There’s a saying that’s floated around at my last two jobs. It was started by my one-time boss and continued by my current one. Difficult or irritating problems are often introducted by saying this:

I have an opportunity for you…

The idea, of course, is to frame a problem in it’s rosiest light. It’s become a joke because of the stigma we’ve attached to the word, but the idea is sound.

Lately I’ve been faced with some thorny issues. There are lots of little projects here and there that have been snowballing around and becoming somewhat cumbersome to general development. But I’ve been making the mistake of allowing these projects to sit in my mind as hinderances when I should be viewing them as opportunities.

It’s a silly mental game, but it’s a very important one.

I ran track every year in high school. I don’t run anymore but I like to think I learned a lot about how to run. I like to watch ‘professional’ runners because they make it look fluid and natural. One of the tips I learned is to leave your hands open and relaxed, not balled into a fist. If your hands are tight, it spreads to your forearms then your chest and eventually your whole body. In other words, if you start the run stressed, you doom yourself to having a harder time.

That’s a long way of saying that I’ve not been approaching my projects with the optimism they deserve. This negativity conducts itself to my ‘customers’. That’s a Bad Thing. This atitude is all the more important for people in driving positions of IT departments, as we are the guides into a magical¹ realm. As the keyholders, we have to enable, not hinder.

That puts the onus on IT/Development. So be it: That’s why they pay us the big bucks.²

There’s a yin to this yang. If your Development group is Perfect In All Ways, then your customers could simply depend on you to answer their questions and take them as The Truth. You probably aren’t. Neither are they. That’s why we should try to remember that this is supposed to be somewhat fun, and act accordingly. Solving hard problems is what we do.

1 - In the sense of the ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’ saying, which is a very generous way to view my work. :)

2 - Yeah, right.

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Posted at : April 16th, 2007 - 10:43 pm
Filed under : Code, Design, General, Life, Useless Information, Work
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