The Expert Beginner

Ran into the phenomenon of an "expert beginner" in one of the mailing lists that I subscribe to. It immediately stuck a chord as I've run into lot of people in my career (and I myself have been one, though I'd like to believe occasionally). Expert beginner is a dangerous (to the health of the team) person who is neither an expert (therefore we can't trust the person's judgement), nor is a beginner. The big problem is that he/she believes he/she is "indeed an expert". They have stopped learning having maxed-out (at a local maxima), and have beliefs like "I know that I'm doing it right because, as an expert, I'm pretty much doing everything right by definition" and/or "If I don't know something, it must be easy or may not be worth looking at it".

This is how the author Eric Dietrich describes them:

Expert Beginners are developers who do not understand enough of the big picture to understand that they aren’t actually experts. What I mean by this is that they have a narrow enough perspective to think that whatever they have been exposed to is the best and only way to do things; examples would include a C# developer who pooh-poohs Java without ever having tried it

Found it interesting? You may want to read the two complete posts on this topic:

1. How Developers Stop Learning: The Rise of the Expert Beginner

2. How Software Groups Rot: The Legacy of the Expert Beginner

Incompetence behind authority

How Well Are You Handling Intimidators In Your Life?

As a part of my reading list for Oct'17, I just completed reading "Winning Through Intimidation: How to be the victor and not the victim, in business and life". The title is misleading, in the sense that the book doesn't teach you how to intimidate someone, but teaches how to defend against intimidators of the world. The book is full of nuggets of wisdom, written with wit and in an easy to understand language. Over the next few posts, I'll write some of the theories the author propose and I'm sure you'd be able to relate to.

For starters, here's a quick test on how you are currently handling the intimidators you might come across (some explanation by me giving little more context for better understanding)

1. Do you often get invited to dinner, only to discover that you're the first course on the menu?
2. Do you ask your manager/spouse/neighbour/lawyer/accountant's permission before going to the rest room?
3. Are you working longer and harder hours, but just getting older?
4. Are you in awe of people who wear white hats? (Note: White hat denote a symbol of goodness; one who is admirable and honourable)
5. Do you find yourself panting whenever a Court Holder enters the room? (Note: A court holder is someone that is very charming, interested in seeking attention, makes a great first impression, sounds and acts like an expert, but in the end turns out to be an "all talk; no dough" type person)
6. Do you walk around feeling secure because so many people have told you, "Don't worry, I'll take care of you?"  
7. When your house went up in flames and the firemen came crashing through to save you, were you sitting in your favorite armchair calmly playing the fiddle?
8. Do you become easily infatuated when someone tells you what a great job you're doing?
9. Do you often wake up in reception rooms only to find that you've been sucking your thumb and playing with your yo-yo? (Note: This means whether people are making you wait endlessly to listen to you, despite their promise that they'd talk to you)
10. Do you find yourself bluffing more but walking away with less? (Note: This means whether you are issuing too many empty threats, without having the guts to see thru the same and compromising for less)

What RamP's is reading? Oct'17

I've chosen interesting topics for this month, trying to make best use of a lot of holidays:

• The first one was recommended by Prof. Cal Newport of Deep Work and So Good They Can't Ignore You fame.
• Second was recommended by Jon Bellin.
• Third book is about india's first e-commerce portal IndiaPlaza that shut shop due to the onslaught of well funded companies like Flipkart. In this book the founder CEO Vaithee explains his journey and what led to its downfall and argues why the crazy funding enjoyed by companies under perpetual loss is not sustainable.
• The author of the fourth book was a colleague of mine in one of the start-ups I worked and he now mentors start-ups and has shared his experience (and sent this book as a gift).

Find Your Zone of Genius

In this short interview excerpt, Meg Whitman, President and CEO at HP, shares how she learnt early on that building your personal brand meant doubling down on your own strengths, and doing it really, really well.