I was reading a great blog by Alim Ozcan in the UK, about how brutal honesty should be celebrated, and that alcohol can actually increase the amount of honesty that occurs.  Good stuff.

Which got me thinking about how our book shines a rare positive light on smoking.  Smoking?  Well, not for your health, but your career.  In The Opposite of Luck we talk at length about the wide-ranging benefits of cross-functional teams.  Testers talking with DBAs, Developers talking with Marketing, SysAdmins talking with Accounting, etc.  So much fantastic knowledge sharing and idea generation when that happens.

And as it turns out, the people who tend to be most cross-functional are... smokers!  They stand outside with people from all over the company getting networked and knowledgeable, several times a day.  They always know everything first.  So next time you need to find a contact or the latest scoop, offer your friend a light, eh?

I don't smoke personally but have often mused that it would be beneficial to establish fake smoking teams and just go outside and chew a stick of gum or something.  What do y'all think?

On Wed Jan 27, Debbie Mahler was kind enough to have all 3 of us authors on as guests for her weekly internet radio talk show, Technical Tidbits.  The interview runs about 40 minutes with wide-ranging Q&A on IT Quality, and can be replayed at any time.  Thanks Debbie for being such a gracious host!



On Computerworld.com no less.  Not too shabby, you big expert you.  :)

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/9143194/Surveys_IT_job_satisfaction_plummets_to_all_time_low