The dev who's willing to talk

As a developer, there are so many occasions when you'll be lost in the maze, and you need to reach out to a fellow dev for direction.  Devs being devs, they'll oftentimes go to great lengths not to talk to you.

A 15 min zoom call can save hours of fumbling around in the dark, yet we face so much friction in getting someone to agree to it.

"Look at the Jira ticket", they'll say.  Yes, I did, there's not much there.

"Read the documentation", they'll say.  Okay, where is it?  Oh, there it is.  Surprise, the documentation is lacking and doesn't help much.

"Here's a git repo with some samples."  Guess what, your utility apps rarely "just work".

I know, I know, part of being a developer is learning to navigate a landscape with limited guidance. Just figure it out  And we will, eventually.   But at what cost?

As a developer, your value to the company is greatly correlated with your willingness to jump on a zoom call.

There is one team member who's been around long enough to know the secrets of the fire swamp.  But guess what, he's tasked with the most critical projects, under the most schedule pressure.  If everyone bombards him with questions, he'll never get his work done!

We're hiring, we need to grow our team from 5 to 25 developers.  At one point does it make sense to task your most experienced developer with being a concierge to the other developers?  Senior team members provide more value by boosting the productivity of the larger team. Be willing to zoom at a moment's notice.  There's more business ROI there than telling people not to bother you because you're busy with your own project.

I've seen leaders encourage this behavior.  "Don't bother Jeff, he's focused on a critical project and can't be distracted."  Now Jeff has a license to ignore you or tell you to buzz off.

The developer experience is a concept that's gotten a lot of attention these days.  As a company trying to attract and retain from a scarce supply of good developers, you'll need to consider how your organization rates in terms of developer experience.  The pandemic and the rise of remote work amplifies the problem.  

You'll easily boost your developer experience rating if you can appoint an experienced team member to be a concierge, with a hospitable attitude.

You made me this way!

 I've seen enough different workplaces to see a pattern.  The most tenured team members have been molded by that company's culture.  They talk about the old times, back when everyone was free wheeling and shooting from the hip.  The company was young, perhaps just trying to achieve lift off.  

That culture may have been right for the company at that time.  However, the company has achieved escape velocity and is now in a different mode.

Some people grow with it, and some .... don't.

A person may eventually be let go, with the explanation being "you're just not a fit, you don't think strategically,  you shirk process, you don't do things the *right* way, etc".

To which the person may naturally respond, "You made me this way!"