TIB #22: Use An Exchange Program

If you are working with a distributed team, especially if that team is offshore, you should implement an “exchange program” to bring remote people together. The phone, email, instant messenger, and other similar tools can help with collaboration but they don’t have a fraction of the power of face-to-face communication.

Do you work with people in India? Then go to India. Do you work with people in the China? Then go to China.

Making eye contact in a high-bandwidth environment can do wonders for teamwork and cohesion. In addition to the face-to-face time there is also the understanding and feeling of culture. Culture provides the basis for viewpoints and actions and without understanding the culture of your co-workers, how can you ever understand them as individuals?

As you make your budget for your project, always remember that your best tool for collaboration is a plane ticket.

TIB #16: Listen To Nature

Nature is often neglected as a source of inspiration. There are many opportunities to look to nature to find solutions to our problems and inspiration for our thoughts.

Our minds and our thoughts are often shaped and blinded by growing up as children of industry. There was a world that existed before industrialization and there will likely be a world that exists after our impact is felt on this planet.

The next time that you look to any of the standard clichés that tend to rule our thinking – try looking to nature and see what you can come up with. My guess is that you will be surprised in what you find.

TIB #4 / TIB #5: Passion Matters

Since I haven’t posted much in a while, I thought I would throw up a couple of TIBs. I do have way more to say than usual and I’ll get around to posting again after I’m settled in to my new home and into my new job. In the meantime…

TIB #4: Passion matters (way more than anything else)
I’m not sure what more to say about this one. Regardless of experience, passion is the most important asset that you can have as an individual. Take your pick on where you can apply this one, it’s universal. There have been times that I have not been passionate about what I was doing and even though I may have been experienced and well-seasoned in the area, I was not as effective as the people who were truly passionate about what we were doing.

TIB #5: If you’re not passionate about something, don’t do it.
See above. It doesn’t work out well for anyone. Life is too short to spend your time doing shit that you don’t believe in. If your employer has a different view, find a different employer.

TIB #9: Design Matters

Design matters. 

Design tends to be overlooked, but it’s extremely important. It matters in products, it matters in software, it matters everywhere.

TIB #1: Custom software is too expensive.

A while back, I wrote about defining my TIBs. I’m still not done, but I’m going to randomly post a few from time-to-time. I don’t have them listed in any particular order, but here is TIB #1:

Custom software is too expensive.

There are many factors that eventually come together and make the world of custom software development more expensive than it should be. I believe this is because the majority of our focus in the field is primarily focused on technology solutions instead of business solutions. Sound software craftsmanship and business accumen can go hand-in-hand to create functional, beautiful, simple, and valuable software if we step back and question our assumptions on how software should be developed.