I vaguely remember reading something about this in the essays that 37Signals released some time ago called Getting Real. Now as it was many moons ago and the human mind is fantastic at mangling memory I could have got this completely the wrong way around but here’s my take on it….
At the company I work the developers handle a large array of tasks form developing, support, system administration, etc. We do it all and it keeps us on our toes and makes the job damn interesting. Sometimes it can get a bit hectic though and users come at you from every angle which can cause a lot of stress and increasing tempers.
That was until the other day when I decided to stop listening – switch off – ignore them.
REALLY hard, especially when you have a habit of being a tech saint and my colleagues and I are all walkovers when it comes to helping people out – I guess geeks just can’t say no to helping. Like hotshot heroes we are!
So what happens when a user calls, IM’s, speaks to you? Politely acknowledge, say you’ll see if you can get to it and leave it at that. When I first tried this Iit went completely against nature. I was getting visions of the company building collapsing, people dying, fires burning children, vampires feeding, death, destruction….anyway.
None of that happened and amazingly 90% of the problems that were reported to you cleared themselves up. When an “IT Guy” is a phone call away its all too easy to jump on the phone and call them up for absolutely everything. When they realise you don’t come immediately they start using their own head and most things right themselves 5 mins after they speak to you.
So you may still think – But if its REALLY important you can’t just ignore it. Yes, yes you can. Because this is where Getting Real comes in. I remember back then that it said something about your users being your spec list. If somethings important they will remind you, constantly, repeatedly and increasingly loudly. Now if the same user comes to you 5, 10, 15mins later with the same issue then you know its serious and it can’t be sorted without your input. This happens a minority of times.
Eventually you’ll realise you can get more work done on the important tasks rather than reacting on ‘urgent’ tasks. Now isn’t that one of the habits of 7 Highly Effective People? 
guide first off as I had heard nothing but good reviews and I have to admit they are all very much deserved. I’d gotten far to used to the dry academic books of my university years and been generally put off technical tomes ever since, only getting them when absolutely necessary. Pragmatic Programmer blew that image right out of the water. The book is only 309 pages and yet it is the most useful and fact-packed book on programming and software development I have ever come across. Not only that but the writing style is so far removed from the stuffy academic examples from times gone by. You feel a good and experienced friend or mentor is taking you through the raft of useful concepts, ideas and methods personally. In fact its a philosophy and a philosophy I’m fully signed upto as I like to bring simplicity to my coding. In fact the Pragmatic philosophy is very much close to my own and its a real bonus I’ve found programmers of much greater experience on the same wave-length. One thing I particularly like in the Pragmatic Programmer book is the opening chapter on what the pragmatic philosophy is and how pragmatic programmers work in the world. Incredibly refreshing and a welcome change – I keep it with me when I goto work, read it in bed and at my desk at home.
