Friday 1st March - Learning to say No is Hard

Published over 1 year ago • 1 min read

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 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 »

The Human Software 283 - The Social Sciences and Conway's Law

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5 days ago • 5 min read

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19 days ago • 1 min read

The Human Software 281 - When Does Change Happen?

Working in software you get to see some pretty stupid stuff. And I mean crazy, stupid stuff. Decisions that float down from on high from multiple disparate spheres of influence - sales teams, other business units or just vice-presidents with a Great New Idea[tm] or a pet project. The narrative goes a little like this - the important people get to make choices and us techies have to live with consequences them. Sometimes these decisions are on a whim, an industry hype, a desperate attempt to...

26 days ago • 2 min read