Saturday, June 15, 2019

Yesterday I had a Jitsi session with Hamza for #2779. Together we had some success. Of course we did not yet reach the end. But at least I am unlocked. Thanks, Hamza!

At some moment we saw Tonis’ comments in Jane about his next steps with #3041. I said to “Look, Hamza, you should take Tonis as a good example in team communication. You are a rather introvert communicator. You are competent, but you don’t care or don’t “dare” writing comments in Jane about what you are thinking.” Hamza answered “Yes, I know”.

Now I read Managing Developers: 6 Best Practices for Remote Teams which speaks about the “right traits” members of a remote team should have. The first one is “Effective Communicator”:

“Remote developers must be able to communicate project information effectively, skilfully conveying useful information through appropriate media. This means that the emails and texts they send out should be concise and accurate. On calls and in meetings, they should be able to articulate themselves clearly. This is crucial because misunderstandings and miscommunications can bring productivity to a crawl. “

You see, Hamza? It is important! Of course you see! And of course you knew it before.

But we both also know that nobody can change from an “introvert” to a “communicating” person only by deciding so. And then the document says “Hire for (or Cultivate) These Traits in Your Developers”. The “(or Cultivate)” is what I like most. Hamza, I see that you are motivated to improve your communication skills. I also have no recipe for how to get there, but I see that you are working on it, and I am confident that you will get there, inshalla and with our help. May God bless you on this way :-)

Actually the article mentions much more advices for me as the manager of our team. My reaction to these advices is similar to Hamza’s reaction to my advice: “Yes, I know” (meaning “I know that I should become like this, but no idea how I should become like this”).