>Shared vision, he said, is when your heads go up and down at the same time and side to side at the same time. Something is said at a meeting and you exchange glances? Nothing said? (Quoting as best I can remember). And you know as soon as it's said you're already on the same page.
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>That's shared vision, he said. And without it your project is doomed. He went into finer detail but that was my takeaway -- you want to be on a team with shared vision. That's developer nirvana.

This is why I like the not-for-profit sector. It's not this way for everybody, of course, but usually if you stay at a not-for-profit for the long term, you're there because you share and believe in the vision of the agency. You certainly aren't there to make big bucks or gather experience in order to move on to a bigger pond.

I don't think it's this way for everybody, but I also think it's likely that many more people in the for-profit corporate world are there primarily for money or career advancement. That's an "everybody for him/herself" situation, and those folks "share" each others' "visions" only if and when it benefits them personally or professionally--and only if stabbing them in the back doesn't produce better results faster.

So if you really believe in "the vision thing", go not-for-profit and work for something larger than yourself.

>He said one other memorable thing in his talk. He said if you're working 60 hours a week you better believe in what you're doing. Some smartass lady down front shouted out, "You mean we can only work 60 hours a week now?" Laughter. He stopped. He went off his notes and talked straight to her. "If you're working 80 hours a week you're evading something," he said.

It's been my experience that workaholics are very inefficient workers--often tending to get hung up on trivial details or unable to delegate. And lots of them are doing it because if they didn't, they'd have to go home and deal with the rest of their lives.

Ken Dibble
www.stic-cil.org