Throughout my career, I have learned that it pays to be lazy. Whenever I have been assigned a new task, I always ask myself if the task is necessary. It usually is, but not always. If it is necessary, answering this question forces me to understand the user needs behind the task – this is always a good thing. And if it isn’t necessary, I have saved myself a lot of work.
Here is a story that illustrates the point.
The Handbook Software I Didn’t Write
When I was a software engineer developing an educational application for Wasatch Education Systems, my manager assigned me the task of implementing a feature called the Handbook. Students could use the Handbook to look up information about the topic that they were studying. My manager had estimated that it would take six months to complete. I was already behind schedule. Could I think of an easier way to do this?
I noticed that the proposed Handbook looked a lot like the Help feature supported by the operating system we were using. Could we use the Help feature instead?
I talked to my manager about it. He said they had considered using the Help feature in the initial design but didn’t because it was missing an essential feature. But I was really tempted to see if I could remove six months of work from my schedule. I revisited the Help feature. I discovered that it had been upgraded after the initial design. The latest version had the feature we needed.
When I told my manager, he was delighted. He assigned one of our graphic artists to customize the look and feel of the Help feature to fit with our application. He removed a six-month task from the program schedule. And I got to work on developing another feature that added more value to the application.