Buznutt Blue Sky Solutions

Thoughts about the web: What I think I know.

Creativity, Integrity, Reliability

I came up with my mission statement of "creativity, integrity, reliability" for a reason.

I guess you’d expect that I had a reason instead of, say, gathering a random collection of syllables. But there is a bit of depth there.

In the sense that I believe it. I really do. These three words aren’t the most elegant ever written but I believe in them, and I’ll stand by them.

Talk about great, look at this, the vision statement of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel: "Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen." That says it all. It was already taken, and didn’t apply to my work. So I picked something plain that I believe in.

Like creativity.

I value creativity. A lot. A whole lot. I think that it’s the key. Creativity implies openness and playfulness. Humility. You really can’t get far without being open, which is another form of honesty. I don’t like to lie. I never have. I get into trouble every now and then by telling people what they don’t want to hear. Or by being tedious and boring, trying to explain things in full so I won’t be misleading.

You’re right, I have to keep working on my delivery. I’ll never be a glad-hander and you know, I don’t want to be. I’ll never be glib and I’ll never be everyone’s best friend. Never trust anyone who always smiles. I’ve learned that one the hard way.

But back to creativity.

You don’t get anywhere without it. I have some creativity and I like to exercise it. I like to be around it, and the people who pull it out of thin air.

Part of creativity is simply sitting back and trying to unravel things. First you identify the problem. Then you seek a solution without preconceptions. Then you do it.

In other words you decide where you are, where you want to go, and which routes will take you there. Maybe you invent a new route or two. Then you pick the best one. Maybe you’ve get something totally new and maybe not, but usually you at least get something that’s right and solves your problem.

It isn’t easy but it works.

Integrity we’ve touched on. I like to be honest. I don’t like to hurt anyone. I like to play fair. Things work best that way and they’re simpler too.

In college, writing English papers, I preferred to read the assigned books and think them through, then come up with my own ideas. I didn’t cheat except to skip endless research in libraries. I cooked with my own ideas instead of someone else’s. Cheating would have missed the point. I was paying for the experience and wanted to own the results. Otherwise I wouldn’t have learned anything. So simple.

I’m willing to take my lumps.

If I screw up I prefer to be the one who announces it. This is cleaner. Cowards die too many deaths. An honest person realizes that some things are hard and hurt a lot, and that the best way sometimes, most of the time, usually, is to take your lumps when you deserve them. It’s a whole lot simpler. And you learn not to screw up and let people down.

Reliability.

Man, this sounds so boring. How about if I quote Rob Walling: "In my 9 years as a professional developer I’ve worked with at least a hundred developers, but I can count on one hand the people I would recruit if I were starting a company - these are the best software developers I’ve worked with. Most are not great because of their pyrotechnic coding skills; they’re great because of their non-technical chops (future-oriented, ultra-reliable, attention to detail, and smart)."

You could say that being smart equals creativity, and I think it does. You could say that being able and willing to do the job equals integrity, and in a way I think it does. You’ll also notice the phrase "ultra-reliable". No matter how good someone is at any thing at all, if you can’t count on that person, then you can’t count on that person.

Reliability is another form of integrity. If someone makes a commitment, they have to follow through even if they made the wrong commitment. Period. Otherwise it doesn’t work.

Once upon a time I put out a monthly newsletter for a bicycling club. One month I got it back from the printer and found a mistake. I fixed it. I went back to the printer with the correction, and had those pages redone. And I paid for it with my own money. Because it was my mistake.

And the newsletter went out on time. That’s what I mean.

References.

Smart and Gets Things Done, by Joel Spolsky.

A Field Guide to Developers, by Joel Spolsky.

Lessons Learned ‘Selling’ My Micro-ISV, by Rob Walling.

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