The 10 (.5) Commandments for IT Professionals

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item The 10 (.5) Commandments for IT Professionals

  • The 10 (.5) Commandments for IT Professionals are so right.

  • Someone forgot an important commandment that a lot of people get their feet shot off for.

    That's being honest. When someone asks you if you can do something or if some cool new awesome thing can be done, then be honest if you can do it or if you SHOULD do it.

    I constantly see people getting asked if they can do this or that. Most of the time they can do it because they have the skillset to make it happen. Afterall, that's why they were hired right? However, some people are too eager to please someone else such as a CEO, some executive or just anyone on the team doing the asking. It doesn't mean it needs to be done, especially if what is being done is actually not good or bad.

    I'm sure the Angry DBA could chime in with some good scenarios on such requests because for some reason, I immediately thought of him when I typed this. 😛

  • Forgive my ignorance, but I can't quite grasp the (.5) in 10 (.5)?

    I tried to lay back and relax and read that thing.

    I tried to lay my head down to the left - then to the right.

    I tried taking a deep breath.

    I even closed my eyes and tried to read it from my brain.

    I tried reading it with sun glasses.

    😎

    All to no avail!

  • I wholeheartedly agree. Well written!

  • I was in a Graphics lecture at university a couple of decades ago when the lecturer (who always wore two ties at once - nobody found out why) wrote on two and a half boards an equation for calculating the intensity of light at a particular point. He said it was very accurate. He then wrote an equation with less than 10 variables and operators combined. He said that the latter was an approximation of the former and was deemed "close enough" for most uses including commercial use. He said that this is what he called "efficient laziness" and he thoroughly encouraged us, both in academia and in our forthcoming careers, to apply "efficient laziness" wherever possible. He also said that if anyone was too lazy to do their work then he had no time for them so we weren't to come to him with excuses.

    Great advice.

    Not sure about his ties though. My theory was that long before he had accepted a bet that he had to wear two ties until someone asked him why he did it...and no one ever did.

    Gaz

    -- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

  • I would add no 11.

    When given a new piece of work, study the requirements, then do nothing for a while. Step away from the keyboard (again!). Lean back in your chair and put your hands behind your head. Look out of the window if you have one. Use the time to think about what you've just studied and how you are going to about it. Formulate a plan in your head. Write the plan down if you prefer, but whatever your method, think it through properly. How often have you seen a junior programmer read the specification you've given him/her and then launch straight into the coding, which invariably leads to poorly constructed code which needs re-working.

    Spend some time to think about it and plan it first, then hopefully you can achieve commandment number 1. Be lazy and get it right first time.

  • But you skipped 10.5!

  • I figured the (.5) was 5a....

  • And the meaning?

  • Meaning....

    Take your time. Don't rush into a fix with a 'knee jerk' reaction, like politicians who rush into changing a long-standing law, just because something bad happened. Think about it for a while, then do the right thing.

  • I am being slow today as I still don't get the .5 in the editorial title.

    Gaz

    -- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

  • SimonHolzman (9/17/2014)


    Comments posted to this topic are about the item <A HREF="/articles/Editorial/115561/">The 10 (.5) Commandments for IT Professionals</A>

    Maybe I didn't explain myself.

    In the title above, what is the meaning of (.5)?

  • He wanted to make the analogy to the biblical '10 commandments' but he actually had 11 points to make, so squeezed another one in as 5a.

    I don't think it's any more complicated than that.

  • Well put, Simon

    You have spoken my mind in every single Commandment!

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