Today one of the developers asked for a meeting with me to discuss some design issues. It’s been a while since I did one of those, but was very entertaining for me, and helpful and productive for him I hope.

At the end of the session, I reminded of a question that came up during the last ISO audit. The auditor, knowing I used to be a developer and PM asked me something like “you’re not doing any development now, are you?” (Read: If you do, you probably mix things that should remain separate”). Of course, I said “not anymore”. (I’m not the boat rocker I used to be).

I’m tempted to use “separation of concerns” here. Although I’m humble most of the time (OK, only while I’m sleeping), I see this opportunity to help with my experience, and it makes me feel good that people still recognize this. This is not detrimental to the development process. (OK, there was some boat-rocking involved). But mainly, it’s using the resources to make a better product.

So let that be a lesson to you. Use whatever resources you have to solve the problem. Ask people you know, and maybe from different fields – you’ll get a better answer.