Raj is the new engineer in the team. He is working on the most talked about project in the company. Samuel is helping him come up to speed with the company products. Sam is about to review Raj's first ever written code in this company. Raj is a bit nervous about his first code review but trusts Sam a lot. He has always helped Raj through the tough situations so far.
The review goes on for three hours. Sam finds at least 40 places where there is room for improvement. A brand new hire would usually get really upset about it. But Raj trusts Sam. He knows Sam's intentions are good. He wants Raj's first project to be a success, he wants the code to be as problem free as possible, and he knows how much small bugs in the code cost the company later in the product's life. He readily accepts that some of the areas need to be improved but defends his case on some parts of the code.
Now Sam, in return, trusts that Raj is a good engineer and has a good reason for his defense. He says "Some of my comments are only my preferences on how things could be done. Whether you accept them or not is completely at your discretion. I fully trust and support your decision."
Are these imaginary people talking? I've personally known people like these for a while now. So, can we all try and trust that our co-workers are trying to their best?
The bigger question is - Can we all trust that people around us have better intentions in mind than we think they do?
The review goes on for three hours. Sam finds at least 40 places where there is room for improvement. A brand new hire would usually get really upset about it. But Raj trusts Sam. He knows Sam's intentions are good. He wants Raj's first project to be a success, he wants the code to be as problem free as possible, and he knows how much small bugs in the code cost the company later in the product's life. He readily accepts that some of the areas need to be improved but defends his case on some parts of the code.
Now Sam, in return, trusts that Raj is a good engineer and has a good reason for his defense. He says "Some of my comments are only my preferences on how things could be done. Whether you accept them or not is completely at your discretion. I fully trust and support your decision."
Are these imaginary people talking? I've personally known people like these for a while now. So, can we all try and trust that our co-workers are trying to their best?
The bigger question is - Can we all trust that people around us have better intentions in mind than we think they do?
Yeah, I think we should start trusting that people have better intentions than we think they do. If not, a sense of mistrust grows very quickly in anything people say/do. My policy is never read in between the lines than is needed for that moment. Otherwise your head gets mixed up assuming various things. There is no single truth to things in general. It is perspective truth that each of ourselves believe in. So giving someone the benefit of the doubt may come back sometime and get you that when you least thought you'd fall into a situation needing it.
ReplyDeleteAs for Raj and Sam's case, it can only help a person grow - both professionally and personally - by handing over responsibilities in ways you respect it. In Raj's case, through such pleasing comments.
It is extremely necessary to trust people around us. But at the same time there are other factors that stops us from doing so. One of the dominant factor is emotion. Every person reacts to a particular situation in a different way and even each time differently because of a different emotional status.
ReplyDeleteIn this case as well, the next time the code review session is certainly going to depend on primarily the relationship shared by these two till that time and secondly the emotional state of both the individuals at that point of time. A change in the emotional state of one person could have a drastic impact on either the type of comments given (in case of Sam) or the way the comments given are perceived (in case of Raj). So we will have to wait and watch for the subsequent code reviews :)
Shreyas, I agree with what you are trying to convey here regarding the Emotional state and its biases in a work environment... Have been there done that ;)
ReplyDeleteTrust is a Positive emotion...
The point you are talking about is people diverging to a negative emotion(in this case distrust).
I guess, this is what the passage emphasizes..... that Positive emotion should trump negative emotion... in a work environment...
The last line sums it all... i guess :)
Yeah and need to see what happens in the subsequent code reviews..... :)
Akshay, beautifully worded.
ReplyDeleteShreyas, I totally agree with you with regards to other factors affecting one's behavior. I believe that if we can create a natural tendency to trust over mistrust, factors like emotion can be overcome. Of course, it will take a lot of practice for it to become second nature.
Some people naturally tend to trust others while some others need their time before they trust someone. In any case, giving someone the benefit of doubt may come in handy sometime later. It feels weird initially but not once you experience it first hand.
Hemang, exactly my point :)
Wow! very simple and illustrative example. I have seen such healthy behavior happen at my workplace (I have noticed the other extreme too where people enforce their personal preferences on others).
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that such trust improves the work environment for the better of everyone.
Thanks Satish. I think what matters is which extreme we are closer to.
ReplyDelete