Being an IT professional my blogs circle around the observations in IT industry. Here's one of my latest observation...
People working on a certain profile or a particular work culture tend to feel that as and when their experience in the field increases they learn more and more about the work and environment and become the "pro" in that field. True to some extent, the knowledge in the field does increase with time and experience.
Experience is indeed the teacher of all things.
While being a fresher in the industry I always envied the experienced guys in the team because the way of thinking they used to have was in the right direction, unlike a fresher who would follow hundred wrong paths before nearing the right direction. That increased the experience though eventually and helped identify the right direction but somewhere down the line it took away a very important thing - "thinking differently". Now this is a little different than "out of box" thinking. One may be an "out of Box" thinker in his work environment but may not notice that the small things he or she is doing can sometimes be done in a much easier or better way. A person not in that environment might not find it difficult to identify such situations but being in that environment for a long time an experienced guy would miss it due to the focus on "bigger" problems/tasks at hand.
We can do no great things if we miss out of those small aspects of work/life. Thats where we need to "Break the shell" and closely observe on such small ineffective areas and try to think as if a person out of that environment would think. This way of thinking helps keeping a broader mind and in turn helps tackling all situations big or small in an effective manner.
People working on a certain profile or a particular work culture tend to feel that as and when their experience in the field increases they learn more and more about the work and environment and become the "pro" in that field. True to some extent, the knowledge in the field does increase with time and experience.
Experience is indeed the teacher of all things.
While being a fresher in the industry I always envied the experienced guys in the team because the way of thinking they used to have was in the right direction, unlike a fresher who would follow hundred wrong paths before nearing the right direction. That increased the experience though eventually and helped identify the right direction but somewhere down the line it took away a very important thing - "thinking differently". Now this is a little different than "out of box" thinking. One may be an "out of Box" thinker in his work environment but may not notice that the small things he or she is doing can sometimes be done in a much easier or better way. A person not in that environment might not find it difficult to identify such situations but being in that environment for a long time an experienced guy would miss it due to the focus on "bigger" problems/tasks at hand.
We can do no great things if we miss out of those small aspects of work/life. Thats where we need to "Break the shell" and closely observe on such small ineffective areas and try to think as if a person out of that environment would think. This way of thinking helps keeping a broader mind and in turn helps tackling all situations big or small in an effective manner.
Raj,
ReplyDeleteI guess for doing so called routine or small things differently we need to come out of our comfort zone. Guess our brain gets train in a certain way which makes the process stagnant . I am sure, now you being at "Lead" position must be influencing your juniors to take their stance and break the shell :)
Good article....keep writing.
Trupti
Exactly ... at some point unless when we interact with a person outside of that world and he/she points out - we dont realise the same.
ReplyDeleteNot really juniors I have in my team ... but yes I keep trying :)
Thanks for visiting :)
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ReplyDeleteThe thing is that when we are doing the same thing and gaining tht experience we do become subject matter expertise that's wht it's called, but to continue in the same way is not the key, we should be trying to develop innovations. experience in the same field will be ur support to bring that change as one would be aware of all the limitations and dynamics of tht project... One has to break shell evry now and thn... I feel nothing to do with fresher or experienced person. Fresher will have its own outlook and way of doing things and an experienced guy has it's own. The key to not get stagnant.
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