sysadmin HQ

Throughout the course of your working life, I predict you will encounter some of the greatest villains ever to step into the arena of office politics.  Conniving, self serving, petty excuses for human beings that want nothing more than to use your face for a rung as they scramble up the corporate ladder.

Sounds pretty grim doesn’t it? Well, I also predict that these villains will (the majority of the time) not exist outside the realm of your own imagination and perceptions.  Perhaps this make’s you breath a sigh of relief, assuming your taking me seriously of course, but these self conjured bad guys are every bit as dangerous to your career, well being and mental health. And they are a hell of a lot more common.

During my modest career, I’ve had the good fortune to work with two teams of sysadmins that I can genuinely say I enjoyed being around. You know, the kind of group that has that perfect blend of professional integrity, mutual respect and good humor that makes you actually enjoy going into the office.  I have also had the misfortune to witness both those teams disintegrate, and morph into the exact opposite – a tense group of unhappy sysadmins, questioning each others motives, harboring resentment and using up their sick days every month because the prospect of heading into the office makes you feel physically ill.

After stepping back and looking honestly at both these situations, I saw a pattern.

Lack of Communication –> Scewed Perceptions –> Assumptions –> Resentment –>  Lack of Communication –> Even more scewed perceptions –> etc. etc. (you can see the pattern I’m sure.)

Before I go further, let me explain why I’m writing an amateurish pseudo-psychology article on this technology focused sysadmins web site.  In a nutshell, I think that the industry of technology is fertile territory for this particular phenomenon. My intent is not to stereotype all techies as introverts who don’t know how to manage simple interpersonal relationships (but lets face it, they’re out there, and in large numbers). I do believe however that certain elements of that stereotype, combined with the types of communication tools popular with our crowd make sysadmins more susceptible to this danger than others.

The HR person at my last organization sent out an article talking about email flame wars.  It’s here if you want to read it.  The gyst of the article was that we generally misinterpret the tone of email 50% of the time. That’s pretty significant, and I can sure believe it, speaking as someone who’s been on both ends of such an exchange.   Think about it.  Ever worked with someone who you didn’t know well, and had very little face time with? Maybe you’ve been in a meetings with him/her and had differing opinions on how to proceed on an issue. Ever had an email from that guy (or gal) that rubbed you the wrong way?

How did you react?

Did you walk over to their desk and talk to them about it – clear the air so to speak?  Or did you take your interpretation of that email and use it to continue building your ongoing personality profile on this individual? If you chose the former I applaud you – your probably not the kind of person to fall into this trap.  If your like a lot of people though, you probably couldn’t resist speculating wildly about this persons motivations. Why would they send you such a hostile sounding email? And why did they CC their manager? Was it just ass covering? Or are they trying to make you look like an idiot in front of middle management (god no !).  It doesn’t take long and this line of thinking will have you convinced this person is out to get you.

The reality is, you have no idea what someone’s motivations are until you talk to them about it.  Not everyone is receptive to this of course, as I said there are plenty of techies out there who turn to stone when pressed to interact in real-time with someone.  None the less, I must stress how important it is to remember that, in all likelihood, the guy across the office floor isn’t sitting in his cubicle maniacally twirling his villains mustache and plotting your downfall.  He’s just a regular guy like you, dealing with his own hang ups and scewed perceptions of the world.

Call him on it. If he turns to stone on you, then at least you can say you took the higher ground and tried to get to the heart of the matter. And above all else, remember that thoughts are not reality. Don’t be a slave to your own perceptions of others and yourself.