PersonalDevelopmentPlans

We might make a panel with exercises on this topic. See SessionThree019.

Just recently, in the company where I work, the dictum came down from above: Everyone must have a personal development plan by June 30th (on June 15th...). The minimum requirement for the development plan was that all employees should have 3-6 days of training related to their personal development. This seems to me to be a very good thing. But during this exercise people had varying degrees of satisfaction with the process. Some felt it was really just lip service on the part of the company and that their boss was not really commited to their development. Others took advantage of the situation to get some training that they had hoped to get earlier, but could not.

Do you have a personal development plan? Was it facilitated in any way by the organization in which you work? Did you attain your current position in some part due to a personal development plan? What advice would you give me regarding the creation of my own development plan or regarding how I can facilitate the creation of others' plans? BobKing 2003.07.09

I find these kinds of plans to be difficult to administer in practice. It is often the case that I want to learn about things which no one in the company is an expert so it is hard to know where to begin. Even worse then not being able to find out about existing training courses and recommended books is the fact that most managers have a narrow view of what management is about. Thus they are very discouraging about any new learnings even if they have heard of the subject.

KenEstes 2003.07.09

There is the Personal Development Plan that you write for your boss, which he or she uses to force bucks out of the organization for training (or more likely, just forwards upstream to "prove" that there's a plan in place), and the personal development plan that you write for yourself. Both are problematic in different ways ("That class/conference/workshop is too expensive", vs. "I never seem to have the time.") I haven't been able to count on an organization for any training money for several years now, and have had to plan on my own. My current plan involves a contracting project I've taken on that will get me refreshed in J2EE technologies, and a side project that I'm using to get more hands-on experience with a new programming language. AYE is on my training plan, as well.

DaveSmith 2003.07.09

Where I work, we have had something like personal development plans for at least 15 years. I have put much the same ideas in my plan since the beginning. Little has come of that. I also have plans of my own. These include: read one book on writing each year and attend one or two training courses of my choosing each year.

I try to vary the training courses. I loved attending PSL, Change Shop, and Jerry's writing workshop and look forward to this year's AYE conference. Also, I am wary that I will become too Weinberg-centric (I hope that makes sense). So, I try real hard to find something that has nothing to do with Jerry Weinberg. This is hard. I attended a seminar on Requirements with James Robertson (who wrote the forward to the Robertsons' book? Weinberg). I attended the Software Project manager conference a couple of years ago (who showed up for the keynote address? JW). I signed up for and attended the Agile Development Conference this year. After signing up, who was announced as the keynote address (you got it, JW!).

DwaynePhillips 10 July 2003

If you would send me your plans long in advance, I would be able to turn down an invitation to anything you were planning to attend. For example, I just turned down an invitation to the US military's Software Technology Conferece because I thought you might be planning to go there. - JerryWeinberg 2003.07.11

That sounds rather like: "More effective preplanning of sick days" than personal development, but YMMV. -BobLee 2003.07.13

To continue, I have worked in three different organizations in the government in the last two years and have found the ideas on training and development vary greatly depending on the supervisor. I am about to change jobs once again. This time, heeding some advice from Naomi Karten (http://www.ayeconference.com/hosts.html) in "Managing Expectations", I wrote a letter of expectations to my propospective new supervisors before accepting a position with them. In it I stated that one of my expectations was attending two courses of my chosing each year. They agreed, and I have held onto that letter of expectations and their agreement.

One of the problems with knowing someone like Jerry Weinberg is that he has been working for so long in so many areas that it is hard to attend something without the speaker also knowing Jerry. The nice thing is that you make connections, and in my career making connections is where I grow. More explanation at MakingConnections.

One question for Jerry, did you know either of Strunk and White of "The Elements of Style" fame?

Dwayne Phillips 14 July 2003

I'm not that old, Dwayne. I didn't know Babbage, either. Or Shakespeare. - JerryWeinberg 2003.Bastille.Day

Jerry,

And I thought that was you in the painting of the people storming the Bastille. Must have been an ancestor.

SteveSmith 2003.07.15

The Pragmatic Programmers have a pretty good take on creating PersonalDevelopmentPlans for technical folks. The page here describes the problem, with a link to the actual talk, unfortunately in PPT.

http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/talks/HowToKeepYourJob/HowToKeepYourJob.htm

-- JimBullock, 2003.07.15

Where I work we have Personal Development Plan's (called PDP's but having nothing to do with that machine.). I actually put quite a lot of thought into mine and use it to get the training that I would like for the year. (This year I will be at AYE and I am also starting an Executive MBA program that my company is paying for.) However, I know that the amount of benefit that people get out of it at my work seems directly related to the amount of thought they put into it. I also put books that I am going to read in it as well as feedback sessions that I want to have on skills I am trying to develop.

Of course my positive experience may have something to do with the fact that I am not concerned about being told No, so I generally err on the side of asking. (I also have a VERY supportive manager who I feel has my best interests at heart.)

--AlanSmith, 2003.07.25

Good post, Alan. It reminds me that last year we had a BOF (now that you know what that TLA stands for) on "how to say NO." Maybe this year, maybe in this session, we'll deal with "how to hear NO (and survive)." - JerryWeinberg 2003.07.25

Updated: Saturday, July 26, 2003