Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

As annoying things go, planning is not at the top of the list. However, developers tend to feel they are most productive when they are writing code. Therefore, planning can be frustrating. It almost forces us to be patient and define an approach before getting to work. Nevertheless, there are many benefits of planning, and it is an easy topic for finding the bright side. Look Before You Leap Many wise words point to the benefits of planning. We may feel better in the short-term by stepping into implementation, but that can easily be overwhelmed by pain due to improper planning. We all work better when we have time to think through an approach. That is why things like panic and knee-jerk reactions are not considered paths to success. When we plan, we force ourselves to think through something at least a little. That alone can sometimes save a lot of time by avoiding foolish assumptions and identifying gaps. Practice Makes Perfect Planning and estimation are skills that require training. The more we do these things, the better we get. Thus, any time we spend planning will be time spent getting better at a valuable skill. We also cannot plan without estimating to some extent. Those combined skills can help us avoid being late and even improve our use of time. When you are managing your most valuable resource (time) better, it is a strong argument for ROI. The short-term cost of planning instead of doing pays off in the long run Avoiding Potholes We have probably all had that situation where a road obstacle or pothole becomes apparent too late. We may have a rough bump or worse. These situations occur when we do not have enough time to respond to the environment. Therefore, moving at a slower speed can help us avoid these problems. Planning is sort of like setting a reasonable pace for your journey. You are forced to pick your head up and look at what is coming down the road. When we do this, we can avoid missteps and keep things from falling between the cracks. Episode Challenge: How well has your planning worked for you? Read more about advancing your career.

Almost all Developers prefer to skip most meetings. These are not activities we tend to look forward to with joy. However, we can get positives from meetings. Not all of these activities are created the same. Nevertheless, an appropriate agenda and dedication to focus during this time can be very fruitful. An Agenda Is Critical There are many ways a meeting can go "off the rails." That may be why we so often find meetings to be annoying, or at least time we cannot get back. We need focus if we want to receive positives from meetings. While we can have many goals for a meeting, maintaining focus is a common trait for success. This requirement is no different from so many other things we discuss. Have a reason "why" and make sure you stick to that. A Change Is As Good As A Rest We have mentioned the idea of walking away from a problem to solve it sooner. This recommendation can be a flip to another task or going for a walk. We can also take a mental break and step into a meeting. This change of scenery is an opportunity to stay productive while utilizing a different part of your mind. When you consider this benefit, you can see where it is even better than staring out a window or letting your mind wander. A good meeting will help you avoid drifting back to thinking about the latest difficult problem you are working through. Teamwork One of the obvious positives from meetings is that it is the essence of teamwork. While there are presentations we may be asked to sit through, a meeting (by definition) includes feedback and discussion. That means this is an excellent opportunity for us to come together as a team. We also get to validate our assumptions about communications and interactions. When we skip meetings, we can end up completely lost in incorrect assumptions. Episode Challenge: DO you walk into meetings with a proper mindset and attitude? Read more about advancing your career.

Grunt work is often a significant portion of our job that makes it feel like "work." It is not the fun part of our day. However, there are pros and cons to this well-known task. What is Grunt Work? Let's start with a definition. Investopedia provides an excellent example. Grunt work is an expression used to describe thankless and menial work. Grunt work can also refer to jobs that lack glamour and prestige or are boring and repetitive. I think the keywords of "thankless" and "boring" are enough to provide the negatives for this type of work. However, we have a bright side we can focus on as well. A Refreshing Grunt I think about Tim Allen's trademark grunting sound as part of this factor. Sometimes it is refreshing to turn off our brain to some extent. Work can provide some of these opportunities. The keyword in our definition that points to this is "menial." Our daily work can be mentally draining. We spend long hours solving highly complex problems. While a vacation is an excellent way to recharge, we can also benefit from doing less challenging work. Think of how some physical workout routines alternate days from light to heavy workouts. Grunt work gives us a way to stay productive and yet expend less energy than usual. Automation Ideas The last word in the definition provides another positive insight. Anything we run into that is repetitive is a candidate for automation. That means we have a potential for a feature, product, or maybe just a side project (or hustle). A simple example from my past was a "build and deploy" process for an application I was working on. I was at a point where I was not only deploying code; I was rebuilding a database. While I had a series of menial commands configured to get the job done, it still was time-consuming. I had to sit there throughout the process. I recognized the repetitive nature and well-defined steps were perfect for automation. Therefore, I spent some time getting to know Ant and built a script that allowed me to enter a single command to get that process done. I was then able to refill my water bottle during the process or otherwise regain a little time. Episode Challenge: List recent grunt work and review it for some possible automated solution? Read more about advancing your career.

Outliers and niche requests can often push us over the line from a simple solution to a complex one. We commonly can get that eighty percent of the cases addressed in our initial code. However, an outlier gets into the far more difficult final twenty percent mentioned in the Pareto principle. These "new" requirements or missed details can cause headaches and missed deadlines. However, they have a bright side as well. A Stronger Solution First and foremost, the more cases our solution is tested against (and it supports), the stronger it is. In an extreme example, consider a calculator that only adds single-digit numbers. That is not very useful. It needs to handle a broader range of numbers and include "outliers" like adding negative numbers to be something worthwhile. A Way To Build Problem-Solving Skills Any time we are asked to stretch our skills, we have an opportunity to grow. You do not grow much by doing the same thing repeatedly. Instead, you build on past success to step into new challenges. That is almost the definition of niche requests. We have a standard solution and then are asked to modify it also to support the additional need. This request can be as time-consuming as sending as back to the proverbial drawing board. It can also be something that requires us to alter the existing solution to make it more flexible or scalable. In either case, we are likely to grow. A Source Of New Products The best ROI on these niche requests is when it leads to a new product or feature. We may have to spend additional time to expand on our solution. That is ok when it can be paid for with a new product or increased sales. Episode Challenge: What did you learn from the last outlier you had to provide for? Read more about advancing your career.

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.

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.

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.