Selah – take a chill pill and reflect.
So my last blog started a little conversation – over 2000 views and greater than 50 comments.
And as I noted when I looked at my blog list of musings over the past 15 years here on this community site of various names I found that that blog was my 49th. Which makes this one my 50th.
I thought a really nice visualisation of a 7*7 3d interactive chart in d3js would have been fun but it is far easier to write 1000 words than generate an interactive chart (at least for me)
There certainly has been a time over the past couple of years when this sentiment from Jelana hit home. I have been too busy working or travelling and needed to take time to relax rather than go to another event, write another blog or learn the new thing about <insert new shiny tool here>
But this is tech and tech marches on – it indeed is the most like time and tide.
As I mentioned in the previous blog two key skills in modern development are:
- source control
- unit testing
We could all get a little better if we got a handle on these just as we could make sure that we are using the newest features of the languages we use.
Software though is made for people and by people. As much as geeks try to ignore this – it remains true.
So … we need to also include tools in our belt like:
- Kindness
- Inclusivity
- Thoughtfulness
- Empathy
Just a little thought for a Wednesday ( adjusted for your timezone of course )
Thank you for sharing your 50th blog post with this community Nigel, and congrats on the milestone! (Loved your last ABAP blog!
) Your reminder of “tools” that fellow members should also have made me take notice, as soft-skills and emotional intelligence have been on my mind lately. I think these topics are important for the health of our community (I would even say for our society), and can lead to personal and professional success. Your fellow SAP Mentor Alum Michelle Crapo‘s blog urging empathy in answering questions is also another good read!
Thanks Jason - I was reminded again just how import this is this morning when I read a thread by NPM engineering manager Jeff Lembeck https://twitter.com/jefflembeck/status/1017282384037752832 .
I think this thread states very clearly why empathy is important in our field.
Happy days,
Nigel
Nice honest perspective from Jeff Lembeck! Worth the read! Thank you Nigel!
Very nice thread. Thank you for pointing us to it.
I'm so glad Jason mentioned me. That meant that I stopped here to read the blog! I haven't had the time to really keep up with blogs like I want to.
You really don't know how badly I needed to read this today. Such perfect timing.
I've got to remember that. It is the hardest thing to do when you are on a large project with tight dates. I am waiting on XYZ to finish before I can finish my job. So I try being nice, try being nicer, try... About that time I'm ready to scream and I do, because I work from home. And then on my next e-mail I copy EVERYONE. How annoying is that?
And it is playing dominoes. Because ABC is waiting on me. I can't finish until XYZ does. Can you see where tempers are flaring?
So this is a good reminder to me - have empathy. Try asking if there is anything I can do to help instead of when will this be done. I think my soft skills have taken a vacation right now.
Great read!
Michelle