3 ms·
Hmmm, I have mixed views on almost all these points, context matters. Much of these views seem to stem from a career working in large orgs, not resource constra
by drunkenmagician 5y ago
Hmmm, I have mixed views on almost all these points, context matters. Much of these views seem to stem from a career working in large orgs, not resource constrained startups
1. Document your knowledge? Well document the right knowledge, endless documents with all the pro's / cons of every choice noted will loose the signal in all the noise.
2. Document your long-term plans? In IT long terms plans means the next 3 - 6 months. Maybe document your thoughts on where something should go, but make it brief.
3. Document your meetings? Well document meetings outcomes / actions and only very important discussion points - no one will care in a couple of weeks
4. Bring others to meetings? Maybe, only if it really adds value (for context or for education) otherwise your burning valuable time
5. Train people around you? Agreed, at appropriate times
6. Identify and train your replacement? Not sure that is all that useful unless you're actually moving on.
7. Give power to the people? If what was meant was enabling broader inclusive decision making - agreed. But otherwise, fully autonomous operating modes need to earn that trust.
8. Do not make yourself the point of contact? Depends, if you're a manager or the decision maker, you need to be the point of contact.
9. Delegate? yes, to a point see 7
10. Always be learning? Yes, of course. But not at the expense of the greater goals (personal / project / company). Nothing worse than an engineer that has not delivered because 'they were learning / wanted to try a new framework.
- bradenb 5y agoI feel like all of your points add unnecessary clarity. I don't think anyone would assume you should document the wrong things, or plan what you can't plan, or train people at inappropriate times. The only one I flat out disagree with is your clarification on #6. I do think it is useful to find an "apprentice" or "successor" that can take your role on; this is useful for a few reasons: 1) it allows you to move on (either via promotion or leaving the company) and 2) it gives you a support system (want to take a vacation? now you can!)
- theropost 5y agoWhere I work there is an entire documentation department, that is almost entirely focused on their templates/standardized documents & proceess, than are are the actual content.