Chad SturtzA Journey Through Software

There is a line that separates the people around you.  Depending on how you look at it, it may be blurry or clear, but you still know it’s there.  On the left side you have people that you want to invest in, do everything possible to keep at your organization, watch and learn from, and let drive the direction of your team or business.  While those on the right side may be intelligent and hard working, you know they’re not the type of people to grow an organization around.

What separates these groups?  It’s the presence of four traits: vision, desire to learn, passion, and value of teamwork.

Vision is what keeps these people focused on the big picture in addition to their immediate tasks and surroundings.  They consider long term effects, understand how individual roles fit together, and are able to look at a single issue from many perspectives.  Passion keeps them motivated and always performing at their best.  It’s the excitement and reward they feel every day and is visible in their actions.  The desire to learn makes them ask “why?”.  They want to be taught to fish rather than given a meal.  They work to consume new information every day and grow from it.  Their value of teamwork encourages them to assist others and share information and responsibility.  They wear whatever hat is necessary, and often wear several hats at the same time.  They know that the most ambitious goals are possible with the right group of people.

Focus on creating teams with a majority of people from the left side.  Provide an environment and culture that encourages innovation and risk taking, does not treat change negatively, and invests in its people.  From this you will get processes that work well for your organization, an army of intelligent, productive, and efficient people, and an organization considered successful by any measure.

Q: Why do I need Yammer?

A:  It’s simple… I want access to my fellow software engineers and technologists that live on the other side of boundaries that get created around other Departments, Products, Business Units, and Acquisitions.

True story. I had to quickly come up to speed on a technology I had not been introduced to previously.  I took the normal approach of aggressively searching online to find examples, white papers, blogs, anything to help.  Time was running out, and while I had learned a lot in a short amount of time, I wanted a little help connecting all of the dots and selecting what I needed to focus on to complete my task in a timely manner.  I needed 15 minutes with an expert in this technology to guide me down the right path, because I didn’t have time to go down the wrong one.

I jumped on Yammer and put out a call for help.  A development manager responded with the name of a person who he knew to be experienced with this technology.  He introduced us over email and a few minutes later, I was getting exactly what I needed.