When I was younger, I thought the most valuable skill I'd learn would be kernel debugging or something else technical. The most valuable skill I've actually learned: finishing projects. Many people have ideas. Many fewer people are able to define projects they can deliver on!
@jeanqasaur i hope to learn this skill someday (:
@jeanqasaur yuuuup. I've found that one of the best things for my career has been finishing projects, to the point where people can rely on me to do it. "It may not be ideal, but it'll get done" is a superpower
@jeanqasaur The best engineering manager in history was Thomas J watson, Junior. IBM had no external competition for much of his reign, yet he managed to find a way to motivate people to finish as quickly as possible Engineers are always afraid that they won't be needed anymore
For me .. learning to start with a planning phase and execution phase has been a huge boost. Planning - I meticulously break things down into small steps and do all the heavy lifting in terms of designing the solution (tradeoffs, constraints, research, feedback). I dedicate a large amount of time to this. As I have gotten better with engineering, this has turned out to be the hardest part Execution - I pull from that steps pile and close sh*t out till the thing is done.
@jeanqasaur As an adhd person this hits so true, i am actively training myself to do less and finish more its so hard, its like a paradigm change
@jeanqasaur Sure, ideas are nothing without execution, but some ideas are much more worthy of execution than others. I have been serving one such idea for almost a decade by now. I would have never had the tenacity to execute if I didn't _know_ the idea was both right and important.
@jeanqasaur Absolutely brilliant! True for personal software process as well as team process. Really difficult to get right. I am curious, how would you recommend somebody to improve this?
@jeanqasaur I try to design team makeup using a mixture of starters, catalysts, and closers. If all you have are starters and catalysts, nothing gets done.
@jeanqasaur >most valuable skill ...: finishing projects. like 😆(project)mortal combat + mythical man month