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515 days ago
Every now and then I get the opportunity to give some career advice to aspiring young individuals. Such was the case a few weeks ago riding home on the train. Some kids, recently into college, asked if I had any advice for them on making a living. I shared with them my opinion on career choices - that you need to find out what sort of person you are before you can figure out how you want to make money. At some point, I decided that humor would keep their attention better, and with that, I came up with the following, which I've dubbed Owen's Eight Asses: The world is a tough place. No one is going to make you happy or give you what you want without effort on your part. You have to decide now what kind of person you want to be - how you want to attack the problems of life and make a living for yourself. In my experience, there are approximately eight different way you can make it in the world each with varying results. Sadly, they all involve your ass so get used to it now. In no ...
523 days ago
For me, one of the most powerful and drug-like feelings out there is confidence - trusting in your talents and the talents of others; knowing that your information is good and your judgment sound; seeing the path laid out before you and striding along with your head held high, despite the challenges and difficulties. Confidence is not just courage, but courage coupled with knowledge and ability. Confidence is also contagious. When you know the job at hand and the pitfalls and swindles that will inevitably arise - and you know that you can succeed - you exude a presence that fills the team. You inspire those around you - who may not see the picture as well - to find their place in the scheme and to perform at the best of their ability. Confidence requires a few things: knowledge of the subject matter, practical and theoretical; actual on the ground time (meaning, time spent doing the work); a track record of delivery (successful AND not); and the belief of others that you can do ...
527 days ago
People who know me know that I like to eat lunch - not the cheap, greasy, fast food garbage, but the expensive, unique eateries that abound around town. People also know that I like to go to lunch with everyone I work with and I have had the pleasure of dining with thousands of people over the years. On the surface, it's a good way to get to know people. Stephen King, in his autobiographical work of non-fiction, On Writing , said that if you know the character, they'll get up on stage, introduce themselves, and tell you all about themselves, their life, and their concerns. He was talking about characters in writing, but it's the same with real people. If you see them - if you really see them - they will tell you all about their wants, needs, and desires. And that is powerful insight for influencing people. Lunch, particularly at a nice place, also has the capacity to affect someone's opinion of you, particularly if it's your first real time to get to know each other and it's your ...
530 days ago
In a recent meeting, someone brought up the agile development topic of not quite enough (actually mocking it, something like, "there's a methodology out there where you actually don't do all of the work"). I took a few minutes to rant a correction. Not quite enough is a powerful concept that revolves around the idea that it is almost impossible to identify the 'enough' mark on a given development project. How much documentation is enough? How much testing? How abstract should the implementation be? These are all questions that are hard to answer until all the variables are known, and they can't all be known until the project is over with. The only way to deliver enough is to over deliver - and anything delivered that's more than enough is wasteful and inefficient. Not quite enough tells us to do as little as possible (comparatively speaking, please don't spin in your chair for hours and expect the software to code itself) and depend on frequent customer feedback. This ...
533 days ago
A long time ago, my employer once passed along to me some wise sage advice: "Owen," he said, "your job is not to do your job; your job is to make me look good." I'm sure the shock on my altruistic face caused him to explain further: "If I look good, you get to keep your job. If I look bad, I don't care how well you do your job." I've related that story to a number of people over the years. Some nod their heads vigorously in approval; some go into a rampage and express their hope that I quit that job on the spot (HR people are usually in this boat - but they're typically a bit out of touch anyway). I fall into the former category. As a consultant, it's arguably even more important to make your client and employer look good than as an employee. One's continued paycheck depends on it. Sure, we advise where we can on direction and try to help the client avoid mistakes, but in the end, we still need to do it the way they want it done. Sometimes, we ...
