Can you supervise yourself? One of my company's co-founders had published a book called 'The Professional' and he talks about professionalism is about self-supervision. A professional is about a person who knows when he has completed his job; he shouldn't be relying on somebody else to approve the completion of his job. If he does, then he is an amateur or apprentice.
Somehow, I am not convinced about this principle. And the reasons are as follows
1. The world of IT services is ever-changing. In that case, how do I know what is complete? I need some more eyeballs to tell me whether what I have done is correct or not, whether I have completed it or not. I need supervision not only to tell me if I have completed my work, but also who can monitor me on a day-day basis. To track my progress. To tell me if I am on track. To tell me if with this rate, whether I will miss the bus or not.
2. Our requirements are not as static as an undertaker's job. Its pretty fluid. We have to adapt and change. In such a changing process, you need expertise to validate your work. You need supervision to watch over your direction.
We all know the importance of reviews and followups. A world without reviews and followups is a highly idealistic world. A world of programs. Speaking realistically, I wouldn't let my own team self approve their own work, no matter how brilliant the team is. I will certainly get into some amount of detail and followup. I will certainly want to track their progress and not wait for the last day to get a status. Its not because I doubt their capabilities, but because I know that only constant feedback and tracking improves the quality of work.
Senthil, I think a professional needs no supervision, but he may need guidance and support to adapt to the ever-changing IT Services. For a professional, day to day basis monitoring is not required, then there is no difference between an apprentice and a professional.
ReplyDeleteNo Bitty. Everybody needs some monitoring or other. We need somebody who would follow up on us. Somebody to certify our work. We can't certify our own work.
ReplyDeleteDepends on how detailed your requirements have been captured and whether you have effective mechanisms to test/validate your deliverables. As they say there will always be unknown unknowns..
ReplyDeleteSupervision ensures there are another pair of eyes to look into things. This can help curb last minute surprises
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