in reply to Re^2: Selling swimsuits to a drowning man
in thread Selling swimsuits to a drowning man
At this point, I’m mostly a “hybrid Business Analyst / Project Manager who has done a helluva lot of coding over the past 30 years.” Which means that I have sat in that role, and I agree that it is tough. However, the first thing that I say to a team (when it isn’t remote, as it most commonly is ...), is: “please, sit down.” And I take a seat next to my coffee. The shocked looks are quickly replaced by smiles of relief.
The next thing that I is to very briefly describe my own history, not in flowery terms, and to say, “Therefore, I know what I am doing – and, so do you.” Raised eyebrows, smiles, “I’m from Missouri” glances.
But this normally isn’t what team members are told: they’re expected to be “rock stars” and tend to try to act the part ... not because they necessarily want to, but because they assume that all of the pressure, and all of the blame, rests upon their shoulders. And, bluntly, they expect project failure. No one ever told them (or, told the owners higher-up) that the project consists of building a software mechanism and that the work must be done in that way if it is to have any hope of success. They are used to dealing with higher-ups who try to bribe them to do good work and to spank them if they don’t.
I feel for – feel very badly for – the earnest folks who swallow these “methodologies” so willingly and then try to digest it. Computer software-building is ruthlessly unforgiving of a misinformed approach, and it is much harder than it looks, for reasons that are not initially apparent. (I guess you’ll have to buy a Kindle, but ... read that book.)
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Right after graduating from undergraduate, I worked for the school and therefore had the opportunity to essentially get an MBA for free, from an excellent school. I declined. I knew that I knew nothing about business yet, let alone business administration, and that school wasn’t going to teach me that. At least, not yet. I never did go back and get one.