I was interviewing one of my colleagues for an engineering position in my labs group. In fact, it started out as a request from my end to join this elite group. This group focuses on experimenting new features of a product and discovers business scenarios that would fit the bill for that particular feature. This group also fixates on identifying & abstracting reusable design patterns, which then can be serviced to various projects for specific implementations. Sounds interesting? I believed so, but my fellow colleagues didn't feel so.
The reason. "I have my project tasks to accomplish which fills in most of my day's time. I wont have time to contribute to this cause". I wondered why is it a cause. Then I realized the equation was about relating time spent to perceivable returns (appraisal comments). They felt learning a new feature outside the scope of a project was a very bad bargain. They felt it was an obligation that they were doing to the community and not to themselves.
When will the IT professionals realize that "lateral learning" (learning outside the scope of the project) is an investment to their own professional growth and not an obligation to their organization?
The reason. "I have my project tasks to accomplish which fills in most of my day's time. I wont have time to contribute to this cause". I wondered why is it a cause. Then I realized the equation was about relating time spent to perceivable returns (appraisal comments). They felt learning a new feature outside the scope of a project was a very bad bargain. They felt it was an obligation that they were doing to the community and not to themselves.
When will the IT professionals realize that "lateral learning" (learning outside the scope of the project) is an investment to their own professional growth and not an obligation to their organization?
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