Perhaps another contentious thing to be writing about - I’ll get them all out of the way at once :)

I’m an engineer - I believe a essential component of that is being scrupulously honest. It is a matter of honour for me that I will not lie or dissemble.

Unfortunately in my experience that is not a common trait of all people I have encountered professionally (or elsewhere). You all know what I mean, there are always people who can’t be entirely trusted, bullsh*t artists who talk a good game but can’t back it up, people you just can’t rely on to do what they promised to do.

It’s irritating to have to deal with this - there’s just a dissonance in the logic of what they do. Why lie and damage your reputation? People will notice, people will remember.

For the bullsh*t artists - we’ve all met them. People who will speak knowledgeably about stuff they have no clue about. Who will affirm something is the case without any evidence whatsoever, who will guess rather than simply say ‘I don’t know’. External consultants brought into companies tend to have a (in the most part undeserved) reputation for this.

I’ve had developer colleagues who will claim they have completed a particular piece of work or fixed a piece of code when they just didn’t bother. We have source control, people! How stupid do you have to be to think this isn’t noticeable?

I have been burned too many times in the past dealing with agents to be comfortable taking anything they say at face value. Early in my career as a contractor, I used to trust what I was told. After travelling to another country to start a brand new contract that turned out to not exist, I learned my lesson. Nowadays, I am a lot more cautious.

So what is it about our profession or sector that allows dishonesty and bullsh*t to exist? Are we a special case, or is it like that everywhere?

I have a simple set of principles I apply everywhere:

  • I will tell the truth if asked a question. If people don’t like the answer, then they shouldn’t have asked. If the item in question is none of their business, I will not be shy in saying so.

  • I will not dissemble if I don’t know something. I actually make a point of making my lack of knowledge about something known. In part to encourage others that admitting they are not all-knowing is ok, and in part to find out if the matter in question is generally not known and needs to be investigated by someone on the team.

  • I will do exactly what I agreed to do. If it turns out that something is preventing me from achieving my agreed task or goal, I will let the people I agreed with know rather than hoping the problem quietly goes away.

A related issue is negotiating - for example when settling the terms of a contract. I’ve studied negotiating strategy, and had no end of discussions about it with my colleagues over the years. I have a simple set of negotiating principles, and I don’t think my future negotiating position is weakened by sharing them (and may in fact save me some time):

  • There are usually two categories of things in a negotiation - the essentials and the nice-to-haves. I might consider dropping the nice-to-haves if necessary - I rarely have those in a particular negotiation, and they’re usually trivial, procedural stuff. The essentials however are (ironically) non-negotiable.

  • I don’t bluff - not ever. If I take a position on the essential points, I will not back down. To do so is just stupid - it weakens your position and shows how malleable your principles are.

  • I am always prepared to walk away from a negotiation rather than sacrifice an essential, be it rate, legal terms, whatever. I have decided what are reasonable and fair terms. If a client (or more usually an agency) aren’t willing to meet them, then there’s no point trying to haggle. It’s amusing to see how many try though. I’ve had quite a few contracts where the other party has effectively declined my offer, only to come back with an acceptance out of the blue a few days later after it becomes obvious I’m not going to cave.

A frequent response to my requiring a change in contract terms, etc. is along the lines of ‘It’s our standard contract, no-one else has ever objected’. Rubbish. It’s fairly certain other contractors have objected on very similar grounds - we run our own companies, we know the legal implications of the clauses in contention. If the agency or client in question refuses to make the modifications (there are some known for it), it’s no big deal - there are plenty of others out there.

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