10 Rules for (Business) Success
Oh No! Not another STOOPID List! Haha...I like lists...lists are pretty simple and straightforward way to present ideas especially if the items are 10 or less. Why do you think we have 10 fingers? That's the reason why our dominant number system is decimal based.
Anyway, some of the ideas in this list I already arrived at independantly and some I'm sure of you already discovered through painful experience.
An example of an idea that has always been playing in my mind before is the fact that ideas are cheap. The same way talk is cheap. Action and execution of such ideas however, are hard things to do. I've always thought that a successful business does not even need good innovative ideas as long as the execution (marketing + delivery) and timing is great!
Anyone can have good ideas. That's easy. Not everyone's going to be successful in business. (Of course they might choose to be successful in other things in life!)
Another example of something I've tried to avoid in my life is the 'Perfectionist' trap, or as the list calls it the 'Perfect is the Enemy of Good' deal.
I used to aim for perfection but after a really tough downfall during the prime of my life, I've trained to let go of things a little. It just isn't worth being late or not delivering on something...Life's too short and precious to sweat and lose sleep over small unimportant things.
Akin to the 'Better Late than Never' adage.
And then there's 'Do Not Create Work for Other People', which I'm sure all of us know about from experience! The list mentions why it is the reason most non-sales people hate the sales department. Of course they can look the customer in the eye and say with unfounded confidence that yes, we can deliver this and that. That's because they are not the ones to do all the actual work of delivering!
Here I would also like to add another thing, do not create work... for your predecessors! This translates to actually caring about planning and doing your job well enough you do not leave *shit* for those taking over from you when you leave. This is meant to be applied generally but to give an instance, since I'm on the technical side of IT, designing the architecture of your system, coding and documenting so that future maintenance of the system is not too frustrating. Maintainability and sustainability should be attainable goals of any business or system.
Unfortunately, everyone is selfish to a certain extent. Especially when we come under pressure from deadlines, we skimp on the 'caring-for-the-future' part and just focus on the 'getting-this-bloody-thing-to-work-at-all' mode of delivery. Which is why there is such a high turn-over rate in the IT industry....create shit, get the money and resume fillers then leave.
Create shit...leave. Create more shit...then leave. Let others suffer for your sins.
Why is this bad? It's bad because in the big picture, the whole industry is disadvantaged thanks to poor quality service and products. Guess who is in this God-forsaken industry and country?? YOU! You're slowly screwing yourself in the arse bit by little bit. It accumulates. At least that's my take on why this industry is so challenging.
Which brings me to another assertion that I arrived at.
REPUTATION matters!
Whenever you prepare a proposal to any tender or try to sell any service or product, any sane customer will ask for referrals. Any past records of success and history of experience? I believe that majorly influences customer confidence and therefore the decision to buy from you.
So, you may keep on creating shit after shit. Trust me, sooner or later your customers will do an actual fact checking and discover that all those past projects you worked on were failures to a certain degree. So go ahead, keep doing it and true success will keep eluding you.
We have to change this mindset and attitude. Co-operation between every department is vital. Politics between departments is self-destructive to morale and creates needless internal strife. A little bit of empathy and understanding about what issues the other side faces, will go a long way in creating a happier work environment.
There are other ideas on that list, some quite obvious but needing re-emphasis and some not so obvious...mostly due to years of de-constructive programming from bad work experiences. Go read it all!
Oh No! Not another STOOPID List! Haha...I like lists...lists are pretty simple and straightforward way to present ideas especially if the items are 10 or less. Why do you think we have 10 fingers? That's the reason why our dominant number system is decimal based.
Anyway, some of the ideas in this list I already arrived at independantly and some I'm sure of you already discovered through painful experience.
An example of an idea that has always been playing in my mind before is the fact that ideas are cheap. The same way talk is cheap. Action and execution of such ideas however, are hard things to do. I've always thought that a successful business does not even need good innovative ideas as long as the execution (marketing + delivery) and timing is great!
Anyone can have good ideas. That's easy. Not everyone's going to be successful in business. (Of course they might choose to be successful in other things in life!)
Another example of something I've tried to avoid in my life is the 'Perfectionist' trap, or as the list calls it the 'Perfect is the Enemy of Good' deal.
I used to aim for perfection but after a really tough downfall during the prime of my life, I've trained to let go of things a little. It just isn't worth being late or not delivering on something...Life's too short and precious to sweat and lose sleep over small unimportant things.
Akin to the 'Better Late than Never' adage.
And then there's 'Do Not Create Work for Other People', which I'm sure all of us know about from experience! The list mentions why it is the reason most non-sales people hate the sales department. Of course they can look the customer in the eye and say with unfounded confidence that yes, we can deliver this and that. That's because they are not the ones to do all the actual work of delivering!
Here I would also like to add another thing, do not create work... for your predecessors! This translates to actually caring about planning and doing your job well enough you do not leave *shit* for those taking over from you when you leave. This is meant to be applied generally but to give an instance, since I'm on the technical side of IT, designing the architecture of your system, coding and documenting so that future maintenance of the system is not too frustrating. Maintainability and sustainability should be attainable goals of any business or system.
Unfortunately, everyone is selfish to a certain extent. Especially when we come under pressure from deadlines, we skimp on the 'caring-for-the-future' part and just focus on the 'getting-this-bloody-thing-to-work-at-all' mode of delivery. Which is why there is such a high turn-over rate in the IT industry....create shit, get the money and resume fillers then leave.
Create shit...leave. Create more shit...then leave. Let others suffer for your sins.
Why is this bad? It's bad because in the big picture, the whole industry is disadvantaged thanks to poor quality service and products. Guess who is in this God-forsaken industry and country?? YOU! You're slowly screwing yourself in the arse bit by little bit. It accumulates. At least that's my take on why this industry is so challenging.
Which brings me to another assertion that I arrived at.
REPUTATION matters!
Whenever you prepare a proposal to any tender or try to sell any service or product, any sane customer will ask for referrals. Any past records of success and history of experience? I believe that majorly influences customer confidence and therefore the decision to buy from you.
So, you may keep on creating shit after shit. Trust me, sooner or later your customers will do an actual fact checking and discover that all those past projects you worked on were failures to a certain degree. So go ahead, keep doing it and true success will keep eluding you.
We have to change this mindset and attitude. Co-operation between every department is vital. Politics between departments is self-destructive to morale and creates needless internal strife. A little bit of empathy and understanding about what issues the other side faces, will go a long way in creating a happier work environment.
There are other ideas on that list, some quite obvious but needing re-emphasis and some not so obvious...mostly due to years of de-constructive programming from bad work experiences. Go read it all!
Comments
It isn't easy...but just like the problem of global warming, i think if enough of us change from our bad habits and actually learn from past mistakes...this industry can be salvaged.
Optimism? Hell yeah it is!
To stop something from turning into shit requires great effort. You can't leave it on the hand of the programmer, as his focus is just to get the work done. Someone have to enforce good maintainability practice upon the programmer.
The SHIT is like the FORCE...it permeates everything!
MUahahhahaa!