jBlog

Something that has been bugging me most of the weekend revolves around sharing knowledge, whether it be about a current system, why a particular decision was made or anything else that comes up.

So I would currently classify myself closer to the n00b end of the spectrum of professional software engineers, especially when it comes to designing systems that are accurate, reliable, fail safe and fast (not just fast but get < 100 ms). This being said I look forward to the conversation with my colleagues, who fall more at the “I’m a badass” side of the spectrum, on pretty much any task or at least story that I am working on. Not because they “are always right” but because there is a high probability that whatever it is I’m working on, they’ve encountered a similar situation in one of their numerous previous projects. By using their previous experiences I can reach the best solution quicker and *hopefully* with less bugs. At the same time my ideas may just be the new “fresh” ideas that they may not have thought of before.

Anyways, getting back to the point. I’ve recently seen/heard that many companies, yes including mine at times, can hamper the under valued but essential flow of information between two members on the same team, two teams or even two non-competing companies. Most of the times this is not an intentional act that hinder the sharing of knowledge but rather an inadvertent one. At work we utilize many different technologies to open up the necessary channels for sharing within the company (paired programming, forums, chat rooms, brown bag lunches, etc) however this doesn’t seem to be the best solution. But what is a better solution? Why don’t these methods work?

Honestly, I wish I knew. The one thing I do know is that these require a willingness to participate by both the giver and receiver. As most of us are probably aware it is easy to say that you want to and are willing to do what is necessary to share information with your peers, but when it comes down to it the eagerness fades and things go back to the usual, only seeking out information from our friends and those we believe have the information we desire. Something needs to change!