Friday 1st March - Learning to say No is Hard


Yesterday, someone got me on a call and was trying to force me something to do something that I didn't want to do. I told them this wasn't in line with how our team worked. I also told them that wasn't something that I felt comfortable doing.

Then I had to repeat myself, three times.

They were trying to gain a shortcut, perhaps make themselves look important, I really have no idea. I had to give them the feedback that I felt "hijacked" and that I would need to talk to my boss about it. Then they went on to undermine my boss.

Should I give in? Should I go with what I thought was the right thing to do?

I didn't give in.

It's hard to push back. It's even harder to stay measured when you do it, but the more you do this, the better you become at it.

--

You tend to think that the older you get, the easier it is to navigate the relationships you're in at work. In truth, it becomes more complex because the more we know, the more we have to give and the more useful we are to others. Therefore it can often be a challenge to blend the time we're spending helping people rather than focusing on the techincal things.

And that's a good thing.

-- Richard

Too Busy To Do It Right

Published on February 19, 2024

DevOps isn't like Ikea FurnitureDevOps transformations can often become a checklist of tools and processes we need to assemble, like so much Ikea furniture. But DevOps is not a kit of things you can apply to your organisation. It’s a mindset. And you can’t force an organisation of people to think the same way. I recently listened to an… Read More »Too Busy To Do It Right

Read more...

The Human Software

Software systems rule our world. My regular newsletter explores the human factors that make software engineering so unique, so difficult, so important and all consuming.

Read more from The Human Software
The Human Software 275  - HUMAN SOFTWARE: A Life in IT - Coming in September!

I hope you've had a good summer and are re-energised and looking forward to lowering yourself back into the tepid pool of work for the remainder of the year. Here's a view from a charming street market in Aix-en-Provence. Shortly afterwards, I made it to the Paul Cezanne exhibit at the Museé Granet where I was inspired to think about new ideas for the cover of HUMAN SOFTWARE. Sweltering on a sunny day in Provence The big news is, HUMAN SOFTWARE has a release date! e-pub will be available on...

The Human Software 274 - Meet the Team

Just like "Parts Unlimited" in "The Phoenix Project" - a good tech story needs an interesting company to base its story upon. So over the last week I put together a little corporate website for Gerbach Inc. On it you can meet some of the leadership team and find out a little more about what Gerbach does and where it does business. The Gerbach Logo Gerbach's head office is based in Sandport in the UK. Sandport is a fictional town based on Sandwich in Kent - my hometown. Since the 1950s there...

Human Software 273 - Taking a Trip

I've spent the last two months (a short trip to Iceland aside) working on the next set of edits for HUMAN SOFTWARE. In all honesty, I thought I'd just be doing a little bit of light word work when it came to this round but as it transpired, I ended up changing about a third of the content. A few chapters were discarded, and numerous rewrites were made in the name of pacing and tension building. What I hope we've ended up with is a more intriguing and interesting journey for Beth and Chrissie...