Front-End Developer & Solution Architect Colin Calnan
A conversation about the importance of being inquisitive, tips on working out your idea muscle, and the lessons performing in public can teach you.
Some people have the rare talent to make you feel like you’ve been friends for years, even if you just met for the first time. Colin is one of those people. His open personality makes people warm up to him in an instant, and his colleagues love him for his spontaneous ukulele performances—a foolproof antidote to dreary Monday mornings. Colin’s passion for music (he joined the family wedding band at the tender age of twelve) is only surpassed by his love for cracking complex problems. A solution architect at heart, Colin’s analytical mind, combined with his mad coding skills, have served his team mates and Domain7’s clients in many different ways.
He talked to us about the importance of being inquisitive and training your idea muscle, why problem-solving is his jam, and the many lessons he learned from performing in front of people. (Lesson #1: How to ask a stubborn father-in-law for money.)
What do you do at Domain7?
First and foremost, I’m a Drupal developer, which means that I build, develop and implement Drupal websites, but I’m also involved in the initial project on-boarding from requirements-gathering to estimating, and so on. I’ve also lead the team on a number of projects, making sure that everybody has what they need and everything is on schedule.
If you’re asking me where my heart is, I’d say it’s on the solution-finding side of projects rather than implementation. I think of myself as a solution architect or solution analyst. I often step into a consultative role, internally and with our clients.
Why do you prefer being a solution architect?
It’s my personality. I am a problem solver — always have been, always will be. It’s what I enjoy most. I get excited about understanding how things work and what the problem is, and I really enjoy thinking through a problem and finding new solutions.
In addition to my development expertise, I have a Master’s degree in design. I also have experience in usability and user experience. All of that helps me see a challenge from different angles.
Do you have any advice for people just starting out in your line of work?
Be inquisitive, start training your idea muscle and take things apart.
Never just accept that something is the way it is. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the most obvious solution is not necessarily the best solution. And when somebody presents a problem, that might not be the actual problem. I’ve learned that it’s really important to ask a lot of questions. Just keep asking “why” until you can understand the core of a problem. It’s important to practice that inquisitive mindset.
Everything around us is designed for humans by humans. There’s intent behind design. It’s important to question and analyze that intent in order to improve things and systems.
Another recommendation is to write ideas down. There’s this practice inspired by James Altucher, called “10 ideas a day”. I don’t do it every day, but it still helps me train my idea muscle — which makes it a lot easier for me to jump right into “idea mode” when somebody approaches me for help with a complicated problem.
It’s interesting that you’re referring to that inquisitiveness as a mindset that needs practice. How do you practice that?
You can practice it every day, just living in this world. It’s a bit like looking at this world through a different lens: one where you don’t take everything at face value. For example, when you go to the ATM take a minute to analyze what is happening. How does this work? How do I get my money out of here? Or you’re at the doctor’s office and instead of killing time reading gossip magazines, just take a moment to look around and gather information. What’s happening here? How does this system work? What could be improved?
Everything around us is designed for humans by humans. There’s intent behind design. It’s important to question and analyze that intent in order to improve things and systems.
It seems like you get a lot of meaning out of solving problems. Why is that?
Because it allows me to help others. I’d say that’s true for the clients I work with, but it also goes beyond individual clients. For example, if I’m working with a client in the health sector, and they are having problems with people missing appointments for surgery: if I can fix that by changing how their system merges health records, that’s huge. That could help save people’s lives. I find that incredibly meaningful.
What project have you worked on recently that you enjoyed?
We recently worked with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. One of the many areas they do great work in is preventing postpartum hemorrhage in developing countries. The tool I built helped showcase their work in a way that’s really engaging. It felt really good to help them shine a light on this important issue by enabling them to tell compelling stories and generate awareness.
Overnight success is a myth. There are thousands of hours of unseen work behind any major achievement.
What is something people don’t know about you?
I had a difficult time getting through high school. Classes were disruptive and managing the chaos took priority over teaching. I wasn’t doing well until I decided in my second last year to repeat a year.
I got really lucky. The next year I joined had different people in it and better teachers. For the first time, I had teachers in front of me who believed in me and that was a huge confidence booster. I went from hating Math and English poetry and literature to falling in love with it. I still recite some of those poems I learned at school to my daughter, and we talk about it, like “Listen how this sentence moves. Isn’t it beautiful?”
I definitely think about that from time to time. If it weren’t for that one afternoon where I walked into the principal’s office and told him that I’m going to repeat a year, I wouldn’t be who I am today. If it weren’t for that one decision, I might have never had a chance at the career and the life I have today.
What did you learn from this experience?
Trust your gut instincts and work hard. It’s important to make an effort and you have to put a lot of hours in if you’re working towards a goal — whatever that goal is. The context in which we talk about achievements and success in our society seems a little off to me sometimes. I mean, the internet is crowded with motivational talks selling the idea of “overnight success”. It makes me wonder if people take that at face value. Overnight success is a myth. There are thousands of hours of unseen work behind any major achievement.
What do you do when you’re overwhelmed or stressed to balance yourself?
For me, it’s all about self-care and balance. Not an easy feat sometimes, working from home with two young kids, but I try to do yoga every day and make time for meditation. I go for walks. I go vent with other dads about how hard parenthood is. And I also drink some world-class BC wine every now and then.
A recent thing I’ve been paying more attention to is my posture: sitting and walking up straight, chest out, head high, smiling. This might sound ridiculous. It’s your typical self-help guru thing, and I myself thought it was cheesy at first, but it really works for me. And it’s doable. You don’t have to climb mountains. All you have to do is literally stand up straighter. Whenever I’m starting to feel low I imagine a moment when I felt really good about something, and I try to visualize what my stance and expression would be in that situation. Changing my physical self in that way has a positive effect on my emotional self.
Just watching the news, it’s easy to feel defeated and hopeless, but I want to turn that into an opportunity to course-correct and really think about how I conduct myself.
What’s a childhood story that still personifies you to this day?
Well, it’s a childhood story that expands way past my childhood. I grew up in Ireland and my dad and uncles played in a band. When I was twelve years old, my dad asked me to fill in for my sick uncle at a gig. I had never played bass guitar before, but my dad sat down with me and said, “Here’s G. Here’s D. That’s C. That’s all you need. You’ll be fine.” And that was that. Twelve and a half years later, I was still playing. I came home every weekend from university, and every weekend my dad, my uncles and I played at events, weddings and bars. I miss it a lot. We were really tight. They were more like brothers than uncles.
I think it defines me to this day because I learned so much through being in a band and performing for people. I learned how to be confident — or at least how to fake confidence. I learned how to read a crowd from my uncle Billy, the greatest man to ever read a crowd. He had a sixth sense for when the crowd was changing and would sometimes change songs mid-tune to play into that vibe.
Most of all, I learned how to read people and how to talk to them. I also learned how to talk about money, which is a difficult topic for most people, but at the end of the night, you want to get paid. That means I had to learn how to, for example, ask a stubborn father-in-law for money after a wedding gig.
How do you do that?
You buy him a pint, and you comment on what a great time everybody had tonight, and you mention how people were dancing and singing along. And then you wink lightheartedly and say, “Oh, by the way, we take check or cash.”
When you look towards the future, what are you looking forward to?
My family and I moved from Vancouver to the Okanagan recently, and I’m really looking forward to being involved in this community. It also scares me, but I see so much opportunity here to bring people together. One of my goals is to get a food truck festival up here next summer. I just started the process of looking into that.
Investing in myself and other people is more important to me than ever. Our world just seems a little topsy-turvy to me these days. Just watching the news, it’s easy to feel defeated and hopeless, but I want to turn that into an opportunity to course-correct and really think about how I conduct myself.
There’s the old saying that you should live each day like it’s your last. I find that statement a bit too self-centered. James Altucher turns that saying on its head by changing it to, “Live each day like it’s everyone else’s last”. That really resonates with me, and you’ll be amazed at the empathy you find within yourself when you follow that concept.
What are 3 things that have influenced or inspired you?
Donald Norman | The Design of Everyday Things
This book helped me see the design of the world around us in a different light. It opened my eyes to the fact that design isn’t necessarily flawless, but can be full of biases and opinions. Norman’s book really encouraged me to examine the world around me and see if there are better ways to design it.
Viktor Frankl | Man’s Search for Meaning
I’m very interested in how our minds work and this book really struck a chord with me. Frankl talks about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. It made him understand that we cannot avoid suffering, but the ways we cope with suffering — and find meaning in it — can help us live with purpose and empathy. I think this idea applies to everyday life as well. We all go through mental or physical battles on a daily basis.
Andy Stanley | Leadership Podcast
How do you become a great leader? And what makes a leader great? Listening to Andy and his guests have really helped me find answers to these difficult questions. I’ve gained some greater understanding of what it takes to succeed in leadership and create long-lasting trust, empathy and connectedness with those around me.
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