Fixing my sump pump reminded me about the importance of communication

Today I fixed my broken sump pump. It reminded me how my job as an Agile Engineering Lead at 1904labs is similar to the job of a sump pump.

On my way into my laundry room I saw a puddle of water. I cleaned it up and saw it reappear instantly. Water was seeping up from my basement cracks beneath the surface.

I quickly remembered my sump pump had been off and ran to the circuit breaker to turn it on.

I heard it kick on with a rumble and was reminded of why I turned it off in the first place. Under the sump pump cover water was spewing everywhere.

I spent months ignoring this problem but now that my basement was hours or days from flooding I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

After some trial and error I learned the problem was the PVC pipe connection broke. The water would be sucked up by the pump, blasted onto the cover’s ceiling and rain back down just for the process to repeat itself.

I turned the whole system off, realigned the pipes and tested the system with my hand holding the pipes together. With this initial success I clamped the pipes together and then taped them together for good measure.

Much like a misalignment in my pipes caused water to spew in every direction, a misalignment in communication can cause everyone on your team to go in different directions.

As a software consultant there are many duties to perform but the one I think about the most is how best to communicate to all the various people on the project. As I was reminded today by my sump pump, when things are misaligned on your team or in your company you will find yourself covered in shit.

If you found this post helpful to your software journey, please subscribe to my newsletter at codertomanager.com where I talk about my experiences building software for myself, others, and helping aspiring product managers do the same.