PHP NE Conference 2013 - Hack your team, your Department, and Your Organization for the Greater Good

Many of us complain about how "pointy hair bosses", ridiculous IT policies, and a culture of complacency make it difficult if not impossible to function successfully as a developer. But how can the person on the low end of the organizational hierarchy make a difference for the better ( without being fired ) ?

In this talk, I'll give you some ideas of what I've done in the past to help be a positive agent of change in organizations I've been a part of, and what lessons I've learned from it. We'll look at implementing development tools incognito, engaging with higher-ups, and dealing with the failures that go along the way.

Transcript

1. John Mertic SugarCRM HACK YOUR TEAM, YOUR DEPARTMENT, AND YOUR ORGANIZATION FOR THE GREATER GOOD
2. WHO AM I? •  John Mertic –  Contact Info •  http://jmertic.wordpress.com •  Twitter: @jmertic •  jmertic@sugarcrm.com ( SugarCRM ) •  jmertic@php.net ( PHP ) •  http://github.com/jmertic –  Community Manager for SugarCRM •  http://www.sugarcrm.com •  http://developers.sugarcrm.com/ wordpress •  Twitter: @sugarcrmdev –  Board member - OW2 Consortium •  http://www.ow2.org –  Secretary - OpenSocial Foundation •  http://www.opensocial.org –  Voting member - PHP-FIG •  http://www.php-fig.org –  Member - W3C Social Business Community Working Group •  http://www.w3.org/community/socbizcg/
3. Bart Simpson and the Coriolis effect
4. Things didn’t look good for him…
5. …but he showed them.
7. Hack - In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks.
8. Hack - In modern computing terminology, a kludge (or often a "hack") is a solution to a problem, doing a task, or fixing a system (whether hardware or software) that is inefficient, inelegant, or even unfathomable, but which nevertheless (more or less) works.
10. Life Hack - The term life hack refers to productivity tricks that computer programmers devise and employ to cut through information overload and organize their data. In more recent times, the same phrase has expanded to any sort of trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method to increase productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life. Or, in other words, anything that solves an everyday problem in a clever or non- obvious way might be called a life hack.
17. How can you avoid this fate?
18. Stop! Look and listen baby, ( that's my philosophy )
19. Make something simple
20. See http://dailycrowdsource.com/crowdsourcing-training/tips/330-tips-for-overcoming-internal-resistance-to-open-innovation
21. Promote organically
22. See http://www.innovatingtowin.com/innovating_to_win/2008/09/internal-promotion-of-innovation.html
23. Take Baby Steps to grow
24. Embrace opportunity…
25. See http://upstarthr.com/internal-promotion-how-to-reduce-turnover-by-64/
26. …but don’t be an jerk
27. TOP REASONS PEOPLE GET FIRED 1.  Dishonesty, evasion, or lack of integrity on the job. 2.  Lying on a resume. 3.  Refusing to follow directions and orders. 4.  Talking too much and conducting personal business at work. 5.  Inconsistency - unreliable work and behaviors. 6.  Inability to get along with other people/reducing group productivity. 7.  Inability to actually do assigned job tasks. 8.  Performing tasks slowly, with numerous errors. 9.  High absenteeism rate. 10.  Drug and/or alcohol abuse. From http://pattyinglishms.hubpages.com/hub/Fired
28. …and don’t oversell yourself
29. See http://bloodredsun.com/2012/08/08/leadership-management/
30. Be OK with failure
31. See http://paul4innovating.com/2012/12/07/innovation-failure-starts-at-the-top/
32. TOP 10 REASONS INNOVATION #FAILS 1.  Unrealistic expectations from top management 2.  Lack of resources allocated in budget, people, infrastructure 3.  Far too much focus on products and technology and ignoring the other options within innovation. 4.  People or teams operate in silo’s instead of broader collaborative approaches 5.  The wrong personnel are in place to make innovation happen 6.  Poorly defined innovation strategy and the goals to achieve this. 7.  Lack of innovation strategy 8.  Emphasis is placed in far too much on idea generation and not on execution 9.  Lack of involving external partners and lastly 10.  Poor management of the innovation process. Source: http://www.15inno.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ SurveySummary_11082012.pdf
33. “Drive” – Daniel H. Pink http://www.danpink.com/ “Poke the Box” – Seth Godin http://www.sethgodin.com/
34. THANKS FOR COMING! https://joind.in/8390 Slides will be available on SlideShare after the conference. Will announce at @jmertic and http://jmertic.wordpress.com