Tuesday Oct 03, 2006
Tuesday Oct 03, 2006
Not quite 2 years ago I found myself running Business Operations in
CSG, in Software. What's the big deal you ask? Sure, my background in
business is robust; I can waltz my way around portfolio management,
business processes, budgets and strategy with the best of them. But,
other than being an early adopter of portable computers (I had a
KayPro, that really dates me) and doing some minor programming in
dbase, I am a total non-techie or at least not an engineer. And yet,
for the last 2 years I have found myself weighing in on such lofty
subjects as open source, agile development and even the more mundane
such as schedule predictability and the need to ensure slack in
development schedules. More amazing is that people felt what I had to
say was worth listening to, even when they didn't agree.
Why write about this as my first blog entry? Because other than having the time of my life (learning something new always excites me), I am hoping that my colleagues in CSG - the real techies - can take this to heart. Learning and doing something new can be both exhilarating and scary; the trick is not to be afraid to make mistakes and not to pretend you are expert on everything. I have found that prefacing my questions or comments with "not an engineer, so can someone..." always led to people helping me learn and fill in the gaps - I don't ever remember anyone disparaging or making fun of me (well, other than myself). I could then have my say even when I disagreed with those who'd just educated me, and they listened. The point is, I was not afraid to admit what I didn't know. In public. Often. And I don't believe this lessened my credibility; to the contrary, I think it added to it (at this point all of you who think I'm nuts should have your say - perhaps my perception of my ability to influence is way off).
As we embark on open source my hope is that we can adopt an attitude of "I'm here to learn and learning means making mistakes and that's OK." I know all of our engineers take immense pride in the work they do and the code they put out. Giving total transparency to "outsiders" for what I can only imagine is a somewhat messy process can be a scary prospect (and yes I would hesitate if every draft of my slide decks was publicly posted, but if there was a good reason for it, I would get over it - I think - well I would have to wouldn't I?).
Open source is about doing new things in new ways, with new people, and new processes out in the open - but it is mostly about the code. Your passion for the code. And sharing and spreading that passion is what open source is all about. The more developers who share your passion for the code, the more people there are who care about its evolution and longevity. Some of these people, hopefully lots of them, will write apps to the code. Lots of apps, particularly killer apps, make our code more attractive to those who deploy it on devices. And that's good for our business (if you were waiting for the business plug - well here it is). More value, more devices at a higher per unit royalty translates to more revenue - it is almost that simple.
So, go forth and develop in the community, sharing your passion and your process (even when it feels scary) with other developers who will share their passion and process with you - you might just learn something cool.
Why write about this as my first blog entry? Because other than having the time of my life (learning something new always excites me), I am hoping that my colleagues in CSG - the real techies - can take this to heart. Learning and doing something new can be both exhilarating and scary; the trick is not to be afraid to make mistakes and not to pretend you are expert on everything. I have found that prefacing my questions or comments with "not an engineer, so can someone..." always led to people helping me learn and fill in the gaps - I don't ever remember anyone disparaging or making fun of me (well, other than myself). I could then have my say even when I disagreed with those who'd just educated me, and they listened. The point is, I was not afraid to admit what I didn't know. In public. Often. And I don't believe this lessened my credibility; to the contrary, I think it added to it (at this point all of you who think I'm nuts should have your say - perhaps my perception of my ability to influence is way off).
As we embark on open source my hope is that we can adopt an attitude of "I'm here to learn and learning means making mistakes and that's OK." I know all of our engineers take immense pride in the work they do and the code they put out. Giving total transparency to "outsiders" for what I can only imagine is a somewhat messy process can be a scary prospect (and yes I would hesitate if every draft of my slide decks was publicly posted, but if there was a good reason for it, I would get over it - I think - well I would have to wouldn't I?).
Open source is about doing new things in new ways, with new people, and new processes out in the open - but it is mostly about the code. Your passion for the code. And sharing and spreading that passion is what open source is all about. The more developers who share your passion for the code, the more people there are who care about its evolution and longevity. Some of these people, hopefully lots of them, will write apps to the code. Lots of apps, particularly killer apps, make our code more attractive to those who deploy it on devices. And that's good for our business (if you were waiting for the business plug - well here it is). More value, more devices at a higher per unit royalty translates to more revenue - it is almost that simple.
So, go forth and develop in the community, sharing your passion and your process (even when it feels scary) with other developers who will share their passion and process with you - you might just learn something cool.
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