In software, everyone is a fan of something. Common favorites are operating systems, hardware vendors, or programming languages. Different people are more zealous about their favorites than others. On the scale of zealotry, there are the zealous, the over-zealous, and then there are fanboys*.

In its most basic form, being a fanboy is usually about having strong, often emotionally-tied biases for (or against) something. In software development, the fanboy mentality can sometimes be counter productive to productivity.

Fanboys, Reverse Fanboys, And Software Teams

Wikipedia says a fanboy is someone “who is highly devoted and biased in opinion towards a single subject or hobby within a given field.” Similarly, I consider a fanboy someone with notable bias against criticizing his or her topic of interest to a fault. I’m referring to the true, “die-hard” fanboys many of us have met before.

There are also “reverse” fanboys. Just as someone may be a fanboy of a specific topic of interest, it’s also possible for someone to have an unreasonable bias against something when it comes to software.

In software, dealing with fanboy’s biases adds another layer of complexity to the development process. Team members and decision makers need to deal with opinions based on logical arguments and facts, not a person’s fanboy-like sentiment for or against an idea. This adds unnecessary complications to the design or decision process. Reverse fanboys hamper the development and problem-solving process in almost the exact same way. Because of their explicit (and implied) biases, true “die-hard” fanboys often deserve less credibility in software development environments.

Be An Advocate, Not A Fanboy

Somewhere on the scale of “fandom” of technology and software are “advocates”. An advocate is someone who “cheers on” a topic of interest, but is cognizant that the topic of interest may not be the best fit for everyone, may not be the best solution to all problems, and may even have flaws. They still love, support, and are passionate about their topic of interest – after all, they really enjoy or believe in it. Being an advocate is being the healthier version of a fanboy.

In contrast to fanboys, advocates often bring value to their teams because they offer specialized knowledge on the subject they are passionate about, but also are more likely to offer a balanced, reasonable perspective on the topic. For the advocate, finding a strong solution comes before finding a good solution with a specific technology. Advocates, like any quality software engineer, are not set on a solution.

Advocates are the credible counterparts to fanboys – and in contrast to fanboys, their involvement in their topic of interest tends to enrich teams and the development process.

*Sometimes people like to call themselves fanboys, but I think it’s important to note that under my definition, many people around the web who claim to be fanboys are simply having fun with the term. For example, most people who claim to be “Apple fanboys” are simply fans of the brand and don’t fit within my definition. Apple, or any other topic of interest for that matter, does not have any sort of monopoly on fanboy-dom.

Tags: apple, fanboy, linux, productivity, software, software management