O’Reilly author Scott Berkun on the art of being independent
Ask any geek what book he would keep if he could have only one, and odds are it would be an O’Reilly book. Seriously, I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that most of what I know about programming, I learned from the books with the funny little animals on the cover. This is a publishing house that chooses authors either because they are masters of their craft, or because they know how to write exceptionally well. In the case of Scott Berkun, whose book The Art of Project Management was published last April, I suspect it is both.
I haven’t had an opportunity to read his book yet, but after exchanging a few emails with Scott, I know I want to, even though project management isn’t central to what I do for a living. Because Scott has a way of making just about everything he says interesting. So let’s find out a little more about one of Biznik’s newest members, shall we? [And Scott, if you haven’t started on another book yet, allow me to suggest a title for you: “The Art of Being Independent.” You’ve got a lot to say on the subject, and you’d score a Biznik home run with that one, baby]
Q: You recently published a book called The Art of Project Management. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to write the book?
I was a program manager at Microsoft for a long time and worked on some important things like Internet Explorer and Windows. I learned from some of the best people across the the industry and, after leaving the company to write books, I wanted to capture what I knew about leading and managing teams before I got hit by a bus and forgot it all. So, should a bus be waiting for me after this interview, I’ll be ok.
Q: In your essay “Good, evil and technology: a fun philosophical inquiry,” you muse about the nature of good and evil and how it applies to technology. Google, perhaps, was thinking along similar lines when they wrote their corporate moto, “Do no evil.” Why do you think they chose that, and do you think it’s possible for them, or any other major corporation, to really do no evil?
I’m still in recovery from studying philosophy in college, but I do recall that good and evil are slippery things. They’re tricky words that play dead until you get into the details, and then they’re hard to hold on to. I think the Google founders responded to growing up in the Microsoft era, where the industry leader was, oh, I don’t know, getting sued on a weekly basis by half of the major democracies in the world and had their CEO cross examined in front of the known universe. That has to impact any entrepreneural mind in one way or another. But as Google is learning, good and evil are relative, not absoulte. Any action you take can seem evil to someone with a different criteria than yours, especially when you cross competitive, cultural and national boundries. It’s noble to try what they’re doing: it’s certainly more than Microsoft did in terms of decreeing an ethical stance. But where’s the tech company that’s saying “We try to do good?”
So I do think corporations can maintain an ethical standard, just like people can. But just like for people, ethical and moral standards are burdens that their competitors will rarely choose to bare.
Q: A line you wrote in an essay, “Why I left Microsoft,” is particularly succinct: “I ran to Microsoft to escape my fears of failure. I left Microsoft to define my own idea of success.” So, how do you define success for yourself today?
Frankly, I’m just glad not to be dead yet. I’m a fan of low expectations but big goals, so waking up at all is nice surprise in my book. But practically speaking, I think success is having independence, making commitments and being of use, finding guts to take risks (and extra guts to learn from them), and laughing at as many things, with as many people, as possible.
Q: What does someone like yourself see as valuable about participation in a business networking group like Biznik?
As an independent I don’t have a team of people and their opinions waiting for me at work every day - there is my dog, but unless we’re talking about chasing cats or rolling in the mud, he’s pretty quiet on most issues. So I need to be proactive in finding people to exchange ideas, learn from, trade skills, contacts or fun arguments with.
Q: As someone who has done this successfully, what piece of advice would you offer someone starting their own company or independent service? What’s the biggest mistake to watch out for?
Expectations. When you’re on your own you realize all the little things you never thought of that you need to suceed. So you have to plan for a year or two of uncertainty and learning before you expect to make the kind of living you’re hoping for. Looking back, it would have been smart to join something like Biznik when I was getting started. Being independent is more difficult, but more rewarding: once you get past the curve.
Q: How are you progressive?
Actually I think I’m a total throwback. I like old ideas that have stood up over time. There’s a design philosophy called the timeless way of building, and I try to practice a timeless way of living. Good people, good food, good ideas, good sarcasm: if I have those things around me not much else matters: I’m a happy man.
Q: In addition to the essays you’ve published on your website, you also publish a blog. What’s your take on blogging and what sort of an impact do you see it having on how we communicate?
Blogs have simply lowered the hurdle to web publishing. It’s even easier than before - that’s it. There’s good and bad that comes with making publishing of any kind easier, because there’s less restraint: the flood gates are open. I think the real bottleneck is people who can write well: no technology can fix that. So it’s writing ability and an interesting mind, that make a blog, or writing of any kind, good. The tools, by this point, are irrelevant towards that. It’s communication talent that’s in short supply.
Scott Berkun, whose communication talent is in no short supply, has a website at www.scottberkun.com. It is a treasure trove of useful and interesting stuff. My favorite part is Scott’s essays (he’s published 50 of them here, and counting), which are about everything from “How to pitch an idea” to “Why software sucks (and what to do about it.)”
He writes regularly in his blog, which is at www.scottberkun.com/blog
