This statement outright demonstrates the lack of confidence and sincerity. Often developers use it to escape from responsibilities that they assume to be difficult. Do it more than a few times, and you might be labeled as a lazy or incapable programmer.
This does not mean you should be capable of doing everything. There will be many tasks that might not be feasible for you. The reasons might vary from extremely tight deadlines to lack of required skills. There can be scenarios where you can do the job if proper tools and support are provided.
Hence, instead of outright declaring your inability, you can try to discuss the challenges that make you think you cannot do the job.
After the discussion, if you still think someone else should pick up the job, that’s fine too. At least, now you do not come across as an incompetent programmer who is afraid of taking up responsibilities.
At the workplace, there are no individual problems. When working together on a project, any issue with the delivery is the entire team’s problem. It does not matter who is responsible for the slip, but it is considered a collective failure if the project is not delivered as expected.
You might not be directly responsible for either creating or resolving the issue. Thus, you may feel like it is not your problem. But discarding it entirely by saying so can make you look arrogant or perhaps running from responsibility.
So, avoid saying phrases that sound defensive, such as — That’s not my job, or I don’t care if that gets done or not.
Instead, try to help out as much as possible. If you cannot help, then you can politely let the requester know your inability. You can even redirect the request to someone you think can better resolve the issue.
It is not uncommon for people to try and make themselves feel smarter by rejecting other’s ideas. They try to downplay the suggestions as stupid. Sometimes they don’t even let the other side complete their thoughts before declaring the idea as silly.
Calling out other’s ideas as stupid is both rude and unprofessional. It reflects immaturity. It can so happen that you did not understand the idea clearly.
Hence, if you think an idea might fall short of achieving the required objective, ask for further clarifications. Let the person know the situations where you think the proposal might not work. Find out if the person has thought through those scenarios.
If you feel there is no way the idea will work, appreciate the person for putting in the effort and suggest improvements on top of it. This will encourage other members to contribute with their suggestions. After all, success in software development can be achieved only through team collaboration.
If calling someone’s opinion stupid is bad, imagine how people feel when asked, ‘Are you stupid?’.
This question often originates when people think someone’s point of view does not make any sense or when a suggestion might be counterproductive.
No matter the intention behind it, the statement is often taken as a personal insult. It does not matter whether you said it in private or in a group. The statement is bound to hurt the person it is directed at and discourage them from presenting their opinions in the future.
If you have the habit of making such statements, you need to understand that it also reflects poorly on you. People with hidden insecurity try to offend others to make themselves feel superior. But in reality, team members view such person as unprofessional and egotistical.
A better way to deal with ideas that you feel are sub-par to the context is to either ignore it or enquire about it further to understand it better. It is not worth inflicting insults on others, no matter how poor their opinion might be.
When developers are overloaded with work, they generally tend to feel it is because others are not owning up to their responsibilities. Hence, they have to work hard to patch the gaps and save the project from failing. This feeling generates bitterness towards their fellow teammates.
If you, too, have a similar reaction when you are overworked, the first thing to understand is that you are not the only one who keeps the team running. If that were the case, then the application would have failed long back.
Successful project delivery is never a one-person show. It can only be successful when all the stakeholders do their part sincerely. Believing otherwise means undermining the efforts of the rest of the team, which does not reflect well on your professional attitude.
Maybe what you want to convey is you have too many tasks on your plate, and you want help from your colleagues to have a better work-life balance. Start a discussion with your manager on how they can help you better delegate the assignments to focus on essential tasks that match your skillset.
When we work in a team, every work problem is a team problem. There are no individual problems. Suppose a fellow developer struggles to finish their assigned task. In that case, it is still a team’s problem because being unable to deliver the task in time can affect the entire project’s delivery timeline.
In no circumstances should you deflect a request at your workplace with the phrase ‘I don’t care,’. You might genuinely believe you cannot help with the request. Or, you might feel the topic does not concern you based on your roles and responsibilities.
However, the way you convey the message matters a lot in the professional environment. You don’t want to be seen as solely focused on personal interests and not a team player.
If the discussed topic or request for help does not interest you, try to decline it politely. Instead of openly admitting you don’t care about problems faced by your teammates, you can provide a reason why you are unable to help. The vital point to note here is the tone in which you convey it.
A variation to this phrase is —‘It might sound stupid but…’. Often people use these expressions as filler or starting phrases while responding to a query or describing something to their teammates. I have seen many senior members use them even though what they explain is fact-based and correct.
Using such phrases while speaking in a professional environment shows a lack of confidence on the speaker’s part. If you feel what you are going to say is stupid, others will feel the same.
It would be best to be confident of your statements and ideas for people to take you seriously. If you are not aware of the facts, it is better to ask for time. Find out more details on the subject matter and get back to share your informed opinions.
However, if you are confident about what you are saying but use these expressions out of habit, you need to get rid of them. Practice your statement delivery in your free time. Initially, you might find it hard, but you won’t even realize when these phrases are not part of your vocabulary.
