Caring isn't just a nicety, it's a productivity multiplier.
Our context problem
We do tasks. And more tasks. Then more. Deadlines. Meetings. Projects. Pivots.
We all try to be productive — but most of the time, we lack context.
And that's normal, because the biggest, oldest problem in our industry is miscommunication.
We build software to solve problems. But if we don't truly understand them, everything else fails.
What Can We Do?
You can't fix the entire system. But you can change your circle of influence — how you communicate, how you care.
Caring means giving context. It's the difference between saying
“This doesn't work.” and “Here's a short video showing the issue and the steps to reproduce it.”
That's not just communication — that's caring. And that small act multiplies productivity.
Be proactive about your needs. Say how you work best. Ask others how you can make their work easier.
Know the People Around You
Ask yourself:
- Who are they?
- What do they need?
- Why does it matter?
- How can I make their work easier?
When you listen and align, trust grows. When trust grows, collaboration flows. And when collaboration flows — productivity follows.
Caring Scales into Purpose
Caring isn't just kindness — it's intention. When you help others succeed, you connect your work to something bigger. That's purpose — caring, at scale.
When Paul O'Neill became CEO of Alcoa, he didn't talk about profits. He talked about worker safety. By caring deeply about people, communication improved, quality rose, and productivity soared.
Because when people care, excellence follows.
“Working hard for something we don't care about is stress. Working hard for something we love is passion.” — Simon Sinek
So care deeply. Find meaning in what you do. Because when you care — clarity improves, trust grows, and productivity takes care of itself.
Annexes
Miscommunication
Miscommunication is a recurring theme in many foundational software engineering books. It's often framed as the root of project failure, unclear requirements, or broken feedback loops.
Here are the most relevant and respected sources:
| Book | Theme | Miscommunication Framed As |
|---|---|---|
| The Mythical Man-Month | Project scaling | Coordination overhead |
| Peopleware | Human productivity | Cultural & interpersonal failure |
| The Phoenix Project | DevOps alignment | Broken feedback loops |
| Accelerate | Performance metrics | Slow or unclear feedback |
| The Art of Agile Development | Agile culture | Lack of real conversations |
| Clean Code | Code quality | Unclear intent between devs |
| Domain-Driven Design | Architecture & modeling | Lack of shared language |
📘 1. The Mythical Man-Month — Fred Brooks (1975)
- Core idea: “Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.”
- Brooks blames communication overhead as the key reason: as teams grow, coordination becomes exponentially harder.
- He argues that poor communication and unclear interfaces — not coding — are the real productivity killers.
“The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned to the task.” → metaphor for miscommunication in scaling teams.
📗 2. Peopleware — Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister (1987)
- Focus: human factors in productivity.
- Claims that communication, trust, and culture matter more than tools or methodologies.
- Team productivity depends on clarity and empathy between people, not just technical skill.
“The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological.”
📙 3. The Phoenix Project — Gene Kim, Kevin Behr & George Spafford (2013)
- Uses a business novel format to show how broken communication loops between Dev, Ops, and Biz cause chaos.
- Introduces the “Three Ways” — Flow, Feedback, and Continuous Learning — all rooted in improving communication clarity and speed.
📕 4. Accelerate — Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble & Gene Kim (2018)
- Research-based evidence that fast feedback and clear communication are top predictors of high-performing software teams.
- “Miscommunication delays feedback loops → delays delivery → kills performance.”
📒 5. The Art of Agile Development — James Shore & Shane Warden (2007)
- Emphasizes conversation over documentation.
- Agile's core value “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools” is an antidote to miscommunication.
📓 6. Clean Code — Robert C. Martin (2008)
- Not directly about team communication, but about communicating intent through code.
- Code is read far more than it's written — unclear code = miscommunication with future readers.
“Code is the language in which we express our intentions to the computer and to other humans.”
📔 7. Domain-Driven Design — Eric Evans (2003)
- Introduces the Ubiquitous Language — shared terminology between devs and domain experts to eliminate miscommunication.
- One of the most explicit treatments of communication as a technical design tool.
Circle of Influence
The Circle of Influence concept comes from classic leadership and personal effectiveness literature, not originally from software, but it's widely adopted in tech culture because it maps so well to team dynamics and ownership.
Here's how to cite it properly and connect it to software:
| Concept | Source | Application to Software |
|---|---|---|
| Circle of Influence / Concern | Stephen R. Covey, 1989 | Focus on what you can control — your behavior, clarity, communication. |
| Team Empowerment | Peopleware, 1987 | Productive teams improve their own environment. |
| Ownership & Proactivity | The Pragmatic Programmer, 1999 | Take responsibility for code, process, and collaboration. |
📘 1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen R. Covey (1989)
-
Origin of the concept. Covey distinguishes between the Circle of Concern (things we care about but can't control) and the Circle of Influence (things we can act on).
-
Key quote:
“Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on things they can do something about.”
-
The more proactive you are, the larger your circle becomes.
-
In software: focusing on communication, clarity, and empathy are within your circle — bureaucracy and deadlines usually aren't.
📗 2. Peopleware — Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister (1987)
- While Covey coined the term, Peopleware applies the idea implicitly: great teams focus on what they can control — environment, collaboration, communication — not politics or organizational chaos.
“The manager's function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work.”
📙 3. The Pragmatic Programmer — Andrew Hunt & David Thomas (1999)
- Doesn't name the circle, but reinforces the mindset: developers should “take responsibility for their environment” and improve what's under their control (communication, automation, clarity).
- Related idea: “Don't live with broken windows.” → Fix what you can instead of blaming what you can't.
Purpose
| Concept | Source | Key Message |
|---|---|---|
| Start With Why | Simon Sinek, 2009 | Purpose drives trust, engagement, and alignment. |
| Drive | Daniel H. Pink, 2009 | Motivation grows from Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. |
| Leaders Eat Last | Simon Sinek, 2014 | Caring leadership builds safe, high-performing teams. |
📘 1. Start With Why — Simon Sinek (2009)
-
Core idea: People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. → Motivation and loyalty come from a clear sense of purpose, not from outputs or tasks.
-
The “Golden Circle” model: Why → How → What
- Why = purpose, belief, cause.
- How = process, values.
- What = product, result.
-
In teams: clarity of why aligns behavior and boosts intrinsic motivation.
-
In your talk: “Purpose is caring, at scale.” That's exactly the “Why” mindset — it gives meaning to everyday actions.
“Working hard for something we don't care about is stress. Working hard for something we love is passion.” — Simon Sinek
📗 2. Drive — Daniel H. Pink (2009)
- Builds on Sinek's idea using behavioral science. Motivation 3.0 = Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. → People perform better when driven by meaning, not external pressure.
- Purpose is described as the emotional engine that transforms productivity into fulfillment.
“The most deeply motivated people — not to mention those who are most productive and satisfied — hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves.”
📙 3. Leaders Eat Last — Simon Sinek (2014)
- Explores how trust and empathy create safety and purpose inside organizations. → Caring leadership = higher engagement and stronger results.
- Direct link with your “care to deliver” concept: psychological safety → better communication → better performance.
Anecdotes
Perfect — anecdotes make abstract ideas tangible. Here's an Annex G — Anecdotes & Stories on Caring, Communication, and Purpose, designed to complement your post. All are true and widely cited in leadership or software literature.
Paul O'Neill & Alcoa (1987) — Safety as a Keystone Habit
When Paul O'Neill became CEO of Alcoa, investors expected talk of profits. Instead, he said:
“I want to make Alcoa the safest company in America. I intend to go for zero injuries.”
People were confused — but O'Neill understood that focusing on safety meant improving communication, processes, and trust. Workers began openly reporting issues and fixing them. That cultural shift drove operational excellence — and profits followed.
Lesson: Purposeful caring (safety) became a keystone habit that multiplied productivity and engagement.
📚 Source: Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit (2012); various business case studies on Alcoa.
Toyota — The Andon Cord
At Toyota factories, every worker has the power to pull the Andon cord — stopping the assembly line if they spot a defect. Instead of punishment, management thanks them.
This small act turns caring into quality — people feel responsible for the whole product, not just their part.
Lesson: Empowerment + communication = continuous improvement.
📚 Source: Jeffrey Liker, The Toyota Way (2004).
NASA — “I'm helping put a man on the moon.”
During the Apollo program, President Kennedy visited NASA and asked a janitor what he was doing. The man replied:
“I'm helping put a man on the moon.”
He understood the why. Every task, no matter how small, connected to the larger mission.
Lesson: Purpose creates alignment and pride — the ultimate productivity multiplier.
📚 Source: Common leadership anecdote cited in Leaders Eat Last (Sinek) and Drive (Pink).
Netflix — Context over Control
Netflix's culture famously promotes “context, not control.” Leaders share information transparently so teams can act independently without micromanagement.
Lesson: When people have context, they make better decisions — and speed increases naturally.
📚 Source: No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention — Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer (2020).
Pixar — Candor & Braintrust
Pixar's “Braintrust” meetings invite open feedback from peers without hierarchy. Candor and trust allow problems to surface early — before they become production disasters.
Lesson: Caring enough to be honest is the highest form of collaboration.
📚 Source: Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc. (2014).
Communication chain that leads to true productivity
Empathy → Clarity → Trust → Alignment → Impact
Quotes
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Paul O'Neill - Alcoa (1987-2000) Focused on worker safety as the top priority → improved communication and efficiency → profits soared. → Lesson: caring can be the most productive strategy.
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Simon Sinek “Working hard for something we don't care about is stress. Working hard for something we love is passion.” → Purpose turns effort into motivation.
-
Sun Tzu - The Art of War “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” → Understanding others and ourselves removes uncertainty and misalignment.
Final Speech
We do tasks, and more tasks. And then — more tasks. We try to meet deadlines.
We're asked to join a meeting, than another, we're assigned something new, we inherit a project, we pivot.
We try to be productive.
But most of the time, we lack context.
And that's normal — because this has always been the biggest problem in our industry: miscommunication.
We build software to fix problems — but first, we have to understand them. And that's where things often break.
Can we do anything about it? In the corporate world?
Yes. By caring about the people around us. By knowing who our real clients are. By improving every relationship we touch.
Be proactive about your needs. Say how you work best. Ask others how you can make their work easier.
Think about it — when you write a vague bug report, it slows everyone down. But when you attach a video, add context, and explain steps — that's caring. That small act multiplies productivity.
Because when we all care, we all communicate better, we all understand faster, and we all deliver more.
care more, deliver more.