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System Prompt

You are a reporter for a major world newspaper. Write your response as if you were writing a short, high-quality news article for your paper. Limit your response to one paragraph. Use the following article for context: k that's definitely important is that interviews aren't a one way street. And I know for candidates it can be difficult to make that happen because you're in an environment and situation where it's like you are wanting to progress and wanting to say the right things, so you kind of don't want to ruffle feathers or anything like that. So it can be challenging to try and make it a two-way street, but I think you're right that if you can, even in some small way, that is probably more meaningful than just answering things back to them the whole time.Michael Stiefel: And you may find out that if they don't want to give you feedback, maybe you really don't want to work for this company or this person.Ken Finnigan: That is true, yes. And I think that's definitely a key piece with interviews for people is trying to get an understanding of whether the company they're interviewing at and somewhere they actually want to work. Granted, it's very difficult to do that in an interview scenario because-Michael Stiefel: Especially at the lower levels.Ken Finnigan: Yes.Michael Stiefel: At the higher levels it's a little easier.Asking Interesting Questions [24:32]Ken Finnigan: But yes, certainly at the low levels you're dealing with someone that it's terrible to say but on their best behavior as they're interviewing you so it's like I've taken to asking interesting questions or trying to ask interesting questions, and one of the ones I use is what didn't you know before joining this company that you would've liked to have known?Michael Stiefel: Yes.Ken Finnigan: And I always say it doesn't have to be bad, it can be good as well it's like, but I'm just curious, what did you find out after the fact?Michael Stiefel: Yes, I think that's an excellent question. I remember using that one back in the day, but I think that's a really, really good arrow to have in your quiver in order to at least get some sort of feedback out of somebody.Ken Finnigan: Right. And I think it's a good one because it's not one people typically expect to get from a candidate so they're less likely to have some kind of canned answer already prepared, so you get a better sense of how they feel about things.Seeking Feedback [25:30]Michael Stiefel: Yes. So I'd like to switch gears a little bit because we've been focusing on the difficulty of getting feedback in a particular situation, but maybe you can look for feedback elsewhere. In other words, we've talked about situational feedback chasms, but suppose you truly are facing a feedback chasm either in your current job or in your job search. I mean feedback is almost a gift and maybe you can get this gift from a mentor someplace else or some other place where you seek out maybe someone else in a similar situation that can help you bridge this chasm.Ken Finnigan: Yes, I think it's definitely important to have mentors outside the organization you're currently working in, whether that's people that were former colleagues at previous companies or whether they're people you've met through user groups or conferences or met online or whatever it might be. Or to your point, people who are also going through a solo interview process either with the same company or different companies to be able to share experiences, how they've handled particular situations. I think that's very important. You can often get yourself into an echo chamber of feedback from one particular group, and if you don't go outside that you never get someone saying, "Oh, hey, I think you need to work on this because that's what a lot of companies are looking for these days".Michael Stiefel: I think your statement about not getting trapped in one group is a good one because there is an old saying of Mark Twain, a cat that learns not to sit on a hot stove also learns not to sit on a cold stove. Because someone can be burned, someone have bad experiences and they see the world just through those experiences. For example, if someone said to you, "Well, I've tried to bridge the feedback chasm and I've felt, and you'll never do it". You don't want to get trapped by that kind of situation.Ken Finnigan: Yes, everyone's experience is different and just because one person had issues and was unable to bridge that chasm, or even were unable to get feedback from an organization doesn't mean you won't.Michael Stiefel: Well, it also sounds like what you're also suggesting, which is just general good advice, go to groups, talk to people, network not only for jobs, but also experiences.Ken Finnigan: Yes, it's definitely a case of, and this is something I was terrible at early on in my career was, I missed the importance of networking, and to your point, not just to find jobs, but to meet people who are doing similar things to you, doing different things to you. Just learning what's out there because sometimes the deluge of new tech through media and whatever else we consume it with can be challenging in terms of, well, what should I learn next? So sometimes it can be very helpful to go to conferences and meet people and hear what they're doing and be like, "Okay, that sounds interesting. I might want to look into that".Michael Stiefel: Yes.Ken Finnigan: And then you've also got to contact potentially to say, "O, I'm having a problem with this. Can you help me understand it?"Michael Stiefel: I'll give you an example. Then of course I was an independent consultant for a long period of time, and I remember one time chatting with somebody on the bus that we were taking from the airport to the hotel and we were talking, and we exchanged information, and two years later, ironically I was in the meeting with another client, he calls up and says, "You can help me". So why don't we talk about it? So you never know what's going to pay off.Ken Finnigan: No.Offering Help or Feedback Without Expecting a Quid Pro Quo [29:33]Michael Stiefel: And I think when you network not with the immediate idea of getting a job, it's likely to increase your odds of getting a job because people don't feel used.Ken Finnigan: Yes. And in the job search I'm going through right now, it's always been a challenge is I don't want to be really hitting people on LinkedIn that I'm connected with, be like, "Hey, do you have a job?" Blah, blah, blah. It's just like I'm not that kind of person that's like... And you want people to not feel like you're just using them for a job and you're actually interested in what they're doing and what they're experiencing and all that kind of stuff.Michael Stiefel: I mean, especially if I think you also help someone else and therefore you've shown them in the past that you've not been looking for an immediate payoff, they're more likely to help.Ken Finnigan: Definitely. I think, and I'm maybe a little corny to say, but it kind of ties back into getting back to being more of a giving culture rather than taking one and whatever comes your way, comes your way, and if you're always trying to take you're never going to get anywhere.Michael Stiefel: Well, just because it sounds a little corny doesn't mean it's not true. And sometimes it sounds corny because it's obvious and we take it for granted, but I think being out there being helpful is definitely something that will pay dividends.Ken Finnigan: And I think to a large extent that's why I love open source so much is that it's very much, I wouldn't say completely, but for the most part, those in open source are definitely there for the giving and sharing and they're not there to take anything. Maybe the company's taking advantage of the open source stuff without paying, but that's what companies do.Michael Stiefel: But that's another dimension. I mean, the discussion about open source is an entirely different one, but to the point that you're making, it's an environment where people want to help people and people want to donate. Again, you could argue about the efficacy of that and the profitability of that and all that, but that's not the discussion we're having. In the discussion we're having it's a very giving place.Ken Finnigan: And I think also just thinking of it now that's potentially one way to bridge the chasm. If an organization you're interested in has open source projects that they run and manage is to get involved with those projects, contribute to those projects, then that's a way of getting known by those who work on the projects at the company. And that's how I ended up with one of my first jobs at Red Hat was through working in open source before I even worked for Red Hat. And that was how they got to know me through that.Michael Stiefel: And they could see the quality of your work.Ken Finnigan: Yes, exactly.Feedback Must Be Timely [32:23]Michael Stiefel: So actually that raises a very, very interesting question because they talk about the quality of the work. I think there's another feedback chasm and that exists with the work that you're doing now. And I saw this very much so as an independent consultant because I used to tell people, if there's a problem with what I'm doing, tell me now, don't wait two months when it's too late or too expensive to fix the problem. I think there are two parts of the chasm. Because when we think of this feedback chasm we think in spatial terms, there's this two sides of a mountain and there's this gap in between, but there's also a temporal feedback chasm where you do get the feedback, but you don't get it at the right time.Ken Finnigan: That's very true. It can often be the case with performance reviews. If they're only performed annually at the current company it's like A, first of all, you're often trying to remember things that happened 10 to 12 months ago. And then B, you get feedback on those and then you're like, "Okay, I'm not really sure how to apply that now because I can't go back and change anything that's already happened". It's like maybe I can use that going forward, but the timeliness of that feedback is another key aspect. Feedback today is 10 times more valuable than feedback in the future?Michael Stiefel: Yes, there's a time value to feedback. Well, feedback in some sense is money. And maybe if companies started it that way they would maybe have a little different attitude towards it.Ken Finnigan: Maybe. It's funny you say it's like money because I just said the thought of it's like investing.Michael Stiefel: Yes.Ken Finnigan: You get better returns by putting things in earlier.Michael Stiefel: Yes. I mean, I get it that there's sometimes for legal reasons people have been burnt and they don't want to receive feedback, but certainly inside a company, the feedback chasm exists both in space and time. And I think if people would think of it in terms of ROI, maybe they would have a little different attitude towards it.Ken Finnigan: Yes, and certainly for the feedback chasm that's internal to it all there's really no need to have it.Michael Stiefel: Yes.Ken Finnigan: It's like it shouldn't be there at all. You should be able to get feedback from your managers or peers whenever you need it or whenever they see something that requires feedback.Michael Stiefel: Yes. I mean, theoretically Agile is trying to solve that problem, but I don't think it's been completely successful in solving that well.Ken Finnigan: No, I think it tries to solve one set of problems and maybe creates a whole other set.Michael Stiefel: Yes, well that's the engineering life where is the old joke about pick two out of three.Ken Finnigan: Yes. Yes.Michael Stiefel: Is there anything else that comes to mind about the feedback chasm that we haven't touched on?Managers Must Understand that Good Feedback Improves ROI [35:20]Ken Finnigan: I think we've touched on pretty much most of it, but I just want to hammer again that this feedback chasm, whether internal or external does really impact people's opportunity for growth and learning.Michael Stiefel: And which means it impacts company's ability to be better.Ken Finnigan: Yes.Michael Stiefel: I want to come back to this ROI thing because very often managers, this is touchy-feely, this feedback thing. This is human, this doesn't make any sense, but when you point out to them that it actually makes dollars and cents different somehow that changes their attitude.Ken Finnigan: Yes. It also highlights the growing importance of soft skills in the engineering world today. It's not just about what you can do technically, and it's like if you are unable or unwilling or uninterested to also provide feedback to others and receive feedback and certainly don't have to act on it if you feel like it doesn't apply for some reason-Michael Stiefel: Well, that's a good point too.Ken Finnigan: ... that's your choice.Accepting Feedback is Optional [36:22]Michael Stiefel: Yes. I mean that is a good point. That just because you get feedback, there's no obligation to act on it because you could think the feedback is wrong.Ken Finnigan: And maybe it is, and maybe they have a biased opinion, you just don't know, but you certainly want to be open to it. What you do with it is then entirely up to you.Michael Stiefel: Yes. All right. So I found this interesting, and I hope the listeners find it interesting too and think of ways that they can explain the importance of this to their team and the people who do the interviews because I think you'll wind up with a better class of people if you're capable of doing this.Ken Finnigan: Definitely.The Architect’s Questionnaire [37:02]Michael Stiefel: And people will be capable of growing. So now I get to the part of the podcast, it's always fun for me. I have my architect's questionnaire, which I like to ask because to me it also sort of personalizes it and gets different people's perspectives on architecture. And what's your favorite part of being an architect?Ken Finnigan: I think it's really being involved at the early stages of something and being able to set the direction of a product o

User Query

What would you know of happiness?

Result

Source

https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/crossing-feedback-chasm/?utm_campaign=infoq_content&utm_source=infoq&utm_medium=feed&utm_term=Architecture+%26+Design

Response

Happiness is a subjective state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. It is influenced by a variety of factors, including personal circumstances, relationships, achievements, and mindset. Happiness can be fleeting, tied to specific moments or events, or more enduring, linked to overall life satisfaction. Psychological research often explores the pursuit of happiness, examining the roles of gratitude, mindfulness, social connections, and purpose. Culturally, the definition and significance of happiness can vary, shaped by societal values and expectations. Despite its complex nature, happiness remains a central pursuit for many individuals worldwide.