A New Mission
About a year ago, I tweaked our website and added “Improving the Lives of Software Professionals” to the bottom of the page. Most people probably didn’t notice, but it’s made a huge impact. More than a footer, more than a slogan, it’s our restated mission.
Up until recently, our mission was to “make a positive impact on the world through test automation”. That worked fine, but I’ve found it’s difficult to measure. I’ve also found changing the world for the better is vague. A positive impact for one person is not for another.
I like the size of the former mission — it is big. It aligns with a purpose greater than my purpose as the founder. People, however, have a difficult time following along. Whether you are an employee, a candidate, a client, a partner, or a friend of the company, I appreciate your help in our mission, but I want the mission to be clear so that we are all pushing in the same direction.
Objective vs Measurable
The new mission – to improve the lives of software professionals – isn’t objective, but it’s measurable. We can ask did we improve your life?
I believe in some small way we can improve lives. There will be times when we fail, and I’ll apologize in advance for that. There will be times when it is difficult to improve the lives of software professionals we interact with. Some times the impact and improvement will be small, and many times it will be small improvements that add up to large changes with our clients.
A Sphere of Influence
To improve the lives of software professionals, we each have to first choose to take care of ourselves. This means being responsible for ourselves before we can take on any other responsibilities. Balance our own lives — before we can help anyone else improve theirs. That’s the nature of influence. It starts with the individual choice to handle our own lives.
On a personal note, in the last 18 months, I’ve spent a lot of time and energy iterating over myself and my responsibilities and securing my foundations for the umpteenth iteration. This meant less customers, more focus, more attention in the right places. I believe the results for our clients and all the people around this company have been exceptional. I hear so much positive from our customers, candidates, and partners. How things have changed for them – improved.
An Exception to Every Rule
There are people who don’t want to improve their lives. I hope we can recognize these folks and interact accordingly. But for the most part, I’m hoping that through IT Staffing and Placement; Test Automation Training and Consulting we can improve lives. I hope we can help folks find a better job. Find the right candidate so a hiring manager can stress out less. For test automation to help folks better understand the reality of what their applications do. For people to improve their careers with training.
Moving Forward
I’m inviting you to join us on this journey to improve lives of software professionals. Whether you watch our 40+ test automation webinars and use them to improve the lives of those on your team, or you submit your resume to us, to improve your job. Whether you partner with us to support your test automation and devops journey through consulting, or work for us as an employee. Whether you use our test automation cheatsheets and downloads or learn a new tactic in one of my talks. We want you involved. I appreciate your help in building this business this far, and I look forward to improving lives together in the years ahead!
Let us know in the comments if we’ve helped improve your life as a software professional.