Examples of Soft Skills Engineering

#softskills #engineering #ai

I recently wrote about Soft Skills Engineering, which I will refer to as SSE.

In this article, I'm going to introduce what I've done as part of SSE. These examples are things I've done as hobbies and are essentially like my portfolio. In a professional setting, I approach these tasks with more precision, depth, and without compromise. I can help develop or support soft skills tailored to you personally, or to your team or organization.

Let's dive into the examples.

Development of Soft Skills

Soft skills, in essence, are a genre; there's no absolute framework, but there are broad categories like "Communication," which can further include intermediate categories like "Active Listening," "Presentation Skills," and "Asynchronous Communication."

Developing soft skills means creating new categories. This could involve creating broad categories, intermediate categories, or more detailed sub-categories.

As a Soft Skills Engineer, my strength lies in areas like "Task Management" and "Ideation."

Concerning task management, I've previously written an article on Task Engineering. I've also organized a reference list that contributes to the implementation of task management tools.

Regarding ideation, while I haven't systematically organized it yet, I've published some articles, such as a method for brainstorming using GitHub.

Implementation Support for Soft Skills

This is the most frequent work I do as part of SSE. I create specific concepts and deliver them to be utilized effectively in various soft skills.

For example, what can be done to foster "psychological safety"?

I created MAMA (Meeting As An AMA). It's a way to hold meetings in the style of Ask Me Anything, driven by questioners. By holding a MAMA, a boss or manager allows subordinates to acquire knowledge they really want to know. Through MAMA, people realize that they can get their questions answered, which contributes to cultivating psychological safety.

For instance, how can we facilitate a sense of "ownership"?

I think teal organizations are a great example, and I've succinctly summarized the essence of this organizational model in terms of 3Ps—Part, Protocol, and Peace.

How do we introduce or encourage "reflection" and "introspection"?

I developed TILS (Today I Learned Softly). For those familiar with TIL, imagine this as a TIL focused on writing about soft skills instead of hard skills. It also presupposes the use of generative AI. Additionally, I've written an article on In-House Production and Introspection, which is an attempt to enhance mutual understanding by comparing Japan's strength in introspection with the West's expertise in in-house production.

The last concept of "In-House Production and Introspection" was not something I created, but it illustrates that using existing concepts, when applicable, is often best. However, in many cases, existing concepts aren't enough to support implementation tailored to the customer. Much like with software, we often end up creating something new.

Organizing the Context of Soft Skills

The optimal soft skills depend on the organization and the project. Just like engineering, understanding the domain is crucial. I can investigate, verbalize, and organize the context necessary for developing and supporting soft skills.

For example, while I haven't written anything specific on DEV Community, I have created content for a Japanese audience. Here's how I've verbalized the context of the Japanese SI industry (in Japanese):

※ Here's some context on SI. In Japan, in-house software development is rare, and it's usually outsourced to specialized companies called System Integrators (SIers). Japanese SI is modeled after the manufacturing and construction industries, retaining a strong waterfall approach. The industry involves many layers of communication with a deeply ingrained negative culture of middlemen known as "nuking." There are many practices that seem absurd from an engineer's perspective, and some experts think this is a major reason why Japan lags behind in IT. I've verbalized these issues to drive improvement.

(Aside) Why Soft Skills Engineering Cannot be Replaced by AI

A common question is, "Can't generative AI solve these problems?" My clear answer is no.

Try it for yourself, and you will probably find that AI provides bland advice or vague detailed processes. That's to be expected since Soft Skills Engineering is itself a new concept and generative AI hasn't quite learned it well yet.

Generative AI cannot create new concepts for implementation support, for example. It outputs the most likely existing knowledge or its paraphrase based on probability. While it's unmatched in terms of knowledge volume and metaphors, it lacks creativity and, therefore, cannot develop or support detailed soft skill enhancements.

This is why SSE has value. The reason there hasn't been a genre like this before is simply that there was nobody capable of delivering it. I aim to be that pioneer.

Conclusion

I've provided several examples of Soft Skills Engineering. Specifically, these encompass three points:

Creating new categories (systematizing new skills)
Supporting implementation (by creating concrete concepts)
Verbalizing context for a detailed approach

Did you find it insightful? If you're interested, please check out my blog. I share my daily creations as a Soft Skills Engineer.