expert

10 Things Everyone Should Do to be Treated Like a Professional

What is a Professional?  A Professional is someone who a.) gets respect, b.) does not get micro-managed, and c.) usually gets paid more.  Here are 10 things you can do to get treated like a professional (the a. and b. part… where the c. part [higher pay] follows closely behind).

  1. Never, ever, be late.  
    • It’s a small thing, but it’s #1 for a reason.  A Professional is not late, ever, for any reason.  Period.  A Professional might “reschedule”, but they would never be late.
  2. Be where you are when you’re there, and be doing what you’re doing when you’re doing it.
    • This idea is essential!  Never ever multitask.  If someone wants to talk to you, STOP what you are doing, take off your headphones, close your laptop lid (maybe not all the way), and talk to them, eye-to-eye.  Take notes about your discussion, then when the talking is done, resume what you were doing.
    • If you are in a meeting, be in the meeting.. do not check email, do not work, be in the meeting (or not, leave if you must).
  3. Deliver Results, on-time, every time.  
    • Professionals get it done.  NEVER turn it in late or incomplete.
  4. Under-promise and Over-deliver. 
    • Don’t under-promise so low that it’s not useful… but promise only what you are SURE you can deliver.. then do way, way more, every time.
  5. Become an Expert at Personal Time Management.
    • Use a To-Do List System (I like http://toodledo.com & syncs to my phone).
    • EVERY task you are assigned gets put on the list ASAP.
    • Use a Fool-Proof Calendar System (I like http://calendar.google.com & syncs to my phone).
    • EVERY meeting you agree to, gets put in to the calendar ASAP.
    • MANGE YOUR TIME to ensure that #3 and #4 happen, for every thing you commit to, every time.
  6. Never Blame Anyone for Any Mistakes, Ever.  
    • Simply take responsibility to fix it ASAP… and then fix it. (or improve it).  
    • Professionals don’t blame, even when it’s not their fault… it’s moot.
    • Professionals simply recognize the problem, announce it, and then put in place a plan to fix it.  Period.  No blame required.
  7. Be Humble and Share Successes.
    • Professionals “have it”, and they know it.  So they can share it when they succeed.
    • Shared Successes makes you look better.
  8. Be “an Expert” in your field by simply being the most current.
    • Read, read read.  Read blogs, articles, and magazines in your field every day.
    • Go to conferences and be the most current in your field.
    • Be the person people can go to when they want to know what is the latest and greatest in your specific area.
  9. Dress 1-level above your current job.  Every day.
  10. Do not look to others for your validation.  
    • You don’t need other people’s approval, you only need to know you did your best.
Here’s a snapshot of my current Top Priority tasks in Toodledo!

Presenting at Austin GDC 2009, and why Engineers should be Experts.

Last week I had the honor of presenting at Austin Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2009. Out of hundreds of idea submissions many months ago, I was chose to present to game developers on the topic: Lag, The Barrier to Innovation. My presentation was recorded and the slides can be seen/downloaded here. I’ll post the audio as soon as its available. Not only was it great fun to present to AGDC 2009, it was extremely fruitful. Engineers take note: you should become known as ‘the guy who knows x’ (or some might say, ‘the expert in x’)… it can only help you. In fact, the axiom I tend to follow is: helping others helps yourself.

It wasn’t easy to be selected to speak. It took me 4 years of trying. I began submitting ideas to speak at Austin GDC in 2004 (for GDC 2005). At first I just submitted 1 presentation topic. What I learned though is that submitting more than one presentation topic (even if they were related), would allow the selection committee to pick the best, rather than decide ‘if’ I should present. Once that was known, my task was to get others (selection committee and generally others in the industry) to believe I was a.) an authority on a subject, and b.) a good speaker. So, starting in 2005, I began speaking at smaller conferences, whenever I could. Especially so if they were in my home town of Austin. I also took an active role in my field, developing white papers and commentary on the subject (in my case Lag). I eventually developed friendships with many in the industry and people knew me as an ‘exuberant’ speaker. While I’d still love to speak at GDC in San Francisco, I’m happy to have gotten to speak at Austin GDC in 2009. Thanks again to the Selection Committee for choosing me to present, it was a blast and an honor.

Here is why you should become a speaker as well:

1.) Its good to give back. If you have gained knowledge through study, research, development, and pain… giving back and helping others to NOT have as much pain, feels good, and is generally good for the community.

2.) Build your network! Without exception, whenever I speak, a line of very interested (and interesting) people form to have a quick chat and exchange business cards. If nothing else, you’ve got a few new LinkedIn contacts! Sometimes, as with all networking, great things will come in the future from these connections.

3.) Build your cachet. It does not hurt your personal reputation to be the guy who has spoken at XYZ conference. In fact it helps it. Even if your company has NOTHING to benefit from you speaking, do it anyways for your own career future.

There are more reasons of course, including pride, the fun to wear a ‘speaker’ badge, specific company goals, the cool speaker gifts (this year at GDC Austin 2009, we were given a nice glass with GDC Austin 2009 Speaker on it, and a REALLY cool ice-tray with space invaders on it!)…. the list goes on.

A few general thoughts from the show: it was much smaller than last year (THANK GOODNESS)… being smaller it felt less corporate, and more about the developers. It was JUST the right size. The presentations were all EXCELLENT (at least all that I saw)… even Tuesday’s Casual Games Summit was well done… awesome even. The Chotsky was weak. (nobody gave out anything cool I could see, got a T-Shirt and a pack of cards… but it’s not really the point of the show). I missed the free beer… not sure they did that or not, but they should do that every day. SODA POP SHOULD Be CHEAPER. That’s about it. My 2 key learnings were: Over 13,000 Servers to run WoW!!!! and a Viral Coefficient is a way to measure how viral something is:

Viral Coefficient
Vk = V1 x V2 x V3
(building successful apps)
V1 = % of users doing invite over a period.
V2 = Potency (how many invites per user)
V3 = % of people who try based on the invites.

V2 = most important acoording to Facebook…
I have a different view.

More on VIRAL COEFFICIENTS later!