June 7, 2011 at 1:35 am
I've been a great supporter of allowing my staff time in work to read and develop their knowlegde. As long as it's relevant to their job, I invariably benefit from what they learn as they pick up new tricks and techniques to do things. There is a risk that they will learn so much that they will then move on to bigger and better things, but why should I hold that against them? For me this is an investment, and if it means that they feel valued in their job and have more of a desire to deliver improvements to the service we provide then everyone's a winner!
For my part, I try and give myself at least 30 mins each day to pick up on the mailshots from SQL Server Central and read articles that give me an insight in to new developments in technologies, or peoples experiences in the real world and how they overcome problems. I invariably pick up new techniques or learn something new and that not only benefits me, but the company I work for.
June 7, 2011 at 1:47 am
As the demand for IT services has gone up, many people have gotten inflated salaries and the ego to go with them.
This isn't any different from when I started in IT some 30 years ago.
The Editorial says more about the manager than it does about IT professionals in general.
Being a manager of any IT team is tough!
Most "team members" are highly skilled (or desire to be) and most are well aware we work in a "fashion industry" where understanding the latest fashions can bring bigger bucks and faster career development if you stay job-mobile.
My friend was a little put off by this. After all, my friend is trying to help the team grow, looking to ensure they do not become stagnant and wanting to foster a professional environment.
What the "manager" in question is trying to foster is career development (that benefits him firstly, and the employer secondly) via reading. Reading just doesn't work for some people. The manager needs to find another way to motivate the employee to develop in such a way that achieves his goals.
Heck, it's much easier than doing SQL work and the pay's the same.
Really? Its the easier? I can remember back in glory days when you developed against a single non-clustered, non-replicated, 8am-6pm instance of a database sized no more than a few GB where the entire application ran on a single server instance with the DBMS with just one (generally) very basic autthentication provider and limited security issues and the only interface was black and green screens through a single set of application code.
Using inflation adjusted indexes the pay back then was more and the job was far easier as unrealistic demands and environmental complexities just didn't exist.
June 7, 2011 at 1:52 am
I lead a team of about 5 people, and encourage external reading as well - both technical (i.e. related to IT) as well as nontechnical (could be core sciences, management, or for that matter, anything under the sun). We try to get together on Fridays over coffee and snacks, and spend the last hour of the day discussing whatever we learnt in the week.
I have seen the "spoiled athlete" problem as well, and deep down I feel that it is due to the rate at which the demand tends to burn down the resources. More often than not, I find that once the employee finishes working on a project for let's say 8-12 months, new thoughts simply do not come up. The employee needs to be given a break of more than 15 days before new ideas start regenerating. The problem there is that after an year of hectic work, those 15 days of freedom almost drives the employee mad! I believe that if we just focus on the burn-down rate, maybe the frequency of the "spoiled athletes" can be reduced?
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June 7, 2011 at 1:57 am
I have seen the "spoiled athlete" problem as well, and deep down I feel that it is due to the rate at which the demand tends to burn down the resources. More often than not, I find that once the employee finishes working on a project for let's say 8-12 months, new thoughts simply do not come up. The employee needs to be given a break of more than 15 days before new ideas start regenerating. The problem there is that after an year of hectic work, those 15 days of freedom almost drives the employee mad! I believe that if we just focus on the burn-down rate, maybe the frequency of the "spoiled athletes" can be reduced?
That's certainly been both my own experience and expirience of people I've managed on pressure-cooker projects. Did I mention that being a manager of IT is really tough? 😉
June 7, 2011 at 4:07 am
I think the problem you wrote about with your friend is from management's opinion that "one size fits all", and not just that, but it's going to be forced to fit on someone when they don't want it. I'm sure your manager friend is a nice guy, but IMO refusal to do what he says will trigger an ego reaction, "I'm the boss, and you WILL do it," that is ultimately unproductive.
Provide the time to everyone else, and if someone doesn't want to participate for whatever reason, then so be it. It reminds me of these team building seminars workers were forced to go against their will. They did not help. You know what did help? Everyone unwinding (read: drinking too much) at Xmas parties. I'm not kidding... decade-long grudges would be set aside and people would actually talk and get to know each other.
Back to the worker in question, that person could very possibly do a lot of reading on their own time and doesn't want to be told what to read. I wouldn't like to be told what to read (actually, I don't like to be "told" to do anything... give me a list of problems and I'll solve them... refer to me as a slave or something and no amount of money makes up for it).
They're there to do a job, not read an article that a manager deems as important. They're paid to be a professional who does tasks related to their role, not a reader -> note-taker.
In regards to the baseball (?) player you mentioned; I'm not very familiar with the matter but it sounds like they were hired to play a certain position that they're good at, and now they've been asked to play somewhere else and have refused. I'm not a professional athlete, but that sounds alright to me. You're not going to ask a long-distance runner to do a short-distance race when they know they're not trained to do it, right?
June 7, 2011 at 5:32 am
Personally, and this is more from my own past experiences as a horrible student and a military background, I would be somewhat put off by a required reading hour. I love to read, don't get me wrong, but I am the kind of person who does it better when it's of my own time and choosing.
I always enjoyed the weekly professional development sessions we had in the military. And I think that this sort of thing could work well for IT teams. It could give everyone on the team a chance a to pick a topic that he or she is interested in, research it, and provide a chance to present it to the group. The additional benefit is that every member of the team gets experience in creating and delivering presentations, which is something that I have found many people struggle with (and not just in technology). I would say 60-90 minutes, once or twice a month. Get everyone involved, you could even do it over a lunch hour.
I think that most companies tend not to think a whole lot about professional development, unless it means some sort of formal paid class, and when the accountants see dollar signs, they sometimes get a little tight-fisted. Having your own staff create the training can be a more cost-effective option, and it gives them something else to work on to give them a break from whatever else they are doing.
June 7, 2011 at 6:11 am
Often there are magazines passed around and the developers are asked to read for an hour a week and note a sentence or two that shows they read something.
It sounds like elementary school to me. I would be offended that I would have to note a sentence or two. If someone is motivated, they will read on their own. It's an added benefit if the employer allows you do it on company time.
June 7, 2011 at 6:16 am
I completely agree with comments made above: being "told" to do something usually generates a reflexive negative response. If the manager wants to turn lemons into lemonade, rather than force the issue I'd suggest asking the employee if they have any suggestions on what they [should] read/research/etc. to enhance their skills. Maybe there's something that would be more palatable - webinars, online classes or user groups. Heck, maybe even a group project using some of that fancy new technology. I believe IT people in general [want] to stay sharp and may have some clever and unique suggestions to accomplish that. (Any seasoned IT employee should already know that managers don't want you to throw a problem in their lap unless you can also throw a possible solution as well.) If this particular employee doesn't want anything to do with improving themselves or is just picking a fight then there's a deeper issue here that may impact the entire group.
Personally I'm all about creativity and resourcefulness but if this one employee can't find it in themselves to do anything more than complain and refuse to cooperate, it will hurt the group in the long run - either by them eventually becoming a burden by not knowing the latest technology or by inciting a mutiny - and the manager should seriously consider looking for a replacement.
BTW: The timing on this discussion is funny: I was just "presented an opportunity" to set up a <gasp> MySQL server and database for a particular group's internal project. Having never, ever, EVER dealt with MySQL, I dove in with Google a-blazing and got the job done. Honestly, I learned a lot in a few days but I think I'm better for it. Will it coax me to switch careers and dedicate my life to being a MySQL DBA? Hardly. But I think I'm dead center in the "IT professional" generalization: Meet the challenge, do the job right and move on - after suffering a few weeks of my co-worker's good-natured jeers about MySQL, of course... <grin>
June 7, 2011 at 7:01 am
EVER dealt with MySQL, I dove in with Google a-blazing and got the job done.
I wouldn't be surprised if a lot (most?) IT types do this. I'm always on the lookout for (or inventing) little side projects that will teach me a little something on the side, whether it's trying something in SSIS, or programming some snippets for SSRS, or dabbling in DBA stuff.
On the other hand, being such a generalist makes it hard to explain your worth to other people when going after jobs and contracts. It takes a keen eye to spot the worth in, "I find and fix problems."
June 7, 2011 at 7:27 am
I'll have to disagree with you on a few points. First, I think that there was much more of a "Rock Star" attitude among developers 10-15 years ago when Y2K and the tech bubble inflated salaries enormously.
Second, I constantly have debates with my managers about taking classes. I've been a SQL Server DBA for almost 15 years and there's very little I get out of most SQL Server classes nowdays. Most are targeted at more junior DBAs or are just sales pitches to get you to buy the newest version of SQL Server. On the other hand, I will take a class on a technology I'm unfamiliar with, such as MySQL. Finally, who reads books anymore? Yes, there are some classics that every entry level person should read. (The 'LAN Times Guide to SQL' was my bible). But, a lot of it is out of date, and tech libraries can be very expensive to maintain. I think a more advanced person gets much more out of online publications (such as SQLServerCentral.com :-D) and figuring out how to apply them.
June 7, 2011 at 8:53 am
I do plenty of reading. The equivalent of a 2-3 novels per week. I cover all the bases, including a fair amount of stuff that helps build the skills I need for my chosen career. I so some of that skill-related reading at work with my bosses blessing.
The biggest problem I'd have with that manager is the attitude that he's giving me time at work to read the stuff he assigns. If he's assigning the reading, then it's clearly work and clearly needs to be built into the work schedule just like any other task he assigns. Only my wife can assign me a task and have me perform that task on my own time.
The biggest problem I'd have with that employee would be if the assigned reading was clearly work-related. If the reading is clearly work-related, then suck it up and do it. If it has no clear relation to the job, then I don't think the manage has any more right to assign the reading than to send a welder out to cut the lawn.
June 7, 2011 at 9:14 am
If the reading is clearly work related, then yes, you can require it. But, perhaps just be a little more open to outside sources. As far as the volume goes, I read a lot too (more like a novel a week), but when it comes to technical stuff, I think quality is more important than quantity. Find something else somebody did, rip it apart and put it back together again to make it your own. I real good example is this code that I'm working on today. I took this article http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/powershell/72809/ and figured out the two key components are net view and get-service. We use Lotus Notes, so I have to use SMTP to kick out the report. It's taking me about a day, but it finishes one of my goals for the year. Personally, I feel my retention is much higher this way. If I tried to just read for an hour and write a report, it would be a lot lower.
June 7, 2011 at 9:30 am
A couple notes.
first, this was a reprint for 2006, and the story in question from 2005, so it's a bit dated.
There wasn't a set aside time for reading, not sure if that was clear. It was a "read this" sometime in the next week or two. In essence it was a forced professional development, build in skills, and it was during work hours. It was built into the schedule. The idea was to broaden horizons, build some skills, or get people to think about other techniques that might improve the output of the team.
Overall, most people didn't do much work on their own to improve their skills. It was an experiment after sending people to class the year before, which was a large bite out of the budget, with very little impact on the development process.
There was an effort over time to give people other ways to work on their skills, and I agree that not everyone learns the same. However most people don't try to learn. Some do, some are motivated, but many people I've worked with over the years would be happy to stagnate for long periods of times with the same skills.
June 7, 2011 at 10:56 am
I think encouraging people to learn is about as far as you can take it. If they don't want to learn, you can't force them, but it does raise questions about their suitability for a job where the technology changes so fast.
Lately, I have been encouraging (but not requiring) team members to view the PASS DBA Virtual Chapter Live Meeting Events. They occur during work hours, so it's understood that it is part of the work day and not an extra on top of work. Some of the meetings are on subjects fairly far from what we do day to day, so there is a certain amount of broadening from that.
I also see team members doing things like this on their own, and give them broad discretion to use their time for learning experiences.
I also try to give people projects outside of their comfort zone to broaden their experience.
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