Communication is crucial in: - recognizing obstacles - self-development - effective knowledge sharing Gaining that secret knowledge Some practical tips
Communication is crucial in: - recognizing obstacles - self-development - effective knowledge sharing Gaining that secret knowledge Some practical tips
Communication is crucial in: - recognizing obstacles - self-development - effective knowledge sharing Gaining that secret knowledge Some practical tips
not only technology; it’s interdisciplinary I’m against the self-fulfilling prophecy of the anti- social tech-genius: we over-simplify “people skills” Discuss skills one by one You cannot foster success when you only focus on one skill
Communication is crucial in: - recognizing obstacles - self-development - effective knowledge sharing Gaining that secret knowledge Some practical tips
I decided to ask my colleagues a few questions: • What would they consider the biggest obstacles to popularizing DevOps ideas and implementing DevOps- inspired practices in our company? • What was the most important thing they learned recently (this year); did they learn more by collaborating or by themselves? • What’s their approach to internal documentation?
the “boring” tasks Using outdated software/technologies Lack of documentation on our outdated software/technologies Lack of resources No bigger picture Other people Being kept in the dark Obstacles
work (communication, organizational skills) • Fight the hesitation (empathy): - rigid mindset... - “My work is more important”, - “I don’t see the benefits at all” - “But current tools work ok!” - or underdeveloped skill set? Analyze & f
picture? - build a long-term plan (leadership & organizational skills) - listen to complains (empathy) and motivate colleagues (leadership) • Unresponsive colleagues: - the busy bee, the slight procrastinator, the focused one - recognize the reason and pick the best solution Analyze & f, continued
you actually build it”. “You should keep things simple and don’t engage in premature optimization”. “I’ve learned a lot and it’s hard to pinpoint the most important things, but I’ve mostly learned by myself or pair programming”
that internal documentation is necessary. Internal documentation is unnecessary: software changes and we have a low turnover rate, so it gets outdated quickly; additionally, someone has to maintain it. Documentation is important, but no one wants to do it and having it is a team decision – not an individual one.
treating specialized knowledge as if it was common. The more senior a person is, the bigger the risk that they might treat a lot of their knowledge as obvious. Knowledge transfer
time writing down docs and then drop them on the new hire or to sit down with them every day and show them something new. Knowledge transfer, continued
they went on an extended sick leave or decided to leave the company? How much would that influence everybody else’s work? Stress levels? Deadlines? Knowledge transfer: mental exercise
old, cranky code. Encourage them to talk about how they themselves acquire experience instead. How do they debug things? What’s their approach to problem solving? Result: knowledge that will be technology- agnostic. Knowledge transfer, continued
Communication is crucial in: - recognizing obstacles - self-development - effective knowledge sharing Gaining that secret knowledge Some practical tips