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The S.T.U.P.I.D. Email – Oct 17, 2021
By Bruno Souza | event
Skill, Thought, Unique, Person, Interesting, Daring
A fun, weekly round of Career ideas!
Talking with a good friend of mine this week — Rafael — we were discussing a very important skill.
A skill that is required of any Senior professional, and that every developer should master.
(Actually, it is so important, that if you don’t have that, people will confuse you with a junior…)
It is:
the ability of breaking a problem into a series of steps to solve it.
“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than trying to solve them”
Henry Ford
When confronted with a problem, it is our job to face it head on and take responsibility for the solution.
But…
When it is a problem we never faced before
(and in software development this happens a lot…)
We get worried and afraid…
And…
For our brain, worry and fear is equivalent to a deadly situation.
So, when the brain gets worried,
it gets into a fight of flight mode.
It reduces the number of active connections to accelerate responses.
Effectively shutting down the non-necessary areas…
Like…
Creativity!
Exactly what we need to solve a software development problem…
How we deal with that?
You can’t let your brain get into stressful, fight or flight mode.
You have to…
Break problems in small steps!
That way, each step is small and non-threatening.
That reduces fear and anxiety.
And increases creativity and problem solving.
A unique benefit (and practice) for this important skill is giving a presentation.
One: because that’s what a presentation is!
Breaking things into smaller steps is a great way to present to others.
You can present about a problem in your project to your boss and colleagues, or present new technology to your friends, or even present about your experience in a user group meeting or an event.
Two: presenting is a stressful situation
That will take your brain into fight or flight mode!
(It still happens with me, even after 20+ years of experience presenting!)
So, the best way to prepare for a presentation is to break the process into small, non threatening steps.
That way, you can practice this important skill, and master it!
And you know the BEST first step?
Submit a talk to an event!
Whhhaaaaaaattt????
How can submit a talk be a FIRST step Bruno? Are you nuts?
Think with me …
Because there are many more submissions than slots, the chance that your talk gets accepted for any event
(even that MY talk gets accepted…)
Is small.
Pretty small.
So… You can consider it will not happen.
So, you can submit a talk just to practice!
You think about what you want to say.
List the problem you will discuss.
Plan a presentation.
And submit.
Without even preparing the presentation.
It will not be approved anyway.
Do it just to practice.
No pressure.
No fear.
Just do it.
BTW…
You have a good opportunity now…
The Developers Conference Call For Papers is open this week.
There are 8 international tracks in English.
I’m sure you have SOME IDEA to share.
Submit a presentation idea just to practice.
No fear.
No pressure.
Just do it.
Einstein is credit with saying:
“If I had 1 hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions”
Albert Einstein
Submitting a talk to an event is like this.
You help people understand the problem.
And why it is important to deal with it.
Your presentation will inspire the solution.
If you are interested in submitting a presentation to TDC this week
(The last day to submit is next Friday, October 22 — it was extended)
I will help you.
This week I’ll publish a series of posts.
Walking you though preparing and submitting a presentation.
We will discuss the main points of a presentation:
WHO
PROBLEM
CONTENT
ACTION
And how we can create the presentation submission itens:
TITLE
ABSTRACT
OVERVIEW
Let’s walk together on this path?
If you are interested, send me your FIRST idea that comes to your mind of what you would like to present on.
Anything. Just reply to this email.
And, the you should create an account on The Dev Conf Call For Papers web site.
Just create the account.
Nothing more.
Easy.
Hope you enjoyed those tips! I’l be waiting your email so I can help you to keep your career moving!
Cheers,
Bruno.
the “break the problem into small steps”-man