Don’t be Percival

Percival is a mythologic figure, a mighty knight associated with King Arthur, the knights of the round table, and the search for the grail. How is the myth related with starting working in a new team?

The myth

In Chrétien De Troyes' poem The Story of the Grail, Percival, a young boy that dreams of becoming a knight lives in a farm with his mother. He descends from a long tradition of knights (his deceased father and grandfather were knights) but he does not know. His mother keeps him in the dark about this, fearing that knowing his roots would make he more likely to follow the steps of his father, and hence face some dangers and die.

After some time, the boy met with some knights, and after much insistence convinces his mother to tell him the truth. Of course, the worst fear of his mother comes alive, and he decides to leave to become a knight. Her mother shows him the armor, the shield, and the sword of his father, a mighty and honorably knight.

Before leaving his mother, she gives him some advice: do not fear asking questions. Percival leaves his mother, and she falls to the ground (presumably death).

Percival goes on the road with his horse and after some unsucesfull adventures, an actual knight (Gornemant of Gohort) sees his ineptitude, and decides to make him his apprentice. After some time under his wing, one of the pieces of advice that gives to Percival is keep quiet and do not ask much questions.

The not-so-young Percival will eventually leave his master Gornemant to pursue a life of a skillfull knight. Needless to say, finding some interesting characters like the Fisher king, and King Arthur, and having some chivalry adventures.

What advice would he follow? The one of his mother, or the one of his master? Will Percival ask questions when he would like to adcquire some knowledge or will consider that that knowledge is not his to be had?

Being a part of a new team

Starting a new job is stressful and difficult. Most of the time, the hard part is not the tools but the internal knowledge you (as a rookie) do not possess.

There could be some documents, but most of the time, the actual information is in the heads of the current team. That is the way it is. The team can have a better or worse updated docs, but the ground truth is always going to be what they know.

I don’t what to ask it because…

• I do not want to look unexperienced.
• They are going to think I know nothing.
• They are going to regret that they have hired me.
• …

All of these excuses and thinking traps that are making you feel inferior or less-worthy.

The role of the team

It also important to note the role of the team that welcomes the new hire. They must make clear to the new hire that he/she can asks questions and that the process of adapting to a new team is slow, even if the hire is a good developer.

The team must be accepting questions no matter how silly they think they are. After being working in the same projects for years it is very easy to qualify the different logics and workflows as obvious. The team must have enough level of empathy to explain clearly everything to the new hire, even if the speed of the team decreases in consequence.

Ridiculize the hire, comparing him/her with other members of the team, or ignoring his/her questions is going to hurt the new hire, the team, and the company. Most of the time, workers that suffer that kind of behavior leave the company after 1 year.

Always ask all you don’t understand

Getting the internal knowledge about the logic of the business is crucial to play your role effectively. Apply the old adage of there is no stupid question.

Take notes of what you have learned and make sure the notes reflect the reality. If you have to check the contents of your notes with your team mates, do it.

Conclusion

By not asking questions, Sir Percival, suffers greatly in the old tale. Once he reaches the Fisher king’s castle, he will behold see a holy procession of people carrying a spear and the grail. However, he decides to follow the advice not the one of his mother, but the one of Gornemant, and Percival does not ask the Fisher king about the ceremony, losing the chance of understanding what was the meaning of that experience forever.