No value Software Engineer

I was reflecting about my added value few weeks ago.

A long time ago I've been involved in two projects:

  • A stock management system: saving 100k€ the first year on one site, which would mean
    • 100k€ (1st year) * 9 (deployed) * 1.20 (inflation) * 2 (5% productivity gains) * 15 (years) = 32.4 Millions €
  • A new manufacturing (software-based) system to cut manufacturing by 3
    • 5B (devices sold each year) * 0.3 (market share) * 0.2€ (production cost per device) * 0.1 (cuttting manufacturing time by 3 led to a 10% cost saving) * 7 yeas => 210 Millions €

It's concrete, roughly computable value.

But it misses some points:

Systems are not built alone

I have never worked alone, at some point I had to talk to someone, ask questions, help or being helped.

After that, I have made it available to end-users, they have cooperated with me, using my work.

I have also relied on my peers' work, the framework they have set up, and they also relied on my work.

What is the percentage of the gains my contributions worth?

I have contributed to more than code

What happened to the discussions I had? Countless times, having a discussion can save a lot of money or start a profitable project.

I have also taught and mentored nearly 100 people. I was paid as a teacher, should my provided value measured with my salary, the school fees or the value they produce themselves?

Projects that were abandoned

In my 10 years career, I have been part of 17 projects, 4 of them have been abandoned (1 wasn't even tried by a potential end user).

Sometimes, know that something shouldn't be done worth it, but when it takes months or "man-years", does it still worth it?

The only way I have found to increase the value I provide is:

  1. Deliver regularly (that the ultimate way to distinguish value from waste)
  2. Talk to people to understand (they usually tell you how you can help)

Note: few months ago, I've watched Jodorowsky's Dune, while I'm not a Dune or Sci-Fi fan, this documentary highlighted something important. The film was abandoned, but many of the people involved in it, later on, reused their experience on other films, influencing the next decades of films. Abandoned doesn't mean wasted, there are always value to extract.