Don t Develop an Attitude

I've had many encounters with attitude, but I'll recount just one. I was porting a Windows utility I wrote to Apple Macintosh. I complained to the Macintosh expert I was working with (who at the time was wearing the traditional Mac programmer "I don't do Windoze" garb) that TeachText (the Macintosh equivalent to NotePad) didn't support the Delete key to delete text. He explained to me (apparently seriously) that using the Delete key was a Windows thing, not a Mac thing, and that the way to delete text on the Mac was to select the text with the mouse and use the Cut command or use the Backspace key. He went on to say that it was my mistake for being a Windows user and having incorrect expectations about what the Mac should do. Even though the Delete key is found on every modern Macintosh keyboard (although Backspace is labeled "Delete" and Delete is labeled "Del"), it was apparently incorrect for me to expect that it would actually work. Now that's attitude!

The following are telltale signs of having an attitude:

• You think your competitors are idiots.
• You think your customers are idiots.
• You think your managers and your sales and marketing staff are idiots.
• You think your product is much better than the competition's.
• You think your product is good enough because it does the job.

The problem with such attitudes isn't that they are annoying but that they are destructive. They impair your judgment and prevent you from seeing the obvious. They prevent you from learning from others. They make you believe you are ahead of the competition when you may be behind. Worst of all, they prevent you from improving your software.

No matter how good your program is, always keep looking for improvements. Never be satisfied.