Introduction.

This article summarizes the characteristics of engineers who are "trusted by people from different professions" that I have observed in my 15 years of working experience.
In this article, I am talking about engineers who are trusted by people other than engineers, such as sales people, marketing people, designers, and office workers. I hope you will read it as an example as it is based on my experience.

In today's organizations, there are some organizations that use 360-degree evaluations not only from supervisors but also from the members who work with them. I hope this will be a useful reference for those organizations that use 360-degree evaluations not only from the same engineers, but also from members of different professions.

I also hope that this will be helpful not only for the purpose of evaluation, but also for the purpose of maintaining a good working condition when working with various types of people in different jobs.

5 things of engineers who are trusted by different professions
Table of Contents

1. They think together about how can do it.
2. Explains carefully when a deadline is exceeded
3. They point out risks involved in development
4. They pick up on what engineers can do quickly
5. They take pride in being engineers Finally

1. They think together about how can do it.

From a different profession, it is difficult to imagine the details of development, so you may often consult with engineers and ask them to make a decision.

For example, when you ask for advice on a certain development,
A "That's impossible," "I can't do it.
B "It's impossible as it is, but we may be able to make it close by doing it this way.

In such a case, if the answer is like A (even if it is true), it is difficult to have a further developmental discussion from the perspective of different occupations because the fields of skills they possess are different.
An engineer who communicates like B is an engineer who can gain the trust of others because he/she gives developmental potential.

2. Explains carefully when a deadline is exceeded

For example, when a deadline or release is postponed.
There may be various reasons, but if the reasons are legitimate, it is easy for engineers to understand each other.
However, from the perspective of someone from a different profession, the reason itself may be understandable, but the validity of the reason may be difficult to comprehend. If this happens several times, even if there is a valid reason, the person tends to become a "person who delays a lot".
Therefore, it is necessary to be conscious of explaining the reason in an easy-to-understand and polite manner, especially to those who are in different occupations.

3. They point out risks involved in development

I think this happens especially in interactions with people on the sales and marketing side.
For them, whose mission is to sell and promote products, anything other than the state of "working" for that purpose may unfortunately not be in their mind (or they may not be able to come up with it).
For example, if you receive an order to add XX functionality for this order, and implementing it would be a big risk. Do you accept it and develop it as it is, or do you advise them that adding it is possible, but there is a risk of △△△?
If the risk is exposed after the release of the feature, you may not have to take responsibility because "we developed it according to the sales side's order," but I think the result will be quite severe in terms of trust.
*This story is affected by the literacy of people on the sales and marketing side and the mutual relationship between them, so it is difficult to make a blanket statement.

4. They pick up on what engineers can do quickly

For example, an engineer can quickly provide data that a business member wants by asking, "Would you like me to provide it? For example, an engineer can do things that require only a short time or even 1/10th of the effort of a non-engineer, such as providing data that business members want, or setting up a Slack bot to improve team communication efficiency.
Of course, there are those who think "even a non-engineer should do that much" or "engineers should not use their resources for that kind of thing," but from the perspective of those who cannot do it, the fact that they did something so difficult is very gratifying.
By gaining trust through this kind of thing, if you are having trouble in an area you are not good at, someone who is good at it may be willing to help you out.
In this way, you may have a wonderful relationship where you both get 10 times the return for 1/10 the effort.

5. They take pride in being engineers

This is a person who is particular about the technology he/she is dealing with and the things he/she is making, and has a non-negotiable line. Of course, there are parts of an organization or company where you have to compromise, or things that you really want to do but can't. However, there is a line in yourself that you cannot compromise on. However, those who have such a non-negotiable line or ideal within themselves and make efforts to get closer to it are often respected and trusted engineers by those around them. From the perspective of someone from a different profession, it is difficult to understand the details of what they are doing, but by seeing this kind of attitude on a daily basis, I think it leads to trust that "I can trust this person with this part of my work.

Finally

There are many other ways to be a "trusted engineer". I hope that this article will be of some help to you when you are managing a business or service with members of various professions in your organization or team.

I am using DeepL to do the translation, sorry if it is not clear.