Nerdherding for Beginners

This is one of those chicken and egg problems.  You are a nerd working on a team and you think that you’d all do well if there was someone responsible for the architecture (or design or builds or tests or…).  In fact, you think that you are the perfect candidate.  There isn’t a job opening.  Nobody has announced the need.  What do you do?

Should you talk to you boss and suggest that you starting doing it?  What if she says that she can see that such a role might be needed but that you don’t have any experience?  What if she says that your teammate Max would be better at the job and calls him into her office?

As you might guess I think that the best thing to do is to starting doing the job on the side.  It will probably mean extra work.  It will probably mean needing to convince co-workers that your ideas are worth it.  However, the best way to show that you can do something and that its needed is to do it.  Be careful not to be sneaky and be sure that you aren’t stepping on anyone’s toes too hard.  Unless you work in a toxic environment your efforts will be appreciated and rewarded even if you aren’t successful in changing you role.

How’s your bedside manner? Do you think about how you interact with people with less experience or knowledge than you? You should. At a very specific task level nerds almost always know more than everyone about their work. Consider the code feature or document you have just finished. Unless you have paired with someone for the entire task you know the most. In fact, almost everyone is trusting that you have done a good job and that you have done it the best way. This includes most of your colleagues, your boss and especially your customers.

At higher levels of abstraction or with larger tasks the effect is reduced but still there. The chances are that your boss knows much less about your current project than you. Ditto for the customer.

If you are more of a nerdherder than a nerd then your boss and customers are definely at your mercy with regard to information and trust.

When you deal with all of these people who know less than you and are relying on you how do you interact with them? Do you think about the fears they have? Do you respect the trust they are putting in you? Do you take time to ensure they understand as much as they want to and are capable of?

Understanding the goals, fears and concerns of the people who rely on your expertise and judgement will help you do a better job. It will also help you to advance your career - nobody likes working with someone who doesn’t seem to care about others and no (sensible) manager would consider placing such a selfish person in a position of increased responsibility.