# OPP  ## Metadata - Author: [[Camille Fournier]] - Full Title: OPP - Category: #articles - Published: 2019-05-11 - Document Tags: #culture #monumental #software engineering - Source: reader - Last Highlighted: 2025-03-05 07:05:38.895369+00:00 - URL: https://skamille.medium.com/opp-other-peoples-problems-d7eb174724ee ## Summary A hard lesson for me over the past several years of my career has been figuring out how to pick my battles. I’ve seen many friends and… ## Highlights - So how do you decide where to exert your energy? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhx8cwj6n1kk8jyb8et98z)) - Step one: Figure out who owns this problem ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhxzrn56gd5f2z7nhhjqnp)) - If there’s no clear owner, do you know why? Is it just because no one has gotten around to doing it, or has the organization specifically decided not to do it? If no one’s gotten around to doing it, can you do it yourself? Can your org do it, just within your org? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhxpga2mc1yk72wesarpcy)) - If it’s someone else’s job, how much does it affect your day to day life? Does it bother you because they’re *doing it wrong*, or does it actually, really, significantly make it harder for you to do your job? Really? That significantly? There’s no work around at all? If it is not directly affecting your job, drop it! ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhxrj7r95abkc2gadmw0gx)) - Step two: Talk to all the people ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhxwsr479r18v1pmtakk7m)) - If you’re ok with talking to all the people, then get out there and get a sense of the problem beyond you and your team. You can do this formally, with a document that you prepare addressing the problem as you see it, or informally, as a series of user interviews. You will need this information to make a case to fix it, and to make a plan for how to fix it. Does the information you’ve gathered from others make you think that perhaps this problem really isn’t as important as you first thought it was? Is someone else already solving this problem? Great! Let it go! ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhy976tg4rnpc8yqj3y10z)) - Step three: Plan the fix ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhyb72g87stqe7cvnj14em)) - If this problem is with another team, and you talked to that team, brought them clear examples of why it is truly a big deal, and they haven’t answered your concerns to your satisfaction, you have a choice. Do you escalate to your manager? If you have clear examples of why it’s a problem, and your peer hasn’t been able to do anything, this is a perfectly fine time to escalate! Consider though whether you can negotiate a fix with the other team, or work around the other team. And, especially when the problem is cultural, consider whether you really need to make this problem into a big deal, or whether you can just let it go. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhyxsyc0gbqzg1v69pt45f)) - Step four: Enact the plan ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhyyjs320ymvffvs28e0r0)) - Step five: Think about how many of these you can actually do ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhz1v2fr9ntkn8bkebrg42)) - Take a moment to reflect on whether it was worth the effort to you, and think about how many more things like this you see at the company you’re in that you really want to change just as much as that one. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhz84zk5ff0qb6ns9m595w)) - Pick Your Culture First and Foremost ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhzfr3jr9kp4a3knthdpm3)) - Learning how to pick your battles is also about learning how to pick your company and pick your boss, because your job really shouldn’t be all or even mostly about battles. Going through this exercise of solving an unowned problem is fun once in a while, but it’s a real drag when you feel like you’re surrounded by such problems, you can’t ignore them, and you’re powerless to fix them. That is a good sign that it’s time to find a new job, preferably somewhere that is more in tune with your way of doing things. Life is so much more fun when you have people around you that you trust to solve problems, even the problems you have a lot of opinions about. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jnjhzkza3m2zhq7k2rzzv1gn))