As Software Developers, yeah. We need both to be able to advance.
If you can’t sling some code, you can’t do the job. Full stop. I can’t operate heavy machinery, so I’m not building bridges or skyscrapers. It’s fine, we should do things that combine our passions and skills.
People skills are more than just “being fun to work with” or “not being a jerk” though. Those are important when you work with other humans, but are an oversimplification.
I’m not talking about winning the office popularity contest. I’m talking about your ability to SCALE YOUR IMPACT.
These are all skills not just for people wanting to get into leadership roles, but for folks happy as Individual Contributors looking to increase their influence.
A brilliant jerk may be able to crank out some slick code, but they’ll only ever be able to scale their skills UP. We know there’s a finite limit to that.
A decent developer that is also good at two or three of those “soft” skills is going to be able to scale OUT, influencing the people around them to greater things. The potential impact that person can have on their organization is much greater than that of a single 10x rockstar unicorn.
Empathy != Sympathy;
Empathy != “I know how you feel”;
Empathy is also the ability to understand your users and their needs. Empathy is also the ability to understand (even if we don’t always accept) the reasoning behind stakeholder decisions.
Empathy might help you know to offer help BEFORE somebody starts playing laptop frisbee.
Empathy helps you sense when your co-workers are having a bad day and could use a lighter load. As a Manager, it helps you build genuine connections with your people. This lets you guide them in their day to day work and career goals MUCH more effectively.
5/5 Stars. Do recommend.
A lot of folks think communication begins and ends the ability to speak and write in THEIR OWN dialect.
Communication must be Full Duplex. Yes, it includes the ability to promote your own thoughts and ideas to others. That’s half duplex thinking.
Communication is Active Listening. Add that Empathy thing, and it becomes Active HEARING. This gives you a deeper understanding of the interactions you have. Better requirements, better OUTCOMES!
Communication is listening not only to respond, but also to learn. Take a moment, understand what you’ve heard or read, and either respond, or don’t. There’s a saying I like, “If you can’t improve the silence, preserve the silence.”
I’m sometimes (frequently) guilty of this one myself. I’m a work in progress. ;)
It’s OKAY to have a pause in conversation while you absorb what’s been said and ensure your next statement adds value.
Making noises come out of your face hole to fill “dead air” just gets in the way of progress.
We always hear about “Think outside the box”, and that we should avoid patterns just because “We’ve always done it this way…”
Yes, sometimes, the box constrains us and prevents progress. Sometimes, tradition can hold us back.
Creative thinking is more than simply rejecting what’s happening and coming up with a different way. When we do that, more often than not, we’re pushing on the door that says, “Pull.” Sometimes, the systems in which we work need a little tweak and that’s all. Occasionally, a bigger refactoring is needed. We should only rarely consider “Burn it all down and rebuild it from scratch.” (That one rarely concludes with a positive outcome.)
Creativity comes in many flavours, different rhythms, and a multitude of shades.
Never be afraid of asking “What if we…” when your group is stuck on something. Even if it’s an outlandish idea. It may just spark a conversation that results in some seriously impactful actions.
This skill also comes in super handy when you’re trying to figure out how to model a real work process in a way that can be expressed as code, but that’s more about Abstraction, and we’ll get to that tomorrow.
When thinking about Abstraction as a skill in well, any setting, the intro to a song pops into my head.
“Things to remember when writing figures of speech and sound…
The power of poetry comes from the ability to defy logic
Defy logic often
Use a metaphor and tell us that your lover is the sky.
Tell us that your lover is the sky.
When you do that
We won’t believe you,
We won’t believe you.
Because saying so makes no sense,
But we’ll see a meaning.”
Excerpt from “Things to Remember” by Peter Murphy.
Album: “Dust” released 2002.
(Excellent album, 12/10 do recommend!)
Combined with Empathy and Communication Skills, creative thinking and the ability to abstract ideas pushes us toward having interpersonal superpowers.
Abstraction is something we as software makers do almost as naturally as breathing. We take a Problem Statement or Business Goal and break it down into smaller pieces, then translate those into the cognitive and linguistic idioms that allow us to express those things as working software.
If you really lean in on this skill, combining it with Communication and Empathy (to understand your audience’s own internal idioms and experiences,) and engage your Creativity muscles, Abstraction allows you to express difficult ideas in ways that provide that “AH-HA!” Moment that everybody craves.
Imagine that your team is struggling with a difficult problem. You have an idea that might solve it, but you haven’t been able to explain it in a way that anyone else can understand. Metaphors can help you win. Take your concept, and express it in a frame that even just one of your teammates understands. When they get it, they’ll be able to do the same, and you can repeat the process with another colleague. You’ve just made a positive impact you can add to your personal “Brag File.”
Creative thinking can also help YOU understand concepts that you’re struggling with. Use the metaphor trick on yourself, and verify that your analogy is correct with whoever’s communicating it to you. In plainer language, this is “Repeating it back in your own words.”
Mastering these soft skills alongside your technical abilities can dramatically amplify your impact in the tech industry. By developing empathy, communication, creative thinking, and abstraction, you’ll not only become a more valuable team member but also open doors to new opportunities and greater influence. Remember, in technology, it’s not just about what you can code—it’s about how you can inspire, collaborate, and innovate with others.