AGL 062: H. Alan Stevens on Getting Fired

Today on the show we have Alan Stevens.  I heard Alan speak at a local conference on leadership many years ago and he is one of the people that first sparked my interest in leadership.  I was honored to have him on the show.   Alan is an advocate of open spaces and today we talked about how to get fired… that’s right. About Alan Stevens Alan Stevens is a passionate software developer with years of experience delivering working software that meets users’ needs. He has shipped software on the web and Windows desktop using a variety of languages and technologies. He loves learning new technologies and using them to solve challenging problems. Alan is self-motivated and gets things done. He enjoy understanding the needs of users and stakeholders to solve the important problems. Alan is an advocate of testing as the best means to create successful designs and insure quality. Alan prefers readable and maintainable code. He follows the guidance of Ward Cunningham, who said that once you get your program working, “Make it look like it was easy to write this program even if it wasn’t.” Alan prefers using open source solutions to building his own, limited solution. He insist that building the right thing is always more important than building it right. Because, it doesn’t matter how well you build the wrong thing. Alan enjoys engaging with other developers by presenting at developer events, participating in meet-ups and online communities and especially through Open Space Technology. If you don’t trust your employees, then fire them. What we talked about: Open Space Technology What it feels like to get fired Obstacles Ones you can influence Ones you can route around Ones you have to live with Ones you can’t live with (immovable obstacles) Trust your people Ask Don’t Tell You’re not a failure just because you failed It doesn’t last forever You have to talk about it You are responsible for your own happiness   Connect with Alan Stevens Twitter Website