RE: Do'ers and Doubters (was observation about engineers)

["Earl Cooley" <shiva -at- io -dot- com>]

Bruce Byfield wrote: 
> Lisa Bronson wrote:
> > I have watched co-workers approach the same SME's, but with the
> > anticipation that they will be rejected, that the SME won't 
> > have/take time to help them.  They continually remark that 
> > those SME's are unhelpful, unwilling, un-whatever-else.
> 
> In short, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Given all the distrust 
> of SMEs and the insecurity that many tech-writers express about SMEs, 
> their trouble getting the information they need isn't really surprising. 
> They approach SMEs geared for failure.
> 
> By contrast, I take people pretty much as I find them, and I have rarely 
> had trouble with SMEs. In fact, in almost seven years and in maybe as 
> many twenty companies, I've only had one major run in with a SME, and 
> one minor one.

In my previous career, I was a programmer from the last days of punched 
cards, so I've been there, done that, and have the t-shirt with the gold 
SME lapel pin. It informs my perspective with a certain fearless clarity 
I might not otherwise have had. heh.

--
 e=sc^3 (shiva -at- io -dot- com) Earl Cooley III

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