Posted on 11 June 2004 under General

When I was first made responsible for the technical aspects of a project I was too young and too inexperienced to do it well. The technical stuff went fine, no problem there. It was my relationship skills. Despite working in a “flat” company I had bits of the command-and-control mindset in me (I blame working in Woolies as a kid). I also had only really seen one other technical leader in action - one of the company’s founders. So, I pretended to be him when dealing with others and when “leading”. Of course as a 22 year old with no real experience I wasn’t really able to pull off being a 30-something genius with a great and inspiring vision. It took me about six months before I started acting like me. Of course, once I did, I stopped pissing people off and became much more successful.

Is this post just a confession? Maybe (sorry Greg, Jason, Todd, etc). The other hope I have is to point out the foolishness of copying someone else’s work style. Being true to one’s own nature is much easier. Everyone can tell when you’re faking and the chances are you won’t be doing it very well.