This will be a short one. Simply as I strongly believe and identify myself with the title and mission statement behind it.

Yes, I believe that sharing our knowledge and experience is a mission. Of each and every one of us. I am not saying we should all be public speakers. Or write books. Make courses or be a YouTube influencer. Stab so early, huh? We all have something to share and are interested in. So why not share it?

Jokes aside, if your company has no established way to spread the knowledge within it, do it. There are many forms and examples of how to do this. Pick one and just start.

My personal favorite is the concept of brown bag sessions. Simple concept, really. During lunchtime (hence the brown bag part of it) you have a session where you share knowledge. And have a nice discussion with each other. This doesn’t mean you need to have a presentation every time. Ask people to provide a conference video they found inspiring and wanted to see what others think about it. Afterward, open a nice debate on the subject and see what comes out of it.

Next one: Ask people to present what they’re passionate about in a session. Keep it open to topics, not just what you do within the project. Or company. This is an awesome way to meet your colleagues and learn about them. To bring down those silos and have an awesome time. So benefits are many. I can’t think of any drawbacks, to be honest.

Whoever knows me, probably at one point in time heard me saying the following:

💡 I believe that I work with really smart people and each of us has different views and interests, so why not learn from each other? We’re willing to go to a conference in another part of the world, yet we dismiss the people that are on the same level or even smarter than what you will encounter at most of these conferences. That sit next to us. Funny, right?

I know it sounds cringe. But in my experience, I learned so much from these sessions. Not just about software development, but many aspects around it. Or a number of other subjects that had nothing to with it. People that are passionate about a subject will make it easy to follow and understand. Their experience will show through and even complex concepts you never heard about will be possible to follow and digest. They will know how to explain it to “newcomers”.

One of the things I learned during a number of those sessions in past is how to improve my presentation skills. I saw how people that are interested in the subjects they presented showcased their knowledge. How they made it simple for everyone to follow. And how interactivity with people makes it so much better to clarify topics discussed.

To summarize (I told you, short one): It is a great way to reach more people outside of your own team and department. You will learn something new. You can evaluate your own knowledge of the subject and meet like-minded people. So what is there to lose?

Until next time, go and share.