There’s a lot we don’t talk about in the business world. A lot of silences, a lot of impostor syndrome at play and a heap load of impression management from everyone’s side at all times. We say a lot we may not truly mean and we bite our tongue and remain silent about far too many things that would deserve pointing out. It’s a world of convention and accepted half-truths disguised as “professionalism”. I’ve raged against this status quo numerous times in my books and articles but I’ve always found the technology community to be my solace and safe heaven from the “fakery” surrounding us everywhere else.
I’m not neurotypical enough to withstand the pressure of pretending. It is a genuine handicap and it has often come to bite my in my brushes with the corporate world. Small talk, wooden language, displays of absolute inauthenticity, they all grate me. Combined with how there’s a solid element of unfairness coming into the fact that we hide behind words or convention, because the subterfuges simply hinder us and stop us from genuinely thriving and that’s irrational and unfair to both the business and the individuals, I often find the behaviours of the business world deeply unsettling. Again, in the tech community there is a lot less of that discomfort because the vibe is supremely more open and honest.
Furthermore, within the technology community at large, the DevOps savvy folk are a true tribe and the open-hearted nature of the discourse has always been fundamental to carry the big product ambitions.
All that said, I see signs that this formerly “teamy” place we have blissfully been operating in is changing and it isn’t for the best.
The community always operated from a place where there is an assumed eternal fountain of good will, knowledge share and common technology-based goals. Almost as if, relatively-sheltered from the everyday operational demands of the business, techies get to think, imagine, co-create and freely experiment without the constraints of how business models would allow or disallow any of those goals.
Frustrating as that may have been over the years for the business people, the veracity and consistent truthfulness and direct nature of the way the community conducted itself, was the actual cornerstone for any technological advancement and frankly, now that it seems to be all quietly slipping away and I’ll be honest, I’m worried.
In what I can only attribute to a latent consequence of the generalised level of unprocessed trauma the pandemic left many with, and how it translates in low or high level burnout at large and how there is an economic downturn brewing that makes people naturally protective of scarce resources, there is decisively a shift in openness in the tech community and that’s heartbreaking because the candour and broad-mindedness of the community was a key ingredient in seeing it thrive.
Where there used to be complete honesty there’s now hesitance. Where collaboration and the full disclosure that enables it were the norm, there is a sense of growing need for protectionism and where there used to be outspokenness it is relenting. That’s immensely concerning to me.
It feels like we can’t trust well-intentions anymore. Or unity in the name of ideas. Or that there is enough burning passion for making and breaking things that every interaction will be solution-obsessed and not commercially motivated. That ideas are pure and daring and unencumbered. All of these used to be basal and a given for our community and I see the slipping away.
Less and less people say what they really feel, less and less companies collaborate, true partnerships are all but a thing of the past and people are generally “un-team-y” with the larger community. More email ghosting, more embarrassment when HumanDebt is exposed and it feels like there’s a pregnant sense of impotence regarding it, more averted eyes and sighs and much much less talk about the absolute value best technical solution.
Could this be just a by-product of the generalised level of poor mental health? Of course. Is it just lumped under the big umbrella of the active disengagement problem that used to cost us billions but will end up being so extensive it will decimate some of the ones who insist to ignore it? Of course. Is it more than that? Something else? Perhaps something extra is happening in our industry to have caused us to slowly depart from the extreme openness. Perhaps how the level of burnout is higher and of a deeper nature in technology because of the expectations of continuous improvement and a need to learn on a daily basis that have translated into gigantic mental loads that are at long last taking their toll. Or perhaps,we simply have to have faith in the great minds and gigantic hearts making up the DevOps community and presume they will sense the shift and challenge themselves to avoid it.
In other words, I put it to us that we’re less team-y in the industry. In fact, in some cases we’re actively un-teamy. This goes against not only the manifestos but against common sense if we’re still contending we are aiming to change the word through collaboration and technology. Hopefully it’s a reactive phase and it is reversible.
After all, if anyone can be introspective, analytical and forthright enough to be self-aware and “catch themselves” by reversing proprietary, closed behaviours and reverting to the place of condor and teaming they were at before, this is the group of people who can.
So do me a favour and spend some time comparing and contrasting the degree of openness you witness around you coming from your colleagues in and out of the company and if you see the same things and start noticing the shift as well, then please actively try and avoid becoming part of the problem yourself by challenging your own team to remain firmly connected to the beautiful spirit of extreme openness this community was built on.
Selfish P.S. and plea. Despite how I promise myself every year to do so, I gave up again before I had managed to have deleted my date of birth from on here and some of my followers have kindly noticed it and sent good birthday wishes. Just know that I appreciate them all even if the message back is an automated one but if you truly meant it, join me in the fight to normalise and mandate the human work – go the the link I sent, come talk to me and our team and let’s make everyone’s birthday and Christmas wishes (that they never even admitted they had) come true by helping them thrive in a safe and high performing environment where we’re all “teamy” and open again.
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