Nice Guy Eddie

Most people on this planet are nice. They’re not necessarily the most friendly, have the most time on their hands, or are the most able to relate to you, but fundamentally I think they’re not so bad. We all tend to do things the best way we know how, and those methods don’t always agree between different people. The next time you’re fuming to yourself that the guy across the office from you is a total arse and probably doing things just to annoy you, consider why they’re doing what they’re doing. Let’s assume they’re not actually trying to make your life hell, just that they’re trying to do their job. You’ve reached a different conclusion from them about the best way to do something. Do they have the same information about the problem you do? Do you have all the information they have about the problem? Do you have differing experiences regarding how things have worked in the past? Put yourself in their shoes for a moment, try to think a little bit like they do, and take some time to understand each other.

This is obvious stuff, but it’s remarkably easy to forget, especially working on a software project. There’s a million different ways to do things, everyone has their own idea of what’s best and there are often arguments about how to proceed. No-one’s really out to scupper the project, though. Right?

Posted 17:32, 29 Sep 2003.