Better Software - December 2007 - (Page 7)

Technically Speaking Taking It Personally by Alicia Yanik It’s annual review time at my organization—that joyous time of year when managers and employees come together in the spirit of peace and harmony. Oh wait, that’s the holiday season. In any event, as I was working through the many reviews I’m required to write, I began to notice that an inherent part of an annual review is identifying areas for career growth and development. In order for people to develop their professional and technical skills, they have to change, but people (at least the ones I know) almost always resist change. And yet, during each review, every single employee wanted to know what was “next” in his career and how he could grow or develop his skills to prepare for that subsequent challenge. I found myself thinking that, as people first and technologists second, we often put ourselves in an interesting spot. We expect our employers to provide us with a growth and development plan— followed by growth and development. As a manager, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people, and when asked what they are seeking from a potential new job, candidates will respond that they are seeking growth into a more challenging job. But curiously, when I ask what they have been doing personally to grow, they shrug their shoulders or give me a blank stare. It’s not their responsibility—it’s their employer’s. How can one expect to realize professional growth without also endeavoring to undertake professional change on an individual level? I don’t think it’s possible. But what if we, as individuals, were to seek and embrace change in ourselves in order to grow? What if we were able to look at the vast amounts of information available to us and seek ways to develop ourselves through change? What if—and bear with me here—we were to tester who uses automated techniques to become even better at my job, I’m identifying where I am and where I want to be—a good start to getting there. The second requirement for growth is letting go of one thing “The first thing required for growth in order to find something else. If I want to learn how to write test is identifying where you are and scripts in order to automate my testing where you want to be. ” practices, I need to let go of thinking like a those same articles looking for ways to manual tester. It’s likely I’m going to have achieve change in our professional ca- to let go of some good practices that have reers? By seeking the methods and means served me well—and that is difficult to by which we’d like to change—instead of do. But if I don’t let go, I won’t be able to expecting our manager to dictate how we adopt new practices. New capabilities are achieved through should change—we introduce dignity into our growth and development by giv- planning and implementing change. Take ing ourselves choices. We begin to own personal responsibility for it. Instead of the decision of how we grow. That could accepting a generic, off-the-shelf developbe an amazing and powerful growth ment plan, take the time to invest in your own growth. The knowledge you gain plan. Recently, I read a former employee’s through introspection, planning, and exit interview. The only reason this per- then action will surpass any off-the-shelf son gave for his leaving was his plan your employer can offer. {end} perception that the organization wasn’t making an investment in the professional Alicia Yanik has been managing Webgrowth of its employees via a document- based software development projects ed career path. (I don’t believe for a since 1998. She became an agile zealot in moment this was the only reason for his 2004 and began her role as ScrumMaster departure, but given that nothing else in the spring of 2004. Alicia can be was noted, I’m going to work with the in- reached at alicia.yanik@gmail.com. formation I have). Interestingly, during EXPERT OPINIONS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS this employee’s tenure, he had never identified this as missing from his job nor had PowerPass members can access the he taken any personal responsibility for STQE/Better Software magazine archive on ensuring he had a growth plan. He simStickyMinds.com to read every ply decided that the organization was take individual responsibility for introducing change in ourselves? For example, instead of reading through the articles in this issue to obtain information, what if we read through deficient because it didn’t provide written steps for moving his career from point A to point B. Change and growth occur when two things happen. The first thing required for growth is identifying where you are and where you want to be. If I am a tester who uses manual techniques to accomplish my job and I want to become a www.StickyMinds.com Technically Speaking ever published! Get words of wisdom dating back to 1999 from such notables as Brian Marick, Lee Copeland, Mike Cohn, Esther Derby, Elisabeth Hendrickson, James Whittaker, Jonathan Kohl, and Brian Lawrence. Visit www.stickyminds.com/magarchive DECEMBER 2007 BETTER SOFTWARE 7 http://StickyMinds.com http://www.stickyminds.com/magarchive http://www.StickyMinds.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software - December 2007

Better Software - December 2007 Contents Mark Your Calendar What's Happening @ StickyMinds.com Technically Speaking Code Craft Test Connection Management Chronicles Man and Machine Let Your Values be Your Guide A Story About User Stories and Test-driven Development Product Announcements The Last Word Ad Index

Better Software - December 2007

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