One Little Bug
December 30, 2005
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On our worst days, we can sometimes stop caring about our work. We can get so beaten down and tired that the only thing we look forward to is the end of the day. The truly frightening part, though, is that it doesn’t take a horrible day to put your career, or even your entire company at risk. Instead, it is the small problems – the ignored update, the unfixed bug, the “I’ll get to that later” attitude – that brings failure. If you want to have a long career, at a number of profitable companies, you need to worry most about the “one little bug” that could bring everything crashing down.
Too often, I hear high-tech workers dismissing their own importance. They
seem to think that since others don’t think they are important,
then their work doesn’t matter. In fact, your work, even the smallest,
seemingly least consequential part, relates directly to the success or
failure of your career. The effects are far reaching.
Imagine statistics, a spreadsheet or program algorithm that everyone in
your company relies upon. They might use these tools for short-range planning,
making assumptions about the future or determining what happens, when
and to whom. Now, imagine the damage that can be caused when one small
error creeps into such a critical system. Garbage in. Garbage out...or
more appropriately, Garbage in. Failure out. Are you still thinking your
work doesn’t matter?
A recent story from Australia demonstrates the consequences of one small
bug. Prisoners in one jail system were being released early due to a flaw
in the software that tracked their incarceration. Even though the problem
was eventually discovered, prison officials were unsure how many people
had been effected. Other news stories show how companies have had to restate
earnings, refund money or otherwise make amends when flaws were discovered
in internal software programs. Some software firms have found themselves
filing for bankruptcy when uncorrected bugs in their software led to the
failure of the company.
Remaining vigilant about small problems can be difficult. Larger issues
draw your focus away and management can sometimes be unresponsive to your
warnings. Time for quality assurance can be eaten up with simple maintenance
of the system. There are a hundred excuses why small problems cause such
trouble, but all of them will be cold comfort when a major failure is
discovered.
Being constantly vigilant about the small problems can be extremely difficult,
but it is infinitely more important than anything else you do. If you
want to shine in your career, you need to pay attention to the details.
You need to be able to root out the missing semicolon, the flawed formula,
the incorrect configuration file. It is here that your career will be
made. Big flashy projects will gain you recognition, but solving the small
problems will prove your worth again and again.
As you might imagine, practicing the constant vigilance that this requires
is difficult, if not impossible if you are in the wrong job, or even worse,
the wrong career. There are a host of reasons why you should always seek
out the job that is right for you, but this is one of the most important.
You can work as hard as possible, at a job that isn’t right for
you, but it won’t make a bit of difference. It is like trying to
climb a mountain with 100lbs of extra weight on your back. You might make
it part of the way up the mountain, but the extra burden will always be
holding you back. You cannot, and will not, excel in a job or career that
is wrong for you. You won’t have the attention, time or energy to
focus on the small problems if you are unhappy in your job.
Keep your eyes open, every day, for the one little bug that can bring
infinite amounts of trouble to your career. Hunt them down and kill them
off wherever and whenever possible. Don’t let supposedly “big
issues” distract your attention. As the famous architect Mies van
der Rohe once said, “God is in the details.” You can say the
very same about your high-tech career.
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