Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
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Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
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Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#2It's hard to distinguish between feeling clever and being clever.
As with health issues ("feeling better" vs "being better"), science comes to the rescue.
Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#3It's hard to distinguish between feeling clever and being clever. As with health issues ("feeling better" vs "being better"), science comes to the rescue.
I don't actually have any argument against what you said, in fact I agree wholeheartedly that the answer is the OP should empirically prove what they claim. Nevertheless, I hope you won't take offense if I use that as the starting pistol of a short rant.
I find that kind of commentary irritating because I have a co-worker that thinks he is the more talented programmer. What's worse is that he is rude about it.
I think I am objectively better for the following reasons; my work has shorter functions, less inter-dependency between classes, is simpler to reuse, and most importantly it crashes less. If I asked a question like, "how can I get this guy to stop being a douchebag and listen to my suggestions (which I swear would improve the company's codebase)?", I'd be irked by the commentary.
Anyway, I'm sure you all think this is a bunch of sound and fury, signifying nothing, but it felt good to type it out. Cheers and good wishes to all.
Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#4It's hard to distinguish between feeling clever and being clever. As with health issues ("feeling better" vs "being better"), science comes to the rescue.
I don't actually have any argument against what you said, in fact I agree wholeheartedly that the answer is the OP should empirically prove what they claim. Nevertheless, I hope you won't take offense if I use that as the starting pistol of a short rant. I find that kind of commentary irritating because I have a co-worker that thinks he is the more talented programmer. What's worse is that he is rude about it. I thin…
Actually I saw the first comment about the boss posting as well, which altered how I judged all latter comments. All the other posters were fairly respectful and mostly wrote the OP should consider that he might be wrong. Can't disagree with that, really.
Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#5It's hard to distinguish between feeling clever and being clever. As with health issues ("feeling better" vs "being better"), science comes to the rescue.
I think it is the same with Linus. He feels he is clever and he is being clever too. Just saw his tech talk on git the other day on youtube, which he gave in Google. He does not care. He is damn opinionated. My point is being smart does not ignore other people's views.
Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#6I've been on both sides and seen the extremes of both. Sometimes on the same project. The extreme cases are easier and more fun to poke at, so that's what I'm going to do:
- The smart-ass with little to no experience but always knows the right way to do things. Pounds the drum of change. Would rather burn the project to the ground and rewrite everything than progressively add business value. Refuses to consider they might be wrong.
- The know-it-all leaders who are in fact incompetent. Imposes decisions which they are not qualified to make. Refuses to consider the opinion of other intelligent people on the team.
A team is a social endeavor. It might seem great if being "right" was all that was ever required to change someone's opinion, but humans don't work that way.
Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#7From one know-it-all to another, let me start with this quote
"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." --- Isaac Asimov
1. The key is to pick your battles.
There is no possible way that a person can be right 100% of the time. So pick a number out of ten times that you think you could be wrong. Start with 1 out of ten if you're really convinced you're smart, you'll find that number declines over time if you're keeping score (you are keeping score, right?)
Now every time you encounter an issue where you have an opposing viewpoint, do the math and think "could this be the x times out of 10 that I'm wrong" ... basically you're forced to second guess yourself and listen a little closely to other points of view.
If its close enough that its not that big a deal if the other guy wins out, then let it go ... reserve your capital for the really really big fights, the things that will keep you up at night if you lose.
Keep score, and be honest with yourself. Whenever it actually turns out you were wrong or that the other viewpoint actually turned out okay, recalibrate your number.
You might find if you let things go from time-to-time, people will lighten up around you.
2. Build alliances.
Whenever you're making an argument, don't go it alone. Try to feel out support for your POV, ask the more quiet people what they think, you might be surprised that the actually agree with you but just don't want to weigh in because they don't really feel that strongly about the debate, don't care much for you, or they actually want to see you fail because you're always getting your way (trust me, this happens, its human nature and another reason to pick your battles). Help other people win their arguments from time to time, and they might help you win yours
3. "Lower your voice and strengthen your argument." --- Lebanese proverb
If you find that you have to be strident to get your point across, then maybe you don't have the necessary weight to make the same point with overwhelming force of experience or logic, which means that you're probably making an argument of opinion that isn't strongly grounded in either.
It doesn't mean if you've been doing something forever and are the smartest in the world, that you'll be listened to (I've seen people ignored who went on to found companies that were bought out for millions of dollars while the people who ignored them were still at their old jobs), people tend to pick sides first then rationalize them later. remember that ....
"If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence" --Bertrand Russell
best of luck
Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#8I've been on both sides and seen the extremes of both. Sometimes on the same project. The extreme cases are easier and more fun to poke at, so that's what I'm going to do: - The smart-ass with little to no experience but always knows the right way to do things. Pounds the drum of change. Would rather burn the project to the ground and rewrite everything than progressively add business value. Refuses to consider they…
It's awesome when you have both types of people together.
Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#9From one know-it-all to another, let me start with this quote "Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." --- Isaac Asimov 1. The key is to pick your battles. There is no possible way that a person can be right 100% of the time. So pick a number out of ten times that you think you could be wrong. Start with 1 out of ten if you're really convinced you're smart, you'll fin…
"Lower your voice and strengthen your argument." --- Lebanese proverb
Tattooed on my eyelids so I don't forget. Great one
Re: Avoiding “Smart Guy” Syndrome on Team Projects
#10When I was a kid and went to a new school, I was the best in class at math. Mathematical ability is pretty clear cut, so there is no room for "yeah you thought you were awesome, but in reality you were just a know-it-all." I really was that good. :) In that class, there was a girl who used to be best at math before I came. She didn't like that I blew her out of the water when it came to calculating. Though she wasn't very good at math, she was very good at being a kid, forming alliances with the other children and backstabbing. Basically got me frozen out and bullied.
My point is that I think the exact same thing happens on workplaces too, although in veiled form. If you have a gang of C class programmers "lead" by one B class programmer and one A class comes along, tension will likely occur. It has happened to me and I'd be surprised if it hasn't happened to more hackers here on hacker news.