Pro Developer - Throwing Money Out the Window

So, the next time you speak up questioning the path of the new project, don't be surprised that your recommendations and concerns are summarily dismissed. You have a history of failed projects. You have no credibility.

With that in mind, we must learn how to accumulate this rare and valuable commodity, for programmers are not as helpless as the description I've given would seem to indicate. At least, they don't have to be. First, let's look at the benefits that we bring to the party. If programmers ran the farm, the company would benefit by having better functionality, higher quality, improved integration, dependable timelines and the completed projects would actually be used and produce benefits.

By bringing benefit to the company you work for, the project will also make your management look good, thus improving their chances to get what they personally want. And even though nobody cares what your personal desires are, there are at least two people who care about your management's private agenda: them and you.

This is a critical point to comprehend. Programmers have wasted enough breath in logical arguments to provide the world with wind generated electricity for the next century. The reason it's a waste of time is that it's the wrong battle to fight. The decision makers above you are going to make their choices based on their own agenda. If you take the time and effort to understand their needs and then learn how to help them achieve them, you're halfway home. Make sure that they know you're responsible for helping them attain their desires, and you become something very powerful in the business world: a person with credibility.