So… you are from the Software or IT world looking to make your life better.
Or you are someone in the corporate world figuring out a way to make your mark.
I don’t know how you landed here. Maybe you watched my speech or google’s algorithm directed you here.
Either way, you are at the right place!
A quick note. Just because I used the word “Confessions” in blog post title, I’m not going to tell some dark secrets.
Ok, I’m sorry if that disappointment you but the good new is….
I’m going to share some little known truths that I learnt through experience. (just a polished way of telling, “Hey, I screwed up, and learnt the lesson”. And this is an honest attempt to save you from screw ups). I’ll focus on 10 truths. If you apply these truths, I promise you….that your work life is going to change forever, for the good.
These truths are extracted from my book Confessions of a Software Techie: The Surprising Truth About Things That Really Matter.
Truth #1. You are an owner
When you are a techie, you wear different hats such as developer, tester, lead, architect, manager, or analyst. Sometimes you need to wear multiple hats. And that’s not when you say, “It’s not my job.”
In his book The Question Behind the Question, John G. Miller beautifully wrote, “Ownership: A commitment of the head, heart, and hands to fix the problem and never again affix the blame.”
Some feel that it’s just a job and let us be smart by catching low-hanging fruits. I confess that I used to be one of them. But, I truly realized the meaning of job satisfaction only when I took ownership of my work.
There is an absolute pleasure in treating our work this way. When we feel like the owner of our work, we’ll do what it takes to get the work done. Ownership is the secret fuel to produce good quality work. That’s why you should not be surprised when you see some folks get things done even if they do not know about the technology, or domain. Deep down, even you know this, but I am calling it out.
However, there is a flip side to ownership when it comes to material things. We’ll see that in the Chapter #11 Money is not the problem, under “Embrace Frugality” section of the book Confessions of a Software Techie.
Truth #2. Ego is your enemy
Once you learn your craft well, you become an SME (subject matter expert). Your value will eventually become high. And, something deadly will happen.
You develop truckloads of ego. A little success is enough to create ego. If you are not yet there, it will eventually happen. Once we become fluent with something, we run a high risk of becoming arrogant.
I confess that I acted arrogantly with my managers, when I shouldn’t have. I confronted my senior management based on rumors, when I shouldn’t have. I demanded high-quality work from my juniors without being courteous, when I shouldn’t have.
The sad reality is we are replaceable, we are not the smartest, and we don’t know everything.
There is always a smarter person out there. There is always something that we’ll eventually have to learn. Just because we became an expert in some domain or technology, should not warrant us to develop ego.
Once, there was a huge uproar in the company because of the salary structure. During one of our regular town halls, the unit head said that the company was planning to release the revised pay structure. I raised my hand and said in a cocky voice, “This is great. I had arguments with my managers about this very point. I am surprised that my managers did not know about this initiative.”
Everyone in the audience laughed. I got attention and I became famous in the company. Six months down the line, what happened during the performance cycle? I got the third level rating. That rating is really poor. My immediate manager spilled the beans that the town hall incident became the deciding factor for the management giving me such a low rating.
All the work I had done did not matter. I was the only one managing the portfolio for five different business applications, working under three different client managers. Even so, I was penalized. Nobody even thought if there was a point. The first thought was like, “How dare he speak like that?”
That’s what ego did for me. It made me speak like a “righteous” hero, which is a strict NO at work. Take that path only if you have decided to move out of the company and you don’t need any damn thing.
The best path is not to channelize your energy towards your egoistic instincts. It’s not worth it. I’ll tell you later what is worth it (spoiler – it’s “Passive Income” that’s covered in Chapter #11 Money is not the problem in the book Confessions of a Software Techie) and where you can channelize your energy. I laugh when I see some techies behave as if they have conquered the world. People who run successful companies, who write New York Times bestselling books, do larger-than-life things still seem to be humble and down-to-earth.
I have found that instead of building ego, building rapport creates a win-win situation.
In the past three years, I kept building rapport—not just with my boss or clients but also with my peers and subordinates. If you have rapport, people are ready to go out of their way when you need help. With rapport, life becomes easier (we will see how in the next chapter). Nobody is obligated to bend to your ego. But, they’ll bend if you have built a rapport. It just helps like crazy
Truth #3. Sticking longer is not loyalty
During my assignment with a fortune 500 company, the client leadership decided to let go veteran employees—including business and techies—who had worked there for 30 to 40 years.
I always pondered, “Nobody in the world can beat these folks with their competence. They know the ins and outs of the application. Why would a company take such a drastic step? Were they expensive to maintain? Or did the outsourcing prove to be cost-effective?”
What loyalty did the company show to these loyal employees?
In my recent assignment with another Fortune 500 client, around seven people from our employer were part of a larger team. The folks from our team had solid experience in the application. Yet our client did not renew the contract. That is a lot of wasted experience. Even in the earlier example, there was a lot of valuable experience that was wasted.
Is that experience really a waste? Maybe, yes.
If folks are happy doing the same job, for the same employer, for the rest of their life, thinking that they are building loyalty with the employer, it’s time to think again. I really don’t think employers need such a workforce anymore. This might have worked decades ago, but I don’t see it working now.
Yes, there are employers who value loyalty. And to a certain extent, it matters. But just sticking with an employer and expecting your job to be secure will be naive. When the employer wants to cut costs, your loyalty will not matter a dime.
I am not saying that you should change your job immediately. I just want you to be aware.
So what will make your employers loyal to you? The new loyalty comes from giving a value-add—revenue, client delight, or workplace improvement—to the employer.
What matters is how much money you can earn or save for your employer, how you can deliver quality products and services with less expense, and how much work you can complete with minimum resources.
When you do any of these things, your employer will always be loyal to you.
Truth #4. The Only Thing That Matters at Work
In 1984, Apple launched the new Macintosh, which was directly handled by Steve Jobs. But, it did not become a hit in the marketplace. Jobs could not perform to the market’s expectations. Jobs wanted Apple executives to focus on Macintosh, instead of the stable Apple II. The board of directors, including then-CEO John Scully, did not agree.
Some say Jobs became a head with no executive powers and so he quit. Some say Jobs was fired. It does not matter how he left Apple. The thing is: he had to leave Apple, the very company he had co-founded.
Fast-forward to 1996; Apple was reeling with poor performance. Gil Amelio, the CEO, had to make things happen to keep up with a competitor like Microsoft which successfully launched Windows 95. Amelio had one solution. He could acquire a company that had all the features that Apple needed. And that’s exactly what he did. He acquired a company called NEXT in a multimillion-dollar deal. And guess who was heading NEXT?
That’s right. It was Jobs. Jobs returned to Apple as an adviser, then interim CEO, and then the permanent CEO. And then the rest is history.
Can you see the power of performance? Jobs was chucked out because he did not perform. He was later brought back as an adviser after being paid millions of dollars. Why? He performed and built a successful company like NEXT.
The only thing that matters is your performance.
That’s it.
Not just in the technology world, but also in areas such as politics, it’s performance that matters.
Why did a superpower like the USA reverse its visa ban for Narendra Modi? He was banned from visiting the USA because of his connection to the Gujarat riots. But when Modi became the prime minister of India, all the reasons for the ban went away.
Performance has the power to convince people and get them to see things your way. Some people do politicking and get things done, but it can go only to a certain extent. Performance is a better route because at least you’ll feel proud about yourself and your work.
If you are treated like a king, don’t get carried away. It’s only because you are performing.
There is no secret formula. You just need to perform better than others. You don’t need connections. You don’t need recommendations. In fact, you build connections and get recommendations through your performance.
If you can perform, eventually you’ll get rewarded. If not now, somewhere, somehow, you’ll get a reward. Trust me on this.
Truth #5. The actual relationship with your boss
You might think your boss is your best buddy—or your worst enemy. I hate to tell you, believe me or not, your boss is your first customer. Treat your boss as a customer. No more, no less.
What is the #1 thing that we should aim to build with our customer? We should strive to build rapport—liking and trust. Even if you forget everything in this book, which I hope not, remember to build rapport with your boss and other people. You’ll do really well.
In the current complicated work environment, most of the time, your boss might not be directly overseeing your work. You might be feeling that you are killing it, but your boss might not. That’s why it is really important to keep your boss educated about your performance.
Make sure that the person whom you are treating as your boss has direct decision-making authority about your performance and pay hike. This makes it sound like your boss is an owner, which is also true. And that’s the beauty of this relationship. Your boss is your customer/owner. The boss needs to buy your work and yet has the responsibility for the work you do.
There is a common thought that people do not perform because of a bad boss. Yes, there are stupid, lunatic, and idiotic bosses. But that’s usually an exception. Do you feel that this is not an exception but a norm at your workplace? Then, this should be a strong reason that you need to look for another job. Usually, if people are in the position of a boss, they did something good to reach that level. That’s why our lack of performance is not the responsibility of our boss. (In the book Confessions of a Software Techie, I lay out practical strategies to build rapport with your boss. This part is under “Boss” section in Chapter #2: How to deal with people and politics)
Truth #6. Why people are micromanaged (and what to do about it).
Good bosses will not micromanage. Instead, a good boss will give you autonomy, which is one of the three drivers that motivate employees.
Daniel H. Pink talks about this in his bestselling book Drive. The three things that motivate employees are autonomy, purpose, and mastery. And if a bad boss tries to take the autonomy away—by micromanaging or behaving like a lunatic—from a good employee, it leads to poor performance.
It’s a human tendency to micromanage. Sometimes, even I do it. It’s painful for me as well. People have different reasons. But, the most common reason for micromanagement is lack of trust.
If you know that your boss is not micromanaging others and just you, then you must build trust. Be patient and stick to your guns in delivering work. Once you build the trust, trust me that your boss will leave you alone.
If things are getting stalled and maybe the lack of freedom is impacting your performance, talk to your boss about the situation. Make it clear that it is hurting your performance. Most bosses will leave you alone because you took the initiative to talk and resolve the issue—which shows your maturity.
Still, there are suckers who might not get it. And that’s why you need to know the micro-reporter technique. You become a micro reporter. You become extremely welcoming. You involve your micromanaging boss in every single piece of work that is possible. You include the boss in emails, meeting invites, minutes of meetings, and every discussion. Before the micromanager can ask your status, you update the status.
Before the micromanager asks you why the problem is not solved, you give an update on all the possible steps you took to solve the problem. In addition, you ask the micromanager to help you in solving the problem.
Before the micromanager asks why you are not logged in early in the morning, you send a note that you’ll be late with reasons such as personal emergency, or stayed late the previous day.
Before the micromanager follows up on why you could not work on task B, you say that you are not able to work on task B because task A is taking all your time. Ask if you should stop work on task A in order to start task B.
Before the micromanager asks you to explain a delay in progress on the project, you detail the issues: other team members are not available to solve problems, the right stakeholders are not available to answer questions, the business partner is a hard nut to crack, or any other practical reason.
Did you observe, even here, it boils down to performance? Though being under a micromanager is not so ideal, there is one advantage: You won’t have to feel responsible if something goes wrong. You can say that the micromanager was always updated.
Truth #7: The correct way of handling Customers.
Customer is God is a Japanese proverb, which has been made famous by technology stalwarts. But, we don’t need to learn customer value from Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Narayana Murthy, or Jeff Bezos.
We can learn it from Anna Durai, an auto-rickshaw driver who runs his auto in the Old Mahabalipuram Road, otherwise known as the IT corridor of Chennai, India. (If you haven’t heard of Chennai. It’s my native city and also the native city of Google and Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai. Just saying, not sure why). There is a reason why I use his example. He is from a humble background, does not have a regular education, does not know English, does not work in a sophisticated environment like the techies, and must fight with the not-so-sophisticated traffic system—unlike the one in the USA—in India.
Yet he has given multiple TEDx talks about customer value! He does not even drive a cab for a sophisticated tech company like Uber. He drives a share-auto rickshaw.
Share-auto rickshaw is an innovative transport mechanism, which is a different story altogether. It has a minimum of six seats, and it might not be an exaggeration if I say that share-auto is one of the transport lifelines in India, connecting people to places where public transport is insufficient or unavailable.
But where Anna Durai has hit a home run is how he serves his customers, even though he only drives a share auto. He provides his passengers with all the current newspapers and latest magazines, tablet, laptop, Wi-Fi, swiping machine for card payment, and heck more within his auto-rickshaw!
When I saw his work, and heard his talk about customer value, I was humbled. I am translating his words into English. He said, “You all are working for very big companies. You all know a lot of things. If I can do so many things for my customers, I am sure you can do many more things for your customers.”
He is referring to client delight, which has been the go-to mantra for the tech companies. This is obvious. But what is not obvious—which took a lot of years to dawn on me—is:
We need to give solutions, not just take orders.
Order taking is doing as told. A receptionist at a hotel is an order taker. I don’t demean the receptionist’s job. They too solve problems when hotel booking is messed up. However, their default mode is taking orders. But our default mode should be giving solutions.
I used to think that I was doing well by doing what my clients were asking me to do. But, that is not how we can differentiate ourselves.
Our clients are busy most of the time. That’s how companies are designed. We can’t help it. Everyone is trying to get stuff done with the least possible overhead.
We should find out—by researching or asking or observing them during meetings—the needs of our clients, and then give solutions. We are problem solvers rather than programmers. And problem solvers give solutions to our clients. (In the book Confessions of a Software Techie under section “Customers” in Chapter #2 How to deal with people and politics, I go over three simple steps to achieve this).
Truth #8. How to deal with your Colleagues.
During my college days, most of the folks used to call me an extrovert. Now, people at my work call me an introvert. And I am like, “this is interesting.” Probably, the change from an extrovert to an introvert is natural, as we grow older.
Extrovert and introvert are states at the extreme ends of a scale. And we fluctuate somewhere between those states, based on people—colleagues, friends, relatives—and situations such as no pressure, high pressure, or a friendly atmosphere.
The problem is that we become an extrovert when we are supposed to act like an introvert, and become an introvert when we are supposed to act like an extrovert.
Your performance is not just an individual measure; it is also a function of how you deal with your colleagues. Teamwork is important and we always need to think WIN-WIN situations. I think we all understand this and there is enough said about this concept.
What I’ll cover here are four cardinal rules that will guide you in dealing with colleagues.
Cardinal Rule #1
You need to be careful in making sure that your superior (boss or client) knows your contribution (whole or partial) to the delivered work.
You’ll find different kinds of colleagues, and among them all, you need to watch out for opportunists. Opportunists are folks just waiting for opportunities to seamlessly associate themselves with any good work.
If you are not careful, the credit for your hard work could be shared, which happens most of the time. Be very careful. This is especially true with bigger teams.
Cardinal Rule #2
Never try to change colleagues who don’t want to change.
In a work culture, especially in bigger teams, there will be certain unwritten rules. For example, following a particular process (even outdated), clubbing after office hours, gossiping about stuff, or any unwritten cultural rules. You could love or hate them.
Group dynamics are very interesting. The moment you try to suggest something different, thinking of the larger good, people will resist it. They’ll do all in their power not to change it. They’ll see as you as a threat. They might even backbite you.
The smart thing is to not share your opinions in a direct way. However, you can subtly talk them into ideas that seem as if they are the group’s idea. Again, this is a skill you need to learn. Never try to rebel or to change other people’s rigid ideas. It’s just not worth your time.
Wait for the right opportunity or save your ideas for your own company (whenever you start one). Just don’t impose your ideas on others.
The legendary German poet Goethe said, “It is a great folly to hope that other men will harmonize with us; I have never hoped this. I have always regarded each man as an independent individual, whom I endeavored to understand with all his peculiarities, but from whom I desired no further sympathy. In this way have I been enabled to converse with every man, and thus alone is produced the knowledge of various characters and the dexterity necessary for the conduct of life.”
Cardinal Rule #3
Don’t get into the habit of helping others when your work is pending. Always finish your work first, before helping others.
Rahul is a techie working for a few years in a multinational software services company. He learns things quickly, can communicate well, and shows the spirit of doing things. Whenever his colleague has a problem, Rahul solves the problem pretty quickly. Rahul is killing it.
Then one day, his superior takes him to a conference room and says, “Rahul, you need to improve your performance.” Rahul is taken aback. The superior continues, “You seem to help others and leave your work pending.”
And I feel Rahul’s superior is right. However, Rahul’s superior might have had a different feedback if Rahul had followed rule #3.
I’m not telling that you should not help others when you have pending work. You should help the first time. But, you should avoid helping someone with the same problem in a repeated fashion. One practical way to handle this situation is asking them to document things. When you are giving training, or helping people with a problem, ask them to document it. It could be jotting down the steps in a notepad or saving it as a Word document. Documenting things for later reference will really help people, and yet few people do this.
Cardinal Rule #4
Never get too close, too quickly with your colleagues.
During one of my assignments, I established a good rapport with a colleague. We started talking about things apart from work as well. It was going good and then one day, I went to my colleague’s desk.
My colleague was watching something on the phone. Out of curiosity, I peeped in to check it out. And boom came the reply, “Don’t you have any manners of not peeping into someone’s personal space?”
I was shocked.
Nobody had used such harsh words with me. I just could not react. I said, “I am sorry.” And I think those were the last words I ever spoke to that colleague. I am not going to argue about who was right; instead, I am going to expand on this cardinal rule.
I am not saying that you should not build friendships with colleagues. You should and that’ll help you in the long run. And for such relationships to form, it takes time. At least till you reach that level, be cautious when commenting on sex, religion, politics, or any other sensitive topics. You never know how it might backfire.
And that’s why it is important to maintain your friendship with buddies from high school or college with whom you shared a great rapport. It’s good to meet with them, let your hair down, and discuss your thoughts about life. This is more important than we can imagine. We’ll see why and how in the section related to emotional needs in Chapter 8 How to Handle the Hard Stuff of the book Confessions of a Software Techie.
Truth #9. The reality of Office politics
All our childhood, we are surrounded by authoritative and/or loving figures. We idolize our parents and teachers. We trust whatever they say. We feel emotionally obliged to do what they do or say.
Once we complete our education and enter the “real” world, we end up searching for a father figure in a boss, or a college buddy in a colleague. We don’t realize that everyone is there thinking “what’s in it for me.”
People are just trying to survive. If we don’t see them as normal people, with the same set of insecurities as we have, we’ll fail to recognize their true intentions.
And true intention is the root cause of politics.
Office politics is something that most people do not like to talk about or get involved with. It’s not something that happens in front of you. It’s something that happens around you.
People who are involved with office politics are like bad drivers on the road. You ignore them and you’ll be in trouble. The only way is to be careful and navigate your way.
Pericles, a statesman in ancient Greece, rightly said, “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” This is true even today.
Don’t worry if you are facing politics and don’t be happy if you are not. You’ll be at a loss if you don’t face it because you have missed a chance to learn this invaluable skill. In today’s cutthroat competitive environments, you need to at least have basic awareness to navigate these barriers.
Handling office politics boils down to the ability to see people’s true intentions and act accordingly.
(In the section under “Office Politics” in Chapter #2 How to deal with people and politics of the book Confessions of a Software Techie, I go over Benjamin Franklin’s enticing story on how to see people’s true intentions and act smartly).
Truth # 10. The truth about Multitasking
(Hey there. saved the best for the last)
Multitasking seems to be one of the greatest innovations in the information technology revolution. Yet multitasking has a bad rap. Check out the facts from a leading publication:
- They (multitaskers) were up to 40 percent slower.
- After 20 minutes of interrupted performance, people report significantly higher stress levels, frustration, workload, effort, and pressure.
- Multitasking is a significant reason why we are witnessing epidemics of rage, believes Dr. Alan Keen, a behavioral scientist.
Why has multitasking become all the rage?
Let me share a short story. As a techie, you might know this. Long, long ago, maybe not so long ago, there was the single processor computer. It did a good job of performing one task at a time. But people hated to see tasks waiting. So, multiprocessor computers were invented. Now, the computer could finish multiple tasks in parallel. That was awesome, but the story did not end there.
People felt that if a computer can multitask, why can’t a techie? So, work was assigned to a techie in a parallel manner. The techie started doing multiple projects while talking on multiple channels such as instant message, cell phone, or desk phone. But just think about it. No one—not just a techie—can truly multitask. You cannot give 100 percent attention to task A and 100 percent attention to task B.
What we are doing is either dividing attention among multiple things or juggling between task A and task B in a hyperactive fashion, and in the process not giving quality attention to any task.
I don’t think we need scientific research to prove this. If you have been working for a while, you know what I am talking about. But, we also know that a demanding work environment forces us to handle multiple things.
And honestly, we cannot ignore multitasking.
Apart from our core work, we have to respond to emails while being on a call, keep asking for updates, raise issues, talk to multiple stakeholders, wear multiple hats in the absence of colleagues, and a zillion other things that come our way. And we certainly cannot go into a silo and say that I read an article in BBC that says my IQ will drop by 10 percent if I juggle too much information. Your boss will say, “Then, I don’t need you.”
Instead of saying, “I won’t multitask,” ask, “How do we manage multitasking situations?”
Largely, there are two types of work: creative and non-creative.
Non-creative is where you need to apply a set of rules or steps and you get the solution. For example, creating a sales report, running queries, following up with someone, attending regular status calls, or replying to emails. It’s not complicated. You follow the steps and boom—you get through this stuff.
The creative work is where you cannot apply a set of steps to arrive at the solution. It involves tasks related to design, algorithms, logic, unknown production issues, replying to critical emails, attending critical meetings, or any activity that needs more focus and attention. These are more difficult problems to solve. I could have used critical work as a general term, but I used creative because when pushed to get things done, you need to be creative.
The rule of thumb is to do light multitasking during non-creative work and NO multitasking during creative work.
Light multitasking means sending a quick one-word or one-sentence reply to a time-sensitive email or quickly giving your status updates in a meeting and exiting. If pressed to stay in the meeting, you then say, “Please give me a shout if you need me. I’ll be available on call but will be passive.”
Ok, I said not to multitask for creative work. So, what should we do? We’ll use the power of uninterrupted work.
Before that, let me tell you what happened with Alan. Alan was working on a design. He sat for an hour and figured out that there were eight different elements that impacted his design. He was about to crack the design when he heard a “ping.” He checked his instant messenger. Sweetie from the adjacent cubicle had sent him a smiley. And Alan’s face glowed like a 100-watt bulb. By the time Alan finished his sweet exchange of messages, he had lost the approach to create the design. A story with a similar ending is happening in every cubicle.
While doing creative work, you cannot keep getting interrupted because you cannot resume exactly where you left off. It’s going to take some time before your brain goes into that zone. It’s like REM sleep where you’ll need to spend some time in bed before the REM sleep kicks. If someone disturbs you in between, you have to start again. It’s the same while you try to do creative work.
You need at least two to four hours of uninterrupted time to do critical work. It’s the “me” time when you’ll finish work that really matters. And this needs full focus. Be careful not to be tempted to answer a simple email or an instant message. You might not have realized this but there is a switching cost that you incur when you move from one task to another. It is like an additional IO that happened.
From a movie standpoint, if productivity is the hero, then interruption is the villain. Hence, turn off all bells and whistles. If turning instant messenger status to do-not-disturb mode helps, then do it. If working from a conference room helps, then do it. If keeping your cell phone on silent mode helps, then do it.
Do whatever it takes it to protect and produce good quality work.
…..With that, we completed the 10 truths that I promised to share. Please implement this in your work life, and see the difference.
If these truths resonated with you, please check out the book Confessions of a Software Techie. You might find it helpful as well.
Thank you for your time, and happy working!
