Change how you look at problems

Last Update: 13.09.2018. By Jens in Newsletter

Problems look differently depending on where you stand. And if you only look from one, you might miss a good solution to it. Or maybe even miss that what looked like a problem is no problem at all. And the closer you are to the problem, the harder it gets to see something else or from a different angle. It’s human. We devs are no exception.

Devs usually see anything from the tech perspective only and neglect anything else. Either as stupid, irrelevant or whatever. We all have been there :-)

It also shows in the Strip study that different people with different roles see different problems/issues or solutions like the questions about technology trends on page 7.

The C-level guys think AI is having more impact on the business today than the devs. On the other side more devs think API-based services are important then c-level does. Interesting is that both think AI is important for the next 10 years.

The largest gap in the study are the topics Blockchain and ML which only one party finds relevant for the future. None of the devs mentioned Blockchain and none of the c-level ML. My guess is that the c-guys see ML as part of AI. They don’t distinguish.

One finding for me is, that if you want to stay a dev, a good bet is to invest in AI and ML skills. However, this fields is so broad, that you need to niche it down to a particular set of problems. Unfortunately, it’s not part of the study. However, a good starting point is to look at how companies make money and how your applied AI skill can help them make more. Or have fewer expenses. How does your employer make money?

Finding no. 2 is if you want to make more money, deliver what the guys paying you want. They perceive the world differently than we devs, so adjust your view. What’s a problem for you, might not be one for them and vice versa. For example, I thought API-based services are important nowadays but the study shows a different perception on the buyer side. Might be that the term is to technically, might be others reason. Nonetheless, our view is differently and thus how we value the topic.

Anyways, that was it for this study. If you want, go and think about how you can tie the devs wasted hours section to making more money and producing faster. Use that for changes and propose on business outcomes.