Team Pearls

These Wisdom Pearls address the way that the Developer thinks about the Development Teams.

These pearls create tools that can help the Developer be more successful in less than desirable situations.

What You Should Do With Bad News

It is a natural tendency to resist conveying news that might be considered as “Bad News” to the receiving parties.

Delivering bad news whether it is personal or business related is never a joyous task but not delivering it as soon as it is known can be more painful and costly.

Bad news never gets better as time passes and the receiver of the dire news has a right to be aware of its ramification to them.

Always relay less than desired information
as soon as possible as there may be ways
of minimizing its adverse effects
if acted on quickly

Always be able to Quantity Your Results

Technology solutions are often designed and deployed with little or no measurable processes to quantify the delivered results for the Client business requirements.

During the architectural phase of the business requirements to the acceptance criteria tangible processes for measuring the results of the designs are essential for “Customer Expectation Management”.

Managing the Client’s expectation becomes logarithmically more challenging when results are obscured.

Always be proactive in the management
of your Client’s results expectations
with an agreed upon measuring process
to quantify the acceptance criteria’s success

When Does Knowledge become Wisdom?

This Wisdom Pearl address the concept of knowing what constitutes technology viable Knowledge and when it is ready for “Prime-time” usage as Wisdom.

There are some skills that need time and real world experience to bring successful results for you Client but there are many technological skills that only need to be exposed once to the Technologist for great benefit return for the Client.

The concept is to be aware of the difference between knowledge that can become wisdom when applied immediately after its understanding.

Not all knowledge requires time to mature to wisdom
some mature immediately
like not touching a hot iron or stove 

Managing Continuous Poor Results

Many personal growth teachings have used this Wisdom Pearl.

In Technologists we create our “Toolbox of Tricks” in our selected Science to help us to deliver consistent results for similar requirements. This is a good practice for process reuse.

This process becomes a liability when the results do not comply with new Best Practices and Procedures.

Always be willing to assess the results you are getting from all of the established processes in your toolbox for new and improved results.

Open your mind to new ways
of accomplishing established results

Development Insanity

This Wisdom is an extension of  “Managing Continues Poor Results” Peal as it pertains to project initiatives that do not meet the Client’s expectation.

If you find yourself in an environment that seems to be caught in a seemingly endless loop of failure you may be a victim of “Technical Insanity”.

As Einstein popularized as his definition of insanity: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” we can get caught in this web of failure as Technologists.

Always be willing to look at a new way of accomplishing an outcome when more than two attempts have failed using an established methodology.

Technical Insanity is contagious
Do not propagate the madness

Always Practice What You Preach

The changing technological environments require a change in one’s “Paradigm of Thought”.

The task of getting people to change their way of comfortably doing things is always a challenge.

Explaining the benefits of change must be delivered from the perspective of how it benefits them. People will always make decisions to take actions that benefit them.

Teaching or “Telling” someone a change in their personal paradigm is good for them will generally meet with great resistance, even if it is seen as a strong benefit for them directly.

The most successful approach to mitigate this natural tendency to resist change is to suggest the change, and its benefit to the recipient, and then show them that you “Practice what you Preach” through examples.

Do not force your position on anyone.

Explain the rational for the change
and then Lead by real world examples 

Environmental Technology Culture Changes

The “Not Invented Here Syndrome” or “NIHS” is a somewhat sarcastic term for the tendency of both developers and organizations to reject suitable external solutions to software development problems in favor of internally developed solutions.

A closely related term is the “Let’s Re-invent the Wheel Syndrome”.

Like NIHS, this can manifest itself in various levels of intensities ranging from a mild reluctance to accept new ideas all the way up to raging software xenophobia, an intolerance for anything new.

The Not Invented Here Syndrome can be defined as a situation where an external solution is rejected only because it was not internally developed, in other words, there are no other factors that dictate an internally developed solution would be superior.

Know the environment that you are introducing new ideas and the personal ownership levels of Legacy solution of the decision makers.

The best action to minimize NIHS
is to address it long before
any new solution is introduced

People and Change

People tend to want to live in the self-created “Comfort Zones”.

This self-imposed limitation tends to be a major obstruction to one’s personal and professional development.

Exposing yourself to the possibility of failure and the pain associated with failure is a very hard thing for most people to do. Your Comfort Zone wraps you in a false sense of security from the pain of failure.

This security blanket also obscures the possibility of new successes as well.

When people’s comfort zones are threatened by change the natural reaction is resistance.

When introducing changes to your environment
are perceived as more than a soft touch
plan for resistance 

Cleaning Up a Chaotic Environment

This Wisdom Pearl is intended to address the tasks of organizing a chaotic environment.

When multiple “Cleanup” tasks are required use the organizational philosophy of “Touch Once and Only Once”.

Do not create “Staging Environments” when the organizational task can be completed in one step.

When you are faced with a chaotic environment, be it is design, resource or process driven, organized the tasks into related activities.  

Look for ways to solve related issues with a single task whenever possible. Do not approach the environment from a single action mindset.

By acting on related issues you will reduce
the time, cost and energy expended on bringing Order to Chaos

A Word About Technology Road Maps

You will often hear in technology business meetings that are held to evaluate possible technology solutions for a Client the Term “Road Map”.

Established published Road Maps can help to prevent development issues realized by other development teams but you must understand that all development environments are unique.

Conventional wisdom promised by these Road Maps can often turn into disasters if the changing requirements of the Client are not fully internalized by the team.

Good intentions are always in play but the inevitable “Changing Requirements” will often yield these Road Maps useless over the life of the initiative.

Be aware of the possible “Potholes”
in your recommended Road Map solutions.

The Politics of Technology Dancing

As we progress up the responsibility ladder of success we are thrown into the world of Business Politics.

For some Developers this world is so foreign that they are unable to compete and it ends up adversely affecting their career advancement possibilities.

They become content in accepting that they will never advance past a certain point.

Success in Technology requires that you learn to navigate the Political Terrain. 

You always need to be cognizant
of the current political environments
political percentage

What is your Real Value for Your Client?

Our real value to our Clients and company is not what we actually are delivering at the time but what value we bring to the table when new ideas and concepts are required.

This is not to diminish the concrete value of our current work but to emphasize the intangible value you represent in the untapped knowledge you possess for the Client.

Engage in activities that expand your information and knowledge
in your Software Art and Science so when called upon
for new ideas you will be prepared

Creating a Successful Priority Process in your Life

When someone says to you:

“I did not have time to do that”

Understand that what they are really saying is:

“I did not set your request high enough in my priority list”

Time is a fixed commodity.

There are always:

1. 24 Hours in a Day

2. 168 Hours in a Week

3. 8,736 Hours in a year

A successful person does not commit to completing tasks that he cannot assign a priority for success and assign the hours required to complete the tasks successfully.

A successful person never blames time for their shortcomings for delivery.

Learn to manage the fixed time allotted to you
and do not over-commit as it will damage
your personal and professional reputation

Some of these Wisdom Pearls are original and some are common beliefs passed down through the ages.

Power Resides in the Wisdom They Contain

… Easy to Remember and Repeatable

…… Share the Wisdom

Wisdom Pearls have great value when used in real life situations, both Professional and Personal.

Summon your “Inner Dragon” when times call for your “Wisdom Pearls“