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What IT Professionals And Bridge Builders Should Have In Common with Tom Gilb
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Tom Gilb
Tom Gilb is the author of ten books and hundreds of papers on requirements, design, project management and related subjects. His ideas on requirements are the acknowledged basis for CMMi Level 4, which were based upon his pioneering book, ‘Software Metrics’, where he also coined that term.
Tom has lectured at universities across the globe and has been a keynote speaker at multiple technical conferences. In 2012, he was named an Honorary Fellow of the British Computer Society.
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Resources
Gilb.com – check out Tom Gilb’s website!
2 Top Career Tips
1) Always try to volunteer to help people who may be facing a challenge. Gain permission to help, make friends and learn along the way. Even if you aren’t always successful, you will mark yourself out as a useful colleague.
2) Select the guiding books you read very carefully. There are far too many IT books out there, containing poor advice. You can filter out the not-so-helpful ones by looking for authors who use case studies and proven data that resulted in successful outcomes.
Show Notes
Worst Career Moment
Tom tends not to think of his career in best or worst terms, but there have been scary moments. The most memorable involved his being asked to solve a complex problem by Israeli rocket scientists. Tom succeeded, despite his reservations, and was rewarded by having his computer confiscated!
Career Highlight
Working in India, Tom was able to convince the workers there to increase the quality of their workmanship instead of selling themselves as the cheapest. Soon all the workers were accredited, and competing on a global scale, which in turn changed the face of IT services in India, which became a leading force.
The Future
We need to do better in terms of failure rates when it comes to IT projects, which often leaves our clients disappointed. By adopting engineering principles, we can increase our agility and reduce the failure rate to rubble. It’ll take time, but it is incredibly exciting.
The Reveal
What first attracted you to a career in I.T.?
Being a typical nerd, Tom was attracted to IT because of the technical challenges and opportunities.
What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?
No matter where you are career-wise, study. Keep on educating and training yourself.
What is the worst career advice you’ve ever received?
No memorable examples.
If you had to begin your career again in today’s world, what would you do?
Invest in learning basic skills, hone them in practice, and be more open and alert to the prospect of radical change.
What career objectives are you currently focusing on?
To ensure that all the lessons learned during his long and varied career, can be taught and disseminated to the next generation.
What’s the number one non-technical skill that has helped you in your career so far?
Quantification – the ability to quantify any critical variable, and any other value.
What do you do to keep your own career energized?
Always make sure you’re having fun and doing the things you love.
What do you do in your spare time away from technology?
Tom is an avid reader on all subjects, and tries to read around 35 books per year, as well as studying and absorbing history on television.
Contact The Guest
Contact Tom Gilb through the following social media platforms:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imtomgilb
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomgilb
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