless, there is a bright side to this common obstacle.  We can find a silver lining for even this black storm cloud. Filling a Release Scope creep can be managed in a way that makes it desirable.  There are opportunities during most projects to slip in a little work here or a tweak there.  These small changes can be accomplished without impacting deadlines and the big picture goals of a project.  When you have these items, they are the best use of scope creep.  You might even plan for it. We see this situation most often in Agile sprints.  The team puts several tickets into a sprint and includes some that are "nice to have."  These tickets are the ones that are only tackled if the other items get done ahead of schedule.  Think of it as a form of buffer.  Instead of adding empty time to a plan or estimate, "throw-away" tasks are included that can provide an easy way to adjust the project scope. Scope Creep Allows For Change Most, if not all, of the projects I have worked on included discussions where we saw new features, uses, or needs for the solution as we worked through the creation process.  There is just too much that can be missed when you look at a solution on paper.  Hands-on experience can lead us to find new needs for even an MVP or almost beg us to make some UX related improvements.  If we refuse to allow for scope creep, then we effectively block ourselves from learning as we go.  An Agile approach will usually make this a non-issue.  However, a waterfall methodology can force scope creep items into a new version. Instant Feedback Whether we implement items requested as scope creep or not, this shows that we received feedback.  If no one uses or cares about our project, then we will never see scope creep.  When users care and use our application heavily during the development phase, then new feature requests should be expected.  It may be a headache.  Nevertheless, this is a headache you should be happy to have. Episode Challenge: What did you learn from your recent experience with a creeping scope? Read more about advancing your career.

Our paychecks primarily come from customers, directly or indirectly.  That may point to there being no negatives in dealing with them.  Nevertheless, supporting users can be a struggle.  Developers and engineers do not typically enjoy support and interaction with them.  That does not keep us from finding a positive customer experience in the work we are asked to do. Setting The Stage I have often pointed out that those "pesky customers" slow down our development progress.  It is not uncommon to be in a situation where the new features or improved performance we are chasing would be available sooner if we could "pause" our customers for a while.  Even maintenance windows would be more convenient if our customers did not use the product so much.  These statements have a healthy amount of sarcasm.  However, working with customers can be a challenge. Stepping Into A Gold Mine Engineers are not known for their love of customer interactions.  However, those interactions are some of the most valuable things we can do for our products or company.  A "cold call" is the most challenging sales situation.  When we have any interaction with a customer, we not only do not have that situation, we can build a relationship to make the next sales call warm or even hot.  People buy from those they trust, know, and like.  When we help customers and get them to like our company and us, they are more likely to spend more money.  This is a situation that is almost literally worth its weight in gold. A New Set Of Eyes Customer interactions are frustrating because they use our products in ways we never considered.  However, this is a positive customer experience that can lead to new features and even new products.  They provide us another set of eyes for our solution and direct feedback about what we have created.  Look at the focus on customer reviews in recent years.  While our interactions are not going to be public, they do still provide a wealth of data and information. Did We Solve The Problem? We build products to solve problems.  Sometimes we miss the mark.  The good and bad news is that these situations let us know how we did.  That makes any interaction a positive customer experience.  We can learn from our mistakes, find new problems to solve, and sometimes we even get a pat on the back. Episode Challenge: How did your last interaction go?  Was it a positive customer experience? Read more about advancing your career.

We all face obstacles and challenges in our daily work.  However, the IT world is full of extra challenging problems.  These are the tasks that we struggle against for days or weeks instead of minutes or hours.  We can see a project go off the rails due to one of these obstacles, and they can challenge our sanity.  They are never fun to experience.  Nevertheless, some positives come from these "dark days." What Does Not Kill Us Makes Us Stronger The most significant positive to come from these challenging problems is the thrill of success.  When we get past these types of issues, it shows us we can what we thought was impossible.  Our career does not end with that difficult problem, and we gain more confidence in being able to handle anything thrown our way.  This situation is not different from success breeding success.  The more we overcome incredible odds or challenging problems, the more confidence we have the next time it occurs. A New Approach The challenging problems we face that hinder us are, by definition, outside of our comfort zone.  We develop patterns of problem-solving as we move through our careers.  That is why experienced developers tend to be more productive than the inexperienced.  They have established methods for solving a broad range of common problems.  Unfortunately, we can become set in our ways and be slow to try new approaches.  This mindset can make the new challenging problems harder to solve if we have not seen one recently. When we are forced to solve a problem from scratch rather than applying a pattern, it enhances our problem-solving skills.  It is similar to the difference between knowing how to multiply numbers and doing so from memory.  Thus, the more we solve problems from scratch, the better we get at doing so with future obstacles. Deeper Understanding Of The Challenging Problems The time we spend on these extra difficult obstacles equates to us knowing them better.  We will often see how the problem is defined, and the solution works down to every detail.  This knowledge can open the door to many other solutions or even provide us with a new product or feature. Episode Challenge: What did you learn from your last challenging problem? Read more about advancing your career.

Timing is everything.  There are moments where it is easy to list the upside of recruiters.  On the other hand, there are times when we have less nice things to say.  For example, that call that interrupts our "coding groove" can make any call unpleasant.  It is only made worse when we find the person on the other end has a random job to tell us about. A View Into The World I have come across developers that see no positives in working with headhunters.  However, a significant upside of recruiters is that they do the work we prefer to avoid.  They fill a role like tax accountants.  There are just some areas we prefer not to think about, even though they are crucial areas of our lives.  It is in the nature and definition of a recruiter to stay abreast of the job market and what is hot.  We may spend a lot of time keeping current with technology, but that does not equate to knowing what skills are in demand.  A discussion with a recruiter can open your eyes to a world of possibilities beyond your current situation. A Career Advocate I use this word a lot.  However, it is one that fits so well and is key to our success.  That word is "accountability."  One upside of recruiters is that they form a manner of accountability for our career.  It is easy to get lost in the requirements of our work and ignore our career roadmap.  We simply get too involved in the day-to-day and forget to spend some time at the strategic level.  A call from a recruiter can be a nudge that gets us to look up from our work and take steps to improve our career. Inside Trading Recruiters work with all manner of companies and positions.  A substantial upside of recruiters is that they can point us to internal postings and other options not available to the general public.  They are the epitome of "it is not what you know, but who you know." Episode Challenge: When was the last time your spent time building a relationship with a recruiter? Read more about advancing your career.

Open Source software is a staple in most modern careers.  One reason is that there are essential pros to using it.  Some developers would even argue that it is hard to find negatives with this approach.  Love it or hate it, Open Source is here to stay.  There are too many languages, frameworks, libraries, and tools that fall under this umbrella to ignore them. Removing Barriers To Entry The free factor of many open source tools and products has opened up development to a greater audience.  This push has even driven traditional software houses like Oracle and Microsoft to offer "free," trial, or developer versions of their tools.  We have seen the developer community grow at a rapid pace over the last few decades.  This change has come as the barriers to entry as a software developer have melted away. A Tool That Lasts It can be argued that the most significant positive with open source is that it prevents vendor lock-in.  We can use tools and software that we wholly own and can customize.  There is no need to worry about whether the vendor will be around in a few years.  We have all we need from them.  Yes, updates and patches are helpful.  However, we can at least create our roadmap when we have the source. It may seem like this is a minor concern.  On the other hand, the road of IT history is littered with tools and systems that are almost impossible to use today.  That is a critical risk if your company needs that software to run. Building Communities The software side of open source may not be the most significant positive.  Many of these projects include a community that is not only helpful; it is vibrant.  These situations give rise to excellent opportunities to learn from others, get involved in mentoring, and generally spread your wings. Episode Challenge: Check out an open-source project you are interested in. Consider contributing to it. Read more about advancing your career.

Technology changes at a fast rate.  It might even seem like that speed is increasing every year.  This speed of change can be daunting to those that want to "stay current."  It requires us to spend hours every week consuming content and working on new skills or with new tools.  While this situation can often be viewed as a negative, there are many positives we can find in these challenges. Steady Improvement The most impactful positive of technology changes and advances is in the area of productivity.  Not every new version or tool is a step forward.  However, most of them are.  These enhancements build over time and have made life in the IT world much better than it was a few years ago.  Yes, advances in computing speed and memory have helped a lot. Nevertheless, we have also gotten vast improvements from software and processes as well.  At a high level, the time required to get a product to market has dropped dramatically.  Goals that used to take months or years can now be achieved in days or weeks. A Reset Every time technology changes, it opens up new opportunities.  Those that are new to the field can have as much experience as those that are deep into their careers.  When this happens, you have an opportunity to become an "expert" almost literally overnight.  Someone that is new to IT can advance quickly past the typically "grunt" work and become a leader in that technology.  Thus, your career has many opportunities for rapid advancement. Technology Changes Are Not Mandatory We have to choose our fights.  However, we do have the option not to participate in an advance or new version.  While we risk reducing our value to employers, there are always new technology changes of which to take advantage.  Nothing is stopping us from sitting back for a while to wait for winners rather than jump into every new tool or feature.  That allows us to set a pace that is comfortable for us and our season of life. Episode Challenge: What are some opportunities currently for you to benefit from recent technology changes? Read more about advancing your career.