Support your Community Lynchpin

As the title of my blog “Constructive Laziness” indicates, I’m a great believer in maximising the amount of work you don’t do.
In fact, if you’re reading this before 8th July 2017, I’d like you to be constructively lazy now.  Please scroll to the bottom of this post - the bit marked “Actions” - there’s a couple of things I’d like you to do before you read the rest of it.
I don't practice or advocate pure laziness you understand.  I don’t think I’d have survived over 20 years in IT, including a couple of startups, by being purely lazy.
In fact, I enjoy working hard and I like a challenge.
What I mean by “Constructive Laziness” is avoiding unnecessary work, so I can focus on the things that will deliver most value.  Not in terms of money (if I was looking for the greatest financial reward for the hours worked, I’d have moved into sales a long time ago), but in terms of solving the problem.
I first got paid to write code in 1989.  I was working in a research lab, using FORTRAN to create mathematical models.  One of my colleagues was a super smart guy who decided to write his own numerical integration routines.
It took him a long time and it was very impressive piece of work, but it didn’t…
  • Move our project forward
  • Provide any new capability - he was reinventing the wheel
I didn’t see the value of doing that then, and I still don’t see it today - I just used the NAG Library, because it provided the mathematical machinery I needed, leaving me free to focus on what the project really needed (a working model of the processes we were studying).

Every time you use a package, gem or library, you're being constructively lazy. Same goes for using the cloud. You're using your time to focus on delivering the end result, not reinventing the wheel to get there.
Today, I have less disposable time than I’ve ever had before.  That means I have to work even harder at being lazy.  It also means I really appreciate anyone who helps me.
You know these people - they manage projects, so you’re able to focus on contributing code.  They organise conferences, so you just come along to speak or listen.
They’re the lynchpin of our technical communities.
If you doubt that for a second, I have a suggestion for you - try organising an event or a technical community yourself.  I’ve tried doing it myself, and learned fairly quickly that if there was a “lynchpin” in the area it was much better to work with them, get involved with their events and use their influence rather than do it myself.
At this point I'm going to sing the praises of one lynchpin - Emily Crittenden ( @EJSiameseDream ).
Emily is the driving force behind Digital East ( @digital_east ).  Emily brings people together from across a wide (mainly rural) region.  She can charm resources out of anyone.
Above all Emily has a desire and passion to help the technical community in East Anglia make the most of what we have (more fingers ==> higher developer productivity), and grow our already successful cluster of small tech hubs into a force to be reckoned with both in the UK and internationally.
Emily has been chosen as a finalist for AbilityNet Tech4Good Awards  "IT Volunteer of the Year" award.
It’s something that I think she really deserves so please...

Actions


  • vote for Emily before 7th July 2017
  • Tweet and retweet the hell out of hashtag #T4GEmilyJayne.
  • Whoever is the lynchpin in your community and/or company - say thank you and buy them a beer!

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