Why don’t some people want to do better at their jobs? I don’t understand. I’m talking people involved in developing software here, but I’m sure the same problem affects many occupations.
I had one meeting last week where I made the case very passionately that people should be actively seeking to improve the things that they find difficult. Sadly I think it fell on deaf ears, but the discussion certainly ruffled a few feathers and acted as a catalyst for other changes that needed to happen!
I’ve been discussing this problem with a number of different people recently and they are as baffled as I am. The only consensus of opinion I was able to gather is that people who don’t want to improve don’t really care about their craft. Unfortunately most employers are not very good at fostering an environment that inspires people to care either, which leaves the few of us that do care being frustrated by those that don’t.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t post such an opinionated piece and I’ve sat on this for a number of days. In the end I decided to post something because this issue occupied my mind a lot last week, and the purpose of of this exercise is to record what is occupying my mind. I don’t expect that it will change anything, but it did make me re-evaluate what I was trying to achieve at work and why, which can only be a good thing!
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Copyright ©Craig Aspinall 2011