Showing Some Gratitude for 2022

The last half of December is when the professional world goes to sleep. The Christian holidays, the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, and the commemoration of Kwanza take the wind out of the global economy's sails. For a brief period, business people spend time with family and friends. It is a chance to rest, recharge and take stock of the previous year. Today, I want to attempt that same activity.

If you look at measurements, 2022 was a strange year. Since the end of the Second World War, the Russian army has been fighting in Europe for the first time. Inflation rose in response to growing demand after COVID restrictions but is starting to cool. Authoritarians worldwide seem to be on the rise, with the 2022 Olympics in Beijing becoming the high point of the global arrogance of that worldview. The world is still smoldering from the previous year's wildfires, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom looks like a dysfunctional mess. Finally, any man that had any cultural influence made themselves look like a nitwit. Amid all this background noise, I was working as a technology consultant attempting to coordinate the activities of development teams across three continents. 

Working as a technology consultant is an exhausting career. It is not for the weak and takes a mental and emotional toll on anyone who does it well. You spend your time getting incompatible systems to work together. While dealing with these engineering challenges, you confront the confusing world of office politics and leadership. I stumbled into the vocation because I was good at computers. It also occurred to me that I can lead other developers and business people to get work done. I am a weird kid with nerdy hobbies who grew up to become one of the many anonymous figures who keep the global economy spinning. I cannot imagine doing anything else for a living. Over the years, I have experienced plenty of disappointing situations. Still, I have come out of these experiences more dedicated to making the world of work more sustainable, satisfying, and sane. In a way, it has become my life's devotion. 

First, I want to recognize my colleagues from CAPCO who have been there when I needed them. I could only do my job with a great support network. Michael Guerrero has been the best coach, and I look forward to being under his mentorship for a long time. Casey Schaffer is the woman who took a chance on me and taught me the importance of animal rescue daily. Beth Yiznitsky is a serious professional woman who does not take herself too seriously, and it inspires a loyalty that is difficult to understand. I am also grateful to Owen Priestley and Kyle Chavers for letting me be myself at work and allowing me to help others. Together with my fellow CAPCO employees, we are a "merry band of pirates," which I work with daily. 

I also feel like I need to recognize some people outside my company. Monica Guillory at Surestaff and I go back almost ten years, and even though we work at different organizations, we still keep in touch. We are both committed to diversity and inclusion. We both know that work can be a source of dignity and power instead of alienation and despair. Thanks for helping me keep my chin up. I also need to recognize two people I know through the Chicago Agile Coaching Exchange; Ryan Ripley, the Agile for Human's podcast host, and James Carpenter. Both are fighting to make agile real in organizations and doing it one client at a time: nerdy respect, folks. 

I consider myself fortunate. I have people in my professional life who support me, but where I am most lucky is at home. Carol Zelaya is a great life partner who loves me the way I am. My parents are still alive, so I often enjoy their company and wisdom. Finally, I have a group of friends who allow me to be childish around a board game table a few times a year. 2022 was a strange year, but I am grateful for all the people that made it worth living. I will take a week off to enjoy the holidays with my family. Next time, we will look ahead to 2023.

Happy holidays and until next time. 

Be on the Look Out for Workism

Even Elves need some rest.

The Christian holidays are close and it is easy to become caught up in the bustle of parties, shopping, and family gatherings.  The biggest challenge is weighing the exclusive demands of family and career.  Derek Thompson wrote an excellent article about the subject earlier this month.  As a member of the agile reformation, I want to remind my fellow professionals of the danger of workism.

Speaking for myself, I become a software developer for two reasons. The first reason was I was chasing the hype and wealth of the first internet boom.  It was a giddy and stupid time where Bill Clinton was president, and anyone with a “.com” at the end of their company name wasted millions of dollars.  I wanted to be one of those twentysomething or thirtysomething millionaires writing code instead of being told to smile more while casino patrons blew cigarette smoke into my face.  The other reason was I was good at it.  I became a wizard with Microsoft Office and was soon glancing at Visual Basic code like I was reading the morning news.  My dream of working afternoon drive at a classic rock radio station evolved into becoming a web developer.  The pay was better and it gave me a career that I did not enjoy in my twenties.

Looking back, I realized I joined the technology during a dramatic period of expansion.  I was one of the numerous anonymous workers who helped construct the contemporary internet we enjoy today.  I was an early consumer of social media with a MySpace page.  I was using a smartphone before the birth of Android.  I witnessed the evolution of Microsoft from an evil empire to an innovator in Cloud computing.

It was not an easy road to travel.  I failed numerous times, working for every type of business imaginable.  I became an entrepreneur and failed, and each setback and disappointment set the stage for more significant success.  These experiences helped me coach other professionals so that they avoid the mistakes I made in my career.

It is also a profession where less than one percent of the world population can do it successfully.  It often means cramming various amounts of work into a single workweek.  Developers and network engineers work long hours keeping the global economy working.  It is intellectually demanding and detail-oriented.  Imagine a world where checks do not manifest, or shopping on-line comes to a stop. It is a nightmare world I would not like to live in.

The lucrative work and the shortage of people who can do it successfully translate into long hours.  Thompson in his essay in the Atlantic talks about workism.  It is a career focus that puts family, friends, and community at arm’s length.  High skill workers benefit from long hours in ways that low skill workers do not.  If you work in technology, you are expected to work long hours because it is cost-prohibitive to find people who can do the work.  It is also the only way for a professional to advance in their career.  As Thompson says in his essay,

“At many firms, insanely long hours are the skeleton key to the C-suite and partner track.  Thus, overwork becomes a kind of arms race among similarly talented workers, exacerbated by the ability to never stop working, even at home.  It’s mutually assured exhaustion.”

Executives enjoy exploiting this arms race to get more out of their employees.  In the agile world, we need to push back against this exploitation.  Countless studies point out overwork is counter-productive.  Workism has severe consequences for employee health.  It hurts morale.  It also undermines the quality of the work.  Agile is about “Healthy Ownership,” a sustainable pace and delivering value to customers at a more reasonable pace.  Anything else is waste and exploitation. As an agile coach or scrum master, please be on the watch for workism.  It is a path that leads to poor quality and burnout.  The better way is Agile which is a more sustainable, satisfying and safe way to work.

I want to finish this blog by wishing all of my readers a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and a joyous Kwanzaa.  I am sure I am missing some other holiday but I hope each of you enjoys time with your families and take some time for reflection.  I will back next week with my end of year predictions.

Until next time.

Acknowledgements for the Christmas Season

My Christmas Card to you

The Christian holidays are always tough; you are preparing for gatherings of family and friends.  Free time is spent shopping, and disposable income comes and goes faster than a drop of water in the desert.  In the middle of this frantic scramble, I was looking for work.  I am happy to report I am returning back to work on January 3rd.  Adversity has a way of revealing the kind of person you are and this week I wanted to set this aside and thank a few people who have helped me over the last year.

I am deeply grateful for the support I received from my colleagues at LCS communications as I decided to pursue other ventures.  Wayne Reno was a great mentor and I hope someday to develop the emotional intelligence he possesses.  Thomas Collier was my partner in managing a chaotic software development process; he was both a voice of reason and experience.  Finally, I have to extend a hand to Kedar Godkhindi who was both a technical lead and a friend.  I could not get through this hardship without their support.

I also had plenty of former developers and colleagues come forward and pick up my spirits.  Larry Gasik is the curmudgeonly guy you always want in your corner during a rough patch.  I also want to recognize Gene Stetz who is never at a loss for words and has plenty of wisdom to share.   Michael Kappel is an eccentric and artist who will always inspire me.  Finally, I have to recognize Daniel Porrey who took a chance on me five years ago and thought I would be a good scrum master.

The agile community has been great particularly, Kat Daugherty who inspired me to submit my first white paper to a major conference.  I also need to recognize Anke Maerz who has been a pillar of support during the last six months.

I have plenty of people to thank but I don’t have enough room to recognize you all.  As we slide into the holiday and New Year, rest assured I am deeply moved how everyone had supported me over the last year.  2019 is a clean slate and I look forward to filling it with more learnings, news, and wisdom.  Happy Christmas and a joyful New Year.

Until next time.

Dealing with Scary Stuff

I am scared but I am going to be OK.

I have a sign on my wall which says, “If your dreams don’t scare you they are not big enough.” It has been a frightening period for me.  I am interviewing for new opportunities, sending out applications, all the while the holiday season approaches.  It is a lonely period despite the support I have received from family, friends, and colleagues.  Periods like this test a person and this week I would like to discuss it.

Since high school, I have been one of those students who could be labeled as “striver.” I wanted to advance myself and do better for myself and my family.  Pushing myself academically and participating in extra circular activities, so I would get noticed by a college.  It happened with a twist. I was offered a scholarship to a university and then it fell through.  I went to a community college for the first two years of my college career.  In hindsight, it was a perfect move as I was able to deal with the pressures of college with the support of my family.  When I transferred to a four-year university, I learned the discipline it takes to succeed academically.  It was not easy, but the early lesson was that success required sacrifice and discipline.

Sadly, those two qualities are not helpful when jobs were scarce as was the case in the recession of 1990.  Keeping the lights on and the rent paid required the swallowing of personal pride.  It meant working retail working for commission.  It was dealing cards at a casino.  I discovered I was good at computers and learning how to program them.  I was lucky when I left the casino industry, it was the giddy and stupid times of the dot-com boom.  I transitioned from dead-end jobs to a career.  It only took seven years out of school to make this basic professional milestone.

In the intervening period, I have been fired and laid off more times than I can mention.  I struggled to keep the lights on and the mortgage paid.  People have treated me in a grossly unfair fashion and I have received numerous second chances throughout my career.  The adversity which has dominated my career makes me contemptuous of others who have not had similar experiences.  It is also why I roll my eyes when I hear certain public figures discuss their “life of struggle.”

The ups and downs of my career took a heavy toll on my marriage and family life.  It has changed me more than I would like to admit.  In spite of it all, I have remained committed to the business of building working software and attempting to make work more satisfying, sustainable, and sane.  I am committed to large businesses treating people with basic decency.

I am going to give that vision a hard test.  The experience is going to challenge me in ways I am not comfortable.  I might fail.  I still have to try because I owe it to the people grinding out code.  I owe it to my family and I owe it to myself.  My dreams are very big and they scare me witless.   I look forward to defeating the fear and sharing those dreams with you.

Until next time.

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas day.  This year has been a whipsaw of emotions.  In that time, I have shared the wisdom I have gathered.  Thank you for reading along and joining in the conversation.  I am going to take some time off away from the office and spend it with family.  The New Year is going to be filled with excitement and I look forward to sharing it with you. 

Have a happy Christmas and until next time. 

Some Thoughts About the Holiday Rush

A little holiday rush

It is the final rush of 2017.  The business is pushing to squeeze as much profit out of the holiday season while the technical professionals are scrambling to bring on-line systems promised by the executive team.  It is a busy time and filled with pressures both personal and professional.  I find it hard to cope with this strain.  You spend time keeping the commitments of others and struggle to use the difference supporting family and friends.  This week I want to make sense of the holiday rush. 

For as long as I have been a business professional, the one motivation I have seen in business is fear; visceral, cold, unforgiving terror.  It is the anxiety that you are not hitting your sales figures.  It is the panic of the payroll system not interfacing with the accounting software.  It is a shame that comes with a sixty hour work week not being enough to deliver what your manager promised. 

The reason I became so enamored with agile and scrum is I wanted to work without fear.  I have been fired the week before Christmas.  My spouse left me because I finished up a consulting contract early.  Each meeting with quality assurance or my manager triggered spasms of fear.  There had to be a better way.  Agile and scrum provided a means to do things differently and escape that fear.

I have been in the agile practice for eight years.  I have had tremendous successes and bitter failures.  I have lost countless hours of sleep and overeaten junk food.  I have struggled against organizational inertia and corporate indifference.  I would not change a thing because the changes I have made mean that one less developer is living in fear.  That makes it a worthy goal. 

So as I fight crowds to get my shopping done and stay up late to ship software on time; I understand the sacrifice and frustration I put in for 2017 is worth it.  There is a little less fear in the office.

Until next time.