Loud Thoughts

Kevin, an engineering manager, was frustrated. Good projects do not come to his engineers. If there are no projects, there will be no accomplishments, and no advancements. China will feel like the high-tech colony of the 21st century and get only menial works and be stuck in the “low wage” end of the industry.

I felt for Kevin's despair. At the same time, I was astronished on how his young engineers have missed the basics and focused on the wrong things.

Like atheletes, good software engineers move up the career ladder will skills. It is quite simple, choose the arena, suit up and compete. The winners move on. The question is, “Are you training yourself everyday?”

The general categories for a software engineer evaluation are:

• Credential:

  The pieces of paper that prove you qualified for certain tasks. The most basic ones are the diplomas. Then we have those issued by various institutes. These paper give the boss various degree of confidence that you can accomplish the tasks she needs you for. If the task has a commensurate higher job level, you may get the promotion tegether with the assignment.

  Credentials, particularly diplomas, also show your tenacity and conformity. You may not have learned much, but you stuck it out for years and met all requirements. If you can go through that, you must have what it will take to finish this project.

• Experience:

  Young engineers hate to compete on experience. You are not qualified because you have never done this before. But how can you get the 1st project then?

• Skills:

  Skills are easy. Although hard to describe precisely, an engineer know how skilled she is. Software, after all, is a craft. Within few minutes, an engineer would have sized up others and a pecking order is formed.

These basic three are part of all promotion considerations. The weights of them differ as career progresses. In general, Sun values credential the least, skills most, and experience a very close second. Ask. “Am I the most skilled and experienced among my peers?”
Like atheletic competitions, software career is meritocratic. Do not waste efforts on anything before mastering the basics.

Next time, when you have finished the project, try do a bit extra:

1. Testability:

   How is the code testable? Is there test programs that automate the process? When problems surface in the system, how easy it is to isolate the bug?

   Along the same line is demo. How would you show someone your proud achievement? Did you write another piece of program to show it off?

2. Usability:

   Is there a web-based interface? Is there a tool to make it easier? How is the user experience? Do not hide behind areas of technology. A kernel module or a device driver can have user interfaces just like a Java application. As long as a human being can use it, you need to consider usability.

3. Elegance:

   Is the code efficient and pretty? Nicely modulized, neatly formated, appropriately named, cleanly inferfaced? How did you treat the global state variables? How much you rely on side-effect to accomplish works? Are you proud of this piece of work like a poet?

4. Documentation:

   Did you comment the code well? Did you write the design document? Did you let the next person who is unfortunately stuck with your code know where to pay attention?

These are where you gain experience without the assigned project. There is always something extra you can do to make your project better. When you are doing that extra amount of work, you gain experience on areas you do not normally practice in. Choose what you need to practice and do the extra work there.

And you would have done something wonderful to yourself. When you are doing those, your manager will notice that you walked the extra mile and did the extra-currriculum work. That shows your diligence, willingness to learn, and potential.

Most importantly, you gain control of your own career by doing these. Those extra works make you a better software engineer. An accomplished software engineer write his/her own ticket. You will name the next project you want to work on. Opportunities will come knocking on your door.

Lastly, wherever you look, there are bugs to be fixed and source code to be read. Pick an area of interest, read the source code, try to fix few bugs that seems trivial, talk to the owner of the code and ask him/her to review or integrate what you have done. They will appreciate it and you get the experience. This is the power of Sun's openness. Don't squander.
Train yourself.

Career progresses not linearly. After few years, you have become proficient with your job, how does it go from here? Where do you break out from this current path?

Corporate ladder is more like a pyramid. There are fewer and fewer positions as you move up. With each rung, there are only a fraction of people who will advance. How would you be the one that get chosen? More importantly, how is the selection done? Without knowing the rules of the game, how is it possible for you to win?

I frequently tell the old Chinese folklore of waiting for the rabbit (守株待兔).

There was a farmer who was resting under a tree after a long morning's work. A rabbit dashed through and crashed into him. The farmer was pleasantly surprised. This made up more than the rest of the work. He took the rabbit and enjoyed the meal.
The next day, the farmer chose to wait under the tree for another rabbit. It did not come. But the farmer kept on waiting, day after day.

Imagine you are one of a group of farmers waiting for rabbits. There is a luck element here. If it ran the other way, someone else will get it. You will just keep on waiting.

If, however, the rabbit comes your way, are you skilled enough to capture it? Are you nimble enough? Do you design traps? Do you work with the ones next to you to optimize the chances for both of you?

First thing a manager must do is get better with what he does. Everyday, think how can you do better, what skills do you need to acquire, and who can do it with you? There are few basic skills every manager must have. Review them. Ask a mentor to give you candid feedbacks.

And when the rabbit comes, what I call the defining moment, are you sure you know what it looks like? Surprisingly, a promotion opportunity is not that recognizable. You should train to recognize them.

Most common opportunities come in the form of a resignation. A peer or someone a level higher quit. That causes the organization to shift. This means you can benefit from it. Obviously, it will be much better if you learned about the departure ahead of the time. A good resignation is done secretly. Very few people will know about it. But the big boss is always in the knows. He either has a plan or will need a plan quickly. You may be just what he needs. But your timing must be perfect so that he can plan with you as an element.

Second form is a reorganization. Companies today must be agile to deal with the dynamics of the market. As the result, they re-align their resources to enhance the chance of achieving the goals. Since the market changes frequently, the goals, short- and long-term ones, shift priorities. Re-org is when new priorities are recognized officially. What exactly are the new priorities now? How would your skills be applied, differently, now? Make that known to the decision makers so that your skills can be better utilized.

Expansion is clearly the easiest one to recognize. But getting promotion from it always comes with a price. All major expansions begin with some studies, but not all studies lead to real, funded expansion. Those who contributed the studies, investigation, or prototyping are frequently tapped to participate the expansion project when it is funded. Why are you not there on “ground zero?” Two possibilities: your skills were not required in the early stage or you did not show willingness to contribute without assured return.

Downsizing is such a dreaded word that few recognize its benefits. If done properly, downsizing can be great career opportunities. Downsizing means the cancellation of projects that are large enough to meet the financial target. The surviving groups usually end up with slightly more resources, therefore, it is actually expansion for them. Again, if you are skilled, there is nothing to worry about.

Build your skills relentlessly, answer the door when opportunity knocks. It hurts when the rabbit comes and you are not ready. It hurts even more when someone captured a herd of geese and you did not even know what is a net.

Cross post

This is not a mistake. I wrote this entry long ago. Just waited a bit to post.

You are a good manager, you should plan for your job change. Like everything that can be planned, you need to know what you are trying to accomplish first. Are you bored? Are you looking for future growth? More money? More respect? What are you trying to accomplish? Think.

No one, with the possible exception of your current boss, should know. Keep everything under stealth. Perform as intensely as you always do. Don’t hint. Don’t “check out.” Don’t “cruise.” It is one thing to let people know that your morale is low. It is a completely different matter when people learned you are actually looking.

When you receive an offer, evaluate it against your objective. If you decide to accept, start designing your resignation. Yes, design it. Organize your records, list your duties, consider your successor, and backup your files. Is there anything your boss can do to keep you? If yes, list them and go talk to your boss. It is tempting and feels good, but don’t use your offer to negotiate.

Remember that both your current employer and the new one are critically important to your future success. You may come back to work for the same boss. They are your best and most influential references. You may be asked to work with them. You may do business with them later. So, don’t do anything that damages your current employer. It is not professional or ethical.

Draft a resignation letter. Keep to the key points. “I hereby resign. This is my last date. This is how to transition.” Don’t blame anyone. Don’t be angry. Don’t explain. Most importantly, don’t send. Keep it in the draft folder for at least 24 hours. Edit it at least twice.

Still don’t tell anyone at work. Not a soul.

Next go to your boss. Sit down. Close the door. Demand his attention. Resign clearly. “I resign. The last date will be…” You do owe him an explanation and some feedbacks. Stay positive. It is OK to vent, but don’t whine. Ask your boss what should be the next step. He should ask for your formal resignation. You go back and send him the letter you drafted.

The people count of your organization is clearly a measure of power. But by no means a predictor to your future success or influence. In fact, unless you are skilled enough to organize them, larger organization is frequently a distraction and a derailment cause.

As a manager, you work by communicating. Your effectiveness is limited by two factors: bandwidth and time. The communication bandwidth comes from utilizing various channels and improving skills. Then, you must pay attention to the effective use of your time. Whom are you communicating to? How much time did you spent? What is the result of that communication? Eventually, it comes down to how well you know the person you are communicating to – the better you know him, the better the communication.

Since there are only 24 hours in a day, you cannot possibly command a team that’s too big. People vary, but 5 to 15 is the norm of an effective team size. This means as long as you have a good team of 5 to 10 people, you can be effective, successful, and influential.

Take a survey of those in your organization. Who would you choose to be on your team? Give no regard to their ranks, seniority, and other external factors. Choose those who have the skills and communicate well with you. Can you find 5 to 10 of them? If yes, it does not matter how many more people are there beyond this core team. It can be thousands and it can be zero.
And, lastly, the team members do even need to work for you directly. Think about this next time you need to worry about headcount.

This email style works for myself.

Newspaper style email

Study how newspaper article is structured. It begins with a “hook.” A simple sentence designed for capture the reader’s attention. For email, this is the combination of the subject line and the 1st sentence.

The first paragraph tells the reader what is the bottom line, conclusion, decision, action item, or whatever the purpose of the email message. It needs to be clear what the readers are supposed to do with this message.

Follow it by a slightly longer paragraph on the basic supporting argument for the 1st paragraph. Do this in the “executive summary” style by focusing on high-level judgment, summary of facts, and the key reasons.

Next are the supporting data. Try to be short.

Write the email as if you are a reporter writing a newspaper story. At almost anytime, the reader can skip the rest of the story without losing the key points.

Fact or Opinion?

Are you delivering facts or you are expressing opinions? It is OK to mix them, but do so with care. It is not a good idea to deliver opinions as if they are facts. If you are delivering facts, make sure they are. It does not matter if your source was wrong. It is your email.

In general, for VP or higher, the general guideline is to have 3 levels of back-ups. Every point you are making must be based on data, not just someone’s (or your) opinion. Those data should be based on more substantial and detail data too. Only the 3rd level can be based on people’s thoughts or opinions. It is OK to deviate from this guidelines, but you should know how much of your material is based on facts or just opinions.

Pay attention to headers

Particularly, who are on the “To” list and “Cc?” What’s the subject line?

If you are replying to a message, are you sure the recipients are still right? Should you remove few or add someone? Is the subject line still sensible? Remove excessive “Re” or “FWD” tags.

Include just the right amount of the original message. It is a good idea to cull unnecessary forwarded messages.

This recent article from Fortune is worth reading (and keeping).

May 19, 2005

Almost everything you do involves persuading someone to do something for you.
Three elements persuade: facts, references, and emotion. A good argument uses all three. Let'€™s try to persuade your husband to buy you that diamond:

"Your mother really likes the lusty sparkling. We all know that diamonds are forever. They really have not depreciated in the past 50 years. And honey, don't you love me?&quot

An authoritative reference, solid data, and a shameless play on emotion. The lady got the diamond.

Persuading someone at work is harder. After all, we are all highly trained professionals that are not easily influenced. But the basic elements are the same. You prepare data, you socialize the idea, and you nail it down with a punch of emotion. Among these three elements, data is the weakest one and emotion is always the final deciding one.

Let's try to get promoted.

• Do you have data for your performance? Is your resume convincing?
• Who will be your references? Do they matter? Are they the ones your boss listens to?
• Does he like you? Can he communicate with you? Does he trust you?

How much time you spend polishing up your resume? Do you cultivate your references? Do your peers like you? Are you a team player?
But most importantly, can you communicate with your boss? Do you know what he thinks? Do you know how he decides? Do you know him as a person?

Try to get a proposal approved.

• You analyze the pros and cons. Collect data, organize facts, have spreadsheets that cover the walls.
• You send the presentation to the boss and wait for his approval.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!

Where are the references? You must socialize your proposal to stake-holders, influencers, thought-leaders, and whoever that counts.

How do you deliver the knock-down punch? Are you well-prepared, well-rehearsed?
There is no better way to deliver human emotion than face to face interface. Otherwise, use video-conferencing. As the last resort, use phone. Only very talented people can deliver emotions by written words. If you are one of them, you should make a living elsewhere.

I hear the complaint, “Those people are not as good.” That makes me wonder, “What's the basis of such statement? Is it true or false?”

It turns out a site will not necessarily be considered productive when the managers are satisfied. Engineers know that managers come and go, they are the one who stay for the long haul. For a site, like China ERI, to be successful, both the management and engineering ranks must agree that the site is productive. No, they must agree the people here are good.

Let's demythify this.

What makes good engineer?  &nbspMay 26, 2005

What make you a better software engineer? This discipline is a strange mixture of engineering, science, and art. How can one excel?

From the manager's point of view, a good engineer delivers what was expected. A better engineer do more - faster, better, more thorough, more robust, better documented, etc. But the manager's main concern is the elimination of surprises, particularly the wrong kind. Less surprises, better engineer.

Your peer engineers view it entirely differently. Invariably, software guys size each other up and decide to admit each other into their cliques. Those elusive memberships may matter more than how your manager measure you.

First is the mastery of the tools. Engineers admire those who employ the more efficient and elegant ways to accomplish the tasks. Those who accomplished the tasks crudely don't get respect.
Mastery of development methodologies and processes are also respected, but somehow less.

Next is your elegance. This element of elegance manifests itself in many areas. Software, in many ways, resembles literature. It is created directly from the mind of the author. Elegance is in the nuances. Are characters named cleverly (variable names)? Are the word-choice most fitting and appropriately sophisticated (use the best operator for the expressions)? Can you prose with fewer words, but not less?

But most important is your creativity - the ability to be different and elegant at the same time. Are you a clerk who scribes in technical language, even masterfully, or an artist who create classic beauties for other to imitate? Creativity manifests itself in few common ways: new solution to an old problem, old solution applied to a new area, or new solution for something no one dealt with before. This separates good engineers from average ones.

I will talk about career management a lot — frequently as if they are rules for promotions. In fact, there are few hard and fast rules in promotions. I am also sorry to admit that many promotions are not done for the right reasons. Senior management makes foolish mistakes too.

But you cannot bank on the mistakes to come in your favor. The only sure way to advance in your career is to be ready for the promotion. As ready as you can possibly be. Then, one day, when you are the best candidate, you get the nod.

What I will write here is a series of personal experiences that were largely validated throughout the years I have been managing at the silicon valley high-tech industry. My target audience are those 1st line managers in the software engineering field. Sometimes, I will strayed into other aras. You will be disappointed if what you are looking for are tips to get into the board room.

Nothing guarantees the good judgement of your boss and, remember, luck is always a factor.

Management 101  &nbspMay 22, 2005

All managers must be reasonable smart and savvy. This is why the best individual contributors are considered for promotion. The first filter is on brightness and basic approaches to common tasks. Promotion from the individual contributor rank should be based on intelligence and emotional IQ, not on the technical skill level.
Line managers must focus on the basic tenets - plan, deliver, and communicate.

• Planning: Laying out the logical steps to accomplish the objectives. Secure the resources, at the optimal time, for the tasks. Understand the dependencies. Anticipate the contingencies and have the alternatives ready to deploy.
• Delivering: No plan executes flawlessly. Things rock the boat. The manager must track the progress, re-plan constantly, and never take the eyes off the goal.
• Communicating: The boss needs to know. The team must be informed. The community should buy-in. The suppliers must synchronize. The dependents must adjust the expectation. When and what to communicate? What's the best channel?
  On any day, I am happy with a manager who can do the basics. I call them the solid managers. You will not go anywhere till you become a solid manager. This is the foundation for your entire managerial career. Practice the basics like an athlete trains for Olympics. These must become your 2nd nature to the point that you run your life the same way.

Only solid line managers will be considered for promotion. You cannot have any flaws in the basic set.

The Promotion

Few years into the job and you feel pretty solid. It is time to access your strengths and weaknesses. Sign up projects or assignments that play well for your strengths. These projects should get you noticed and increase your visibility. When a suitable opportunity emerges, grab it and capitalize.
It is a good idea to find a mentor or coach at this stage. This is a difficult stage to do everything alone.

Executive Level

Two elements separate executives from managers: influencing skills and strategic thinking. What you have been good at is managing resources that you control directly. Now, change your focus to those that you don't - such as your peers, distant peers, and the “big picture.”