Being put on the spot

Ted Neward: You never bullshit. You admit that you don't know the answer and then say, "But I think I can find out and I'll get back to you if you want to know more." I also think that it's worthwhile to take a guess and say, "Based on what I do know, I believe that the answer will be this and if you'd like to, we can do a little research and see if we can figure it out."

In that way, you actually have a new contact in your network, whereas if you knew the answer, you probably would have given the answer and would never have spoken to that person again. Truthfully, nine times out of 10, when somebody at a conference asks you a question, it's because they're speculating. They're not looking for the answer; they're just trying to see how it fits within their mental model.

If they get the answer they expect, even if it's not guaranteed to be accurate, it helps to solidify the mental model in their head. Now, there will be the occasional person for whom this is a really critical thing and the people who want to follow up with you will come up afterward. You can either do the research right there and then or exchange contact information. It depends on them at that point.

Geertjan Wielenga: One topic that I'd like to talk about is issues of jet lag and travel. What are your feelings on those of aspects?

Ted Neward: I've had situations where I've woken up in a hotel room and I've looked around and thought, "Where the hell am I?" Sometimes I have to physically get up and walk over to my phone to see that I'm eight hours from home.

There are many positions that involve travel and this is just one of them. There are people who travel far more than we do. There are salespeople who do this all the time. We're not martyrs here; we're merely people who follow in a long line. There are consultants who do the same thing.

Geertjan Wielenga: Is burnout a risk in this profession and if so, how do you prevent or deal with it?

Ted Neward: It's most definitely a risk, particularly when coupled with the travel. It's very easy to experience burnout if you travel too much, especially if you have a family at home.

There are people who get divorced because one of the partners is traveling too much, not at home enough, feeling disconnected, and so on. The way to avoid that is to recognize that burnout is a risk and make sure that you're taking steps to combat it.

The diversity of the developer advocate role can actually accelerate burnout. It's a question of how well you know yourself and how well you can recognize the signs. Do you work for an organization that recognizes burnout as a real problem and is taking active steps to prevent it? For example, my developer relations team never travel more than 50% of the time.

As a manager, it's up to you to help your team to avoid burnout, particularly because people can experience burnout through a variety of different avenues. It's important to recognize that there is a difference between work and progress. You can be doing a ton of work, but if you're not making any progress, that's going to be the key thing that will lead to burnout.

The other point, though, is the realization that we all need to recharge. We all need the opportunity to get away and work on other things. We all need hobbies. Exercise is one of the key things that helps to keep people sharp. When you're exercising, there's literally nothing you can do but think. Everybody needs an opportunity to disconnect and engage in some sort of meditative state. For me, sometimes that's just taking a long, hot shower. I can't hold my phone in the shower. God help me if I ever get one of those waterproof Samsungs!

I don't get as much exercise now as I would like, but on an airplane, I don't pull out my laptop anymore; I actually just sit and watch a movie and let my mind wander for a while. Everybody needs to know how to do that. That's not just a developer relations concern, because I know developers, salespeople, and managers who experience burnout. Everybody has to have a notion of what works for them.

Geertjan Wielenga: Thank you, Ted Neward.