I Won’t Learn to Code
Cause of Charles Barkley’s Analytics
After another working relationship not quite working out I was tempted to give up on building a team all together. It was tempting to start thinking about studying to fulfill the areas that I was lacking in. I thought about trying to supplement my marketing degree and self-hacked eye for design with engineering abilities.
Afterall, the learn to code movement is in full effect. It seems like everyone is being pushed or pushing to learn to code, with NBA players joining the push too.
Chris Bosh does make some great points about how everyone should learn to code. Like he said, no longer is it just code, but gives access to any industry you might want to join. As usual though Charles Barkley may oppose this view.
Now I can “code” to a degree. I can put together basic sites. If needed I can copy & paste together an MVP iOS app that looks to have great potential, but is destined to crash. I even made my first Google Chrome extension in a one day Sunday hack day yesterday. Will I proactively pursue learning to code to perfection though? No.
Why? Charles Barkley, and because with NBA players enjoying using the startup analogy for basketball it’s only fair to reverse it.
“First my rookie year, my first year in Miami and now being back here, it’s like a startup company,” [Lebron] said. “You get guys around that you feel can help the company build and you guys have one goal. So, it’s my third time doing it.”
- Lebron James (NBA.com)
And because like Lebron says, “You get guys around that you feel can help the company build…” In my case, getting around those guys and girls happens when it’s time to go beyond the MVP and build a dependable product.
Back to Barkley though, who was on Bill Simmons podcast recently, talking about Kyrie Irving’s 57 point performance. Charles made the point that making 57 points is great, but as great as it is:
“I don’t want my point guard to be ball dominant, I want him to get other guys involved. Ideally you don’t want your point guard shooting 30 times a night…”
With Bill Simmons responding,
“That was what the question was, ‘can this guy figure out how to do what he does, within the framework of a larger thing.’”
Charles kept coming back to the fact that championships are won by players that fit within a larger framework. He referenced the fact that Michael Jordan averaged 38 points at the beginning of his career, but started winning rings when his PPG came down to around 30 points. The lower average points correlating with a rise in assists and creating a building out the framework of a team.
With superstars that can do it all and “get a shot everytime,” like Michael, or Russell Westbrook, who Barkley referenced multiple times, it’s dangerous. If stars always just go to score, they can have little victories and great stats, like Westbrook’s recently, but are less likely to make the big wins at the championship level.
Many of us tend to be headstrong and if able will try do everything on our own. Yes learning to code would let me stuff my stat sheet and make starting up in the beginning initially easier. As difficult as learning development is learning to develop a team and trust. In learning development you don’t have to risk the heartfelt disappointment of being let down or left by a teammate, cause truthfully it’s rarely “not personal and strictly business.”
Learning to code would let me be headstrong, let me try to go it alone. However, it can be good to be forced into a role at times, so you can’t attempt to go one-on-one. Sometimes it’s best to be forced to dependent, and learn how to build a scalable framework, because you won’t be going up against just “one.”
That’s why I’m not going to learn to code, because as much as every team needs superstars they also need those stars to know their roles. In order to take the time to develop a team sometimes you need a glaring deficiency that forces you to develop. That and the analytics that Barkley gave using himself, The Heat, and Jordan were pretty convincing for teamwork.
Of course as much as Barkley talks about needing to play as a team to win at the top level, he never won at the top level… As Shaq is always quick to remind, but hindsight is 20/20…
