Seven Habits of Highly Effective Engineers

I want to expand on my previous article and describe effective engineers in another fashion, one that borrows from Stephen Covey, author of “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. I read the book a long time ago and while I couldn‘t tell you what all the seven habits were, it still seems like a good way to organize a list of positive traits I’ve seen in effective engineers.

1. Be Proactive – I’m pretty sure this was one of Steven Covey’s items. Rather than waiting for others to take care of things, do what needs to be done. Volunteer to take on new tasks, to help others, and in general do the things that no one else wants to do.
2. Follow Through – If you are asked to do something, follow through and report back on your success (or lack thereof). If there’s one thing managers hate, it’s requests that disappear into a black hole. If you are asked to do something, acknowledge the request and report back on it within a reasonable period of time.
3. Manage Up – Engineers are often notorious for being overly optimistic with work estimates. But they need to be realistic and let management know when too much is being asked of them. This is often referred in management-speak as “push-back”. Otherwise the engineer runs the risk of overcommitting and disappointing everyone.
4. Always be learning – Even if your job doesn’t offer a way to learn new skills, and especially if your job doesn’t offer a way to learn new skills, you have to work to keep your technical skills current.
5. Share your knowledge with others – Some think that keeping their knowledge to themselves, whether in the technical or business domain, is a means to job security. Instead, it makes you an impediment. Those who share their knowledge with others will be regarded as subject matter experts and people will turn to them for advice, making them highly valued.
6. Share the credit, accept the blame – Give credit where credit is due. Make it known whose hard work helped to make things happen. People will return the favor to you someday. Likewise, be wiling to accept the blame – if you screw up, don’t be afraid to fess up and fix the problem. And if you can’t do this because you’re in an environment where making mistakes is severely punished, well -- perhaps you shouldn’t be working there.
7. Be positive – this may sound trite, but it’s not. Negativity is infectious, and it spreads through the team like a poison. Fortunately, positive energy is also infectious. By this I don’t mean a Pollyanah-ish type of naivete, but rather a “can-do” attitude. Negative people are often quick with excuses why something is not possible, but positive people will find ways to make those things happen.