A Techies Guide to Accountability

What is accountability?

"Accountability is simply the willingness to accept responsibility for one's actions."

An accountability partner is someone we are accountable to when we want to achieve a certain goal. It could be a friend, a colleague, or just someone who shares a similar objective with you. Just like a study partner in school, an accountability partner is someone you join forces with in order to work together and help each other accomplish tasks by being accountable to one another.

The need for an accountability partner

It is more common for a person in tech or someone learning to start a tech career to learn or work alone. That is why we get to hear the common stereotype that all techies are introverts. Like a normal population, there are people who are introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts, but the fact that techies are mostly in their personal space, glued in front of their laptops without interacting with anyone for long hours, may be the reason for the thoughts.

The technology industry is a fast-paced and ever-changing profession in which every techie strives to improve their skills and be better than they were yesterday. Despite having this common goal, most techies find it difficult to achieve it along the way or according to how they originally planned it due to a variety of factors, such as

• lack of focus and direction.

• being overwhelmed by the abundance of resources

• lack of motivation.

• Disorganization etc.

A person can successfully set SMART goals on their own but end up slacking because they are not accountable to anyone who would question them for failing to complete their daily tasks. For instance, Lady A has a goal to finish a Javascript course by the end of the month, and she sets out to dedicate 2 hours daily to learning the course and extra time to practicing what she has learned for the day to help her achieve the goal.

She was consistent for four days straight, but on the fifth day she felt reluctant to do it, so she concluded she would just do 4 hours on day 6 to make up for the missed day. Sadly, she continued missing days, and she even decided to do a marathon crash course during the weekend, but she eventually lost focus on actually learning and practicing and was more focused on just finishing the course within the timeline.

Can you relate to Lady A at any point? From her story, you can see that she could have easily dropped the course because she overwhelmed herself and lost focus on her goal.

Getting an accountability partner the right way

It is important to develop the mindset that you will be beneficial to your partner when you get one. An accountability partnership is not a one-sided effort; both parties have to be reliable and willing to put in the work. Once that is out of the way, you can proceed with the following:

1. Identify the specific goals or targets you want to reach: Thinking about what you want to achieve is not enough; you have to ensure that you make it very visible in your memory so you can remember to take action every day, no matter how little. A good way to do this is to identify and write down your goals where you can see them; this makes them concrete and real; you can visualize them and make mental notes of steps to help you achieve them; going a step further and vocalizing them makes them even more tangible; when you share your goals with a person, you are more likely to put effort into meeting them, so you can be responsible for what you already said to the person in order not to disappoint, even if it is small.

2. Be accountable to yourself and intentional about reaching your goals. This is where you do a personal evaluation and a retrospective to understand yourself and the system that works for you. You set out a timeline for your specific goals and decide if you need more tools to help, like productivity apps, scheduling apps, and the like. You would also know what you have to offer your potential partner.

3. Join a community of people with similar targets. Being a part of a community is a good way to hold yourself accountable for your growth because you get to hang out with people who have different and similar levels of experience as you. When you consistently participate in certain community activities, you know you have to show up. If you want to read more design books, you can join a design community that hosts monthly book readings and review sessions where everyone shares their insights. This practice is beneficial because you get to hear other people's perspectives on similar things you have encountered, and it is a way to expand your knowledge and simplify concepts you find complex. Communities are already organized and have events lined up, so if organization is your problem, you can just leverage the community.

4. Approach a person consciously and intentionally: You can shoot your shot at someone you know personally who shares a common goal or at someone from an online community, stating your needs and goals and how you would also contribute to the partnership. It is more rewarding when you and your partner have similar goals or are in the same technical field because you can relate better and they know the value or importance of your goal. This way, you both can help each other reach milestones, learn together, share beneficial opportunities with one another, have healthy competitions, encourage one another, and help you stay on track.

5. Create a system with your partner that works best for both of you. Aside from the goals you and your partner are trying to meet, there are some essential soft skills and planning that need to be put in place for an efficient and effective journey, like communication. Communication is a key part of the partnership; this is one of the ways you guys report your progress to each other. Schedule your meetings at convenient times, choose desired ways of reporting like pictures, videos, articles, voice notes, emails, or phone calls, and introduce penalties or strikes for missing out on a set target—anything that works for you both. ensuring that you both respect one another and accept that, while you may disagree, your common goal unites you.

6. Put in the effort and show up on a consistent basis: No one wants someone who will drag them down; once you sign up for a partnership, you must meet your own part of the bargain and be dependable. No matter how many accountability partnerships one joins, you are first and foremost accountable to yourself to do the needed work, and if you can't do that for yourself, no one else can.

Conclusion

Accountability is an important practice to incorporate into various aspects of our daily lives; it helps us be aware of our actions and their consequences. Doing it the right way helps us reap its abundant benefits. Being a techie is useless if you do it in isolation. Networking and collaboration are intrinsic to our profession and professional growth. Having an accountability partner and being an active community member are great ways to leverage such opportunities.

What are you waiting for? Join that community. Now, send that DM and start being an accountable techie.

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