Mastery of the Details

The devil is in the details. So they say. And so it is. TheHackerCIO believes that two forms of mastery are crucial to a successful technology career:

• mastery of the technology medium (i.e., java, C#, php, ... whatever), and 
• mastery of the business/analysis details. 

If you haven't mastered the details of the requirements and become fluid and easy about all the interrelationships and cross-requirement implications, you won't create a good solution. Incidentally, no methodology or process will automatically guarantee that you do create a good solution.

This isn't to put down process or methodology. They are very important. They can be tools to achieve a good solution. But it must be remembered, always, that they are tools. They are not an end in themselves. When they become too entrenched, they become sclerotic, bureaucratic. Ultimately, they become an impediment to achieving a good solution.

The other form of mastery required for a successful tech career is mastery of the technology medium itself. I feel another posting on techno-journaling coming on! So far, we have covered techno-journaling from the narrow standpoint of on-boarding a new client. It is a technique well suited for rapidly grasping all the myriad details involved in a complex project, and mastering all their implications and interrelationships.

But we did mention, also that techno-journaling can be used for domain/technology mastery as well. And that usage requires a different form of journaling.

The interesting thing about journaling, is that it is a methodology, or technique that is entirely focused on details. And on mastering them. And on letting nothing escape the net! I don't know another technique with such a focus. People pay lip-service to "attention to detail," but how many have a systematic, rigorous approach to actually doing this? I leave the answer as an exercise for the reader.

We'll put that other form of techno-journaling, the one focused on the technology itself, down on the "forthcoming" list. Stay tuned!

For Now, I Remain,

TheHackerCIO