Introduction
I’ve had the opportunity to work in good companies and with skilled people but in spite of that, it is still normal to meet great technically developed professionals who lack soft skills.
I consider it plausible when I see interns/junior developers who still need to developed skills like empathy, attitude or leadership. But, on the order hand, I’m terrified when I see Seniors, principals, architects or any other related job title that clearly have not developed these abilities(yet).
In our industry engineers can take strategic positions where communication, planning, and big-picture thinking were learned being a good tech and rarely a person who inspires the best in others.
Considering that one senior software engineer can earn this title with only 5 years of experience it is easy to see that it is not enough time to develop tech and soft skills not only about the time required to learn it but in fact to the time experiencing situations that are also part of the learning process.
Problem
When people who are in a strategic position don’t have well developed soft abilities it is really hard to identify, build or develop the company culture for a lot of reasons that you already know(or can easily find about). I consider some skills like empathy, listening, and adaptability fundamental to achieve one cental agile manifesto item
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
To adopt agile or to make any other methodology successful, communication must be a first-class concern and be part of company culture.
The definition of success in the previous line is not only about being agile but in fact, it can be related to any definition the company may have for example:
- Create amazing libraries
- Increase the revenue in xxx %
- Help people with their struggles
To achieve any of these statements soft skills cannot be neglected.
What you can do
If you experience one situation that could be avoided by soft skill then you need to express your concern, first trying to softly remember company culture statements or promote conversations about it. If you plan to be a better developer(human being) you definitely need to concentrate some time to some of the abilities that can make you achieve great results while working within a team.
I’ve read a few books about the subject and some of my favorites are:
- PeopleWare
- NonViolent communication
- The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
- The book of joy
- All Zen habits books
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I hope this post can be a reminder to all of us who are still halfway to be great at our soft skills.
With Love.
