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Subject:Re: Inaccurate SMEs and Respect From:Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 17 Dec 1998 10:50:58 -0800
Folks -
> >Why does it seem that, every time that someone posts a "people problem" to
> >the list, there are a flood of replies about going to their managers
> >immediately? Aren't conflict resolution and people skills part of our
> >professional toolkit? Can't this person work it out (or duke it out) with
> >the SME?
Because there are some corporate cultures in which 'duking it out' is the
accepted norm, and other corporate cultures where other methods are preferred.
If you're a contractor, as we are, you make sure which environment you're in
before you confront somebody. In a situation like the one originally
described, I'd go to my manager first and ask about acceptable ways of dealing
with the problem - offering several scenarios as alternatives.
Most SME's are, at base, willing to discuss things reasonably, particularly if
you present (in a non-confrontational manner) conflicting descriptions and take
the attitude that you're puzzled, and would they please help straighten things
out? When that tactic hasn't worked, I've usually requested a 'review meeting'
involving the SME and several others of equal knowledge in which I lay out the
conflicting material and ask which is correct. What has usually happened is
that one person didn't know someone else had moved the product to a new
revision level, or some outside decision had been made and the SME didn't know
about it. Or, as has also happened, two (or more) developers come to realize
that their code really IS in conflict and they simply hadn't yet discovered
it. (You can silently categorize this as yet another incident of 'Let's you
and him fight' where you're playing referee.)
The one caveat of holding a review meeting is that the SME who was wrong may
resent the fact that you showed him (or her) up in front of others. This can
be mitigated by some self-effacing comments about how you've been caught in
innocent mistakes, too, but when you're dealing with fragile egos, it's best to
tread carefully.
