Should egoless, team-oriented developer be highlighted for SD?

[robdmoore]

@grahamlea pointed out on twitter that phrase should probably be more prominent in the SD description (https://twitter.com/evolvable/status/946673944550969344).

On one hand, we could say each role is a superset of the previous, on the other you could say it’s a super important part of the SD role so should be highlighted.

Thoughts?

[AdrianJSClark]

In the SD description the "I am an egoless, team oriented developer." item changes to:

• I am a supporter of my team and my customer.

The "egoless, team-oriented developer" is a fantastic description. If we were to change it to be more like the first, we'd need to include the support of the customer.

The closest suggestion I could come up with is:

• I give support to both my team and my customer without ego.

But I'm sure that someone else could improve on my attempt.

[robdmoore]

What about I’m an egoless developer who supports my team and my customer?

-- edited by gh to remove email thread noise.

[ghuntley]

Ego is something that people too often mistaken as a bad thing. The formal definition of the word roughly translates as conscious of mind or being conscious of your own identity. I've run into plenty of folks who need more ego (self-awareness to their behaviours).

Are we using the right language here?

[robdmoore]

I’d say that most uses of ego are in the negative sense. As per the internal ego blog post Matt and I wrote a few years back we need to be extra careful about that in a consultancy so I’d rather be more on the side of caution in this one.

[glav]

If we want to get really pedantic, I'd say finding an egoless person is almost impossible. We all have them. So to be more precise, something like (much like Adrians), "I am a developer who is focused on the success of my team and my customer, without the need to boost my ego".

[robdmoore]

That’s fair :)

[cottsak]

I would agree with @ghuntley that an ego is a good thing and in my experience, a quality many of my past and present colleagues share.

What you don't want is an attitude, or communication style that pushes folks away and works against team spirit, self-improvement and healthy human relationships. I don't think you should label that "ego". The fact is that even when you have these types of "negative" behaviours, they're usually learnt and so can be unlearnt. I think Readify should be known as a place which brings great people together, who strengthen each other over time.