The boy that cried technical theory

I’ve been pondering the content of this blog for some-time now. As always, just like my code, if I’d have written this a month ago it would be entirely different. Here goes….

In my relatively short time in IT consulting and contracting, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on teams with members having strong technical opinions. I’ve also been unfortunate enough to work on teams where members are relatively without opinion – they are usually more focused on delivering business value. I find that one usually trades itself for the other.

It’s extremely rare to encounter a team member that has heaps of technical opinions. From my experience, both cherish and be wary of them. It’s difficult to judge the point at which serial ‘opinionators’ have more distracted the team from delivering functionality than benefited them by passing on words of wisdom. Like the boy that cried wolf, these people can initially appear important but later prove more of a distraction. Then again, if there opinion leads to an increase in efficiency, there contribution can pay for itself – so it’s tough to gauge if the pain will be worth it.

For those of you out there that are opinionators (I should mention that I’m only considering people with a RELEVANT & VALUABLE opinion) I’m not suggesting you’ve got problems, nor should you reign in your expressiveness. Far from it, I love seeing you all do what comes naturally and promote healthy discussion. I will suggest one thing though – that your colleagues need to know how to contain you. Closure communication patterns, such as ‘Digression’, ‘Offline Discussion’, ‘Email it to Me’ or perhaps even ‘Write a Book’ can effectively circumvent seemingly perpetual conversation, although I try to avoid ‘Talk to the Hand’ at the risk of burning bridges. Sustained communication patterns, such as ‘Yes, However’, ‘So that Means’ and ‘What do You Mean’ should be occasionally used with caution, especially when a team member is on the ‘really’ critical path.

All jokes aside, establishing team protocol to the circumvent less than pressing discussion can help make everyone feel productive, especially in meetings with many attendees.

A final point, for those of you like me that tend to reserve their opinion. A wise lad once told me, regardless of your environment, being honest in expressing and arguing your opinion can only help you re-enforce, grow or question your own opinion through debate. It also helps those around you further understand you and possibly learn. It’s a situation that benefits everyone.

Happy communicating!