Intro to Cheatcodes

.Some people thrive at Tech companies without doing any meaningful work. I found this interesting.

Yup ! Without doing any meaningful work.

Some video gamers use codes called “cheat codes” to enhance their game. Tech company employees use some tricks to enhance their game too. So, we’ll refer to these tricks as ‘Cheat codes’.

Some folks are able to game the system to their unfair advantage. Here’s a an example:

I had a manager who did no work. Absolutely NOTHING. Let’s call him Rohit.

Rohit was very fond of video games. Each day after work, he used to play games for long hours. Just before bedtime at 3 am, he used to ‘send’ the email he’d composed at 10 am the previous day.

You see, Rohit was smart ! The next day, he reached the office tired and drowsy. Seeing how he had been working all night ( wink wink ), all senior managers took great pride at their hardworking, workaholic team member.

Sometimes, even juniors like us were tutored to ‘learn from him’. Thank God we didn’t !

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This behaviour is very common at, and very hurtful to software companies. At the same time this inefficiency is little understood. This surprises me.

My intent is to explain the phenomenon, in a simple and understandable language.

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Why should you care

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As an individual – If your peers, superiors or subordinates are cheatcoders, then …

As a leader – If you have cheatcoders in your team, then …

If you’ve been there, then I know you get it !

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Knowledge is power. Without knowledge, the weak tend to get walked over. If you are part of the tech industry then …

In short … this understanding might save your career, team, organization or all three.

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What does a blogger know about Management inefficiencies ?

I quote a Shane Parrish blog. ( knowing well that quoting another blog makes the argument cyclical 😀 )

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We live in a society that demands specialization. Being the best means being an expert in something. Letters after your name and decades in the trenches of experience are required before you can claim to know anything. In one sense there is nothing wrong with this — specialized knowledge is required to solve problems and advance our global potential. But a byproduct of this niche focus is that it narrows the ways we think we can apply our knowledge without being called a fraud.

So we think physicists can’t teach us about love; mathematicians can’t instruct us on how to run a business; poets don’t know squat about “my life.” And bloggers can’t contribute to philosophy.

I don’t believe this is true.

Knowledge is hard to come by.

It takes work and commitment, and I think we owe it to ourselves to take it out of the box it comes in and experiment with it. We should blow past conformity and apply all the knowledge at our disposal to the problems and challenges we face every day.

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Qualified eeehhh ??

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Why do I feel qualified to talk about the subject ?

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I have been working in the IT industry for over 10 years. I’ve worked with large, medium and small scale organizations. I started at the bottom of the food chain slowly working my way up. ( PS : still not very high in the food chain 😀 )

Some of my inputs have brought significant improvements to teams they were used with. The ideas have been bounced with folks across the industry.

I still write code, design modules, debug technical issues. So, I speak from the trenches, and not a podium.

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Also, I have the talent for introversion ! While this is a drawback courting some pretty faces, it is very handy while observing and understanding.

I have used my talent to look beneath the surface and understand issues, a bit more than some others.

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Success criteria

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I will consider my blog series successful when …

Hopefully, the material will be helpful.

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Sequence

The overall series will cover the following topics:

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The topic is serious. We’ll try to flavor it with some easy going language, lightly garnished with humor. Also, I will add loads of examples … to help explain the idea even to a layman.

Additionally, I’ll tend to present you with questions on a continuous basis; active engagement helps understand the subject better.

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Disclaimer

The intent is to state inefficiencies and not to look down upon others. While I critique people and methods, I do not consider myself better than the ones I critique. Like everyone else, I make mistakes.

Also, I share my truth and not the truth of all others. This truth might feel tangy but, in my opinion, needs to be tasted for the betterment of organizations and associated individuals.

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The inefficiencies discussed here will be mostly related to Technology or related work. Other types of challenges, like management, do exist in the industry, but those are for another time.

Finally, the approach is unscientific and therefore is not a copy paste template. In other words … read, but do not give up your common sense.

God helps me stay objective !

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Let’s get going !