Craft - Why I am here x2

[Matt Heusser]

For what it's worth, I have said "if you want it done in X time, well, maybe I'm not the guy for you.  If you can find someone else who can do this in X time, give the work to them."  And I did not get fired.

The thing is, you have to have the tools to say it; you have to believe in yourself enough to say it, and you have to be wiling to live with the consequences.

I have had my career take /significant/ short-term pain because I was willing to say "I guess I'm not your man."

The other half of the coin is the sloths, the laggards, the jerkies, who simply /don't/ work that hard and yet use some kind of force to push back on deadlines.  I hope to have a way of helping management tell the two types apart.  So far, the one action that has helped is to point to a record of /delivery/.


regards,

--
Matthew Heusser,
Blog: http://xndev.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mheusser
Skype: mattheusser

[Dave Hoover]

On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 8:02 AM, Matt Heusser <matt.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have had my career take /significant/ short-term pain because I was
> willing to say "I guess I'm not your man."
>
> The other half of the coin is the sloths, the laggards, the jerkies, who
> simply /don't/ work that hard and yet use some kind of force to push back on
> deadlines. I hope to have a way of helping management tell the two types
> apart. So far, the one action that has helped is to point to a record of
> /delivery/.

I completely agree. Being able to point to a record of delivery and a
portfolio our your work is the most reliable way to distinguish
yourself as a craftsman.

I would bet, though, that there are people on this list who are
currently getting paid to work on projects that they would not be
comfortable pointing to, or projects that may be doomed to failure.
What advice do we have for people in that situation?

[Enrique Comba Riepenhausen]

> I would bet, though, that there are people on this list who are
> currently getting paid to work on projects that they would not be
> comfortable pointing to, or projects that may be doomed to failure.
> What advice do we have for people in that situation?

That is a tricky situation I guess, as it depends on many factors.
First you have to consider the personal gain you have of being
employed (I can feed my family, etc). This is sometimes the biggest
barrier for people to be where they are.

On the other hand, if we consider that the personal front is covered,
I would say that there are two possibilities:

1) Talk to the Product Owner and see what can be saved from the
project. When talking to the customers most of the times we can find a
good solution to this, but we could have a dreadful customer who
doesn't care about it... Although usually this helps.

2) If you have talked to them and nothing seems reasonable, detach
yourself from the project and find a place and employer who really
cares about good work.

It is all a matter of preferences. What do we prefer to do in life and
specially with our professional life?

--
Enrique Comba Riepenhausen
[@]: <eco...@gmail.com>
[w]: <http://www.nexwerk.com>