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Heisenberg Developers (2014)
121–130 of 193 posts
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
The author is simply describing a transformation from a system driven mostly by intrinsic motivation to a system driven by an extrinsic one. Typically complex tasks are solved better in an environment with emphasis on intrinsic motivators. It's not wissful thinking. It's a keen observation. Basically management offloads the responsibility of actually managing to a process of accounting. It's a less skillfull, less pr…
This, 100%. I agree that complex tasks are generally better solved in an environment driven by intrinsic motivation - heck, probably all tasks and not just complex tasks. I'm not sure if Jira and other task tracking tools can be used just as well to document work done by intrinsic motivators though. I mean, yes, they _can_ be, but I don't think they're as good as they could be. In fact, I'd say there's a big gap in t…
The same research that shows that complex tasks are better solved with intrinsic motivation also shows that simple tasks are better solved with extrinsic motivation. That is, measuring mechanical/repetitive work does increase its productivity.
What we have today is an almost complete lack of mechanical/repetitive work to measure.
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#123The story begins with a new feature request that the "business" thinks is needed while the "developers" think is not. It's really hard to pick sides here without knowing more about the specifics. I've seen situations where developers are completely wrong about the business value of something and I've seen it the other way around. If the new feature was indeed critical to the business then the boss finds himself in a…
> Now obviously the new PM and his buddies (I've seen this before) only make everything worse. "Jira" or "Scrum" or "Agile" wasn't really appreciated by the old team used to doing whatever they wanted to do. Everything I have read about agile is that if you do it right, everyone is happy. The customer, the developers, and the managers. Agile itself is supposed to be development-centric. Tonight, I realized that Agile…
> Everything I have read about agile is that if you do it right, everyone is happy. The customer, the developers, and the managers.
So they said about all its predecessors, as well. Pretty soon, they start adding "...of course, you must have exceptionally competent people", and then they define 'doing it right' by 'having a successful outcome'.
Problem solved by begging the question.
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
What the author describes is that the manager manipulated the consensus building in the team, by adding friends to the team so he can start ignoring them. Consensus building is a key part of any organization and doing this is not ethical. Then, what you describe: reducing technical debt is a nice to have? life is too short to care about quality? That's pretty much, in your own words "the coward way": "checking out me…
This is almost completely wrong. Building consensus is just one management style. It is by no means the only one, or even the only effective one. It's not unethical to manage in a different fashion. The people being managed don't like it, but that doesn't make it unethical. Just find a better job. Checking out and doing what you're told is a rational response, one that management would not be opposed to seeing. You'r…
You are assuming that staying 8 hours a day in a job you don't care about is less consuming than staying those 8 hours in a job you love.
I can't even imagine where did you get that from. One will cause deep depression and burnout in no time - the other is a wonderful life experience.
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#125This is one of those wishful thinking rants that serves to highlight the rose-colored glasses many developers see the business world through. All good things eventually come to an end, and you need to be ready for the inevitable. The author described two perfectly good responses for this scenario, and managed to paint them both as the cowards path. Leaving the company, and checking out mentally, letting the people wi…
The author is simply describing a transformation from a system driven mostly by intrinsic motivation to a system driven by an extrinsic one. Typically complex tasks are solved better in an environment with emphasis on intrinsic motivators. It's not wissful thinking. It's a keen observation. Basically management offloads the responsibility of actually managing to a process of accounting. It's a less skillfull, less pr…
> The problem was not the Jira.
The first problem was thinking that you could set meaningful hard deadlines for inadequately defined goals. The second problem was acting as though they were meaningful.
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is almost completely wrong. Building consensus is just one management style. It is by no means the only one, or even the only effective one. It's not unethical to manage in a different fashion. The people being managed don't like it, but that doesn't make it unethical. Just find a better job. Checking out and doing what you're told is a rational response, one that management would not be opposed to seeing. You'r…
You are assuming that staying 8 hours a day in a job you don't care about is less consuming than staying those 8 hours in a job you love. I can't even imagine where did you get that from. One will cause deep depression and burnout in no time - the other is a wonderful life experience.
[deleted]
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is almost completely wrong. Building consensus is just one management style. It is by no means the only one, or even the only effective one. It's not unethical to manage in a different fashion. The people being managed don't like it, but that doesn't make it unethical. Just find a better job. Checking out and doing what you're told is a rational response, one that management would not be opposed to seeing. You'r…
You are assuming that staying 8 hours a day in a job you don't care about is less consuming than staying those 8 hours in a job you love. I can't even imagine where did you get that from. One will cause deep depression and burnout in no time - the other is a wonderful life experience.
[deleted]
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
What the author describes is that the manager manipulated the consensus building in the team, by adding friends to the team so he can start ignoring them. Consensus building is a key part of any organization and doing this is not ethical. Then, what you describe: reducing technical debt is a nice to have? life is too short to care about quality? That's pretty much, in your own words "the coward way": "checking out me…
This is almost completely wrong. Building consensus is just one management style. It is by no means the only one, or even the only effective one. It's not unethical to manage in a different fashion. The people being managed don't like it, but that doesn't make it unethical. Just find a better job. Checking out and doing what you're told is a rational response, one that management would not be opposed to seeing. You'r…
It seems to me that checking out mentally is only an option if you're doing mindless, repetitive work. But as Fred Brooks put it, "The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff." So is it even possible for programmers to check out mentally without seriously degrading the quality of their work?
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#129One issue with how developers are hired these days, is many large companies are hiring largely for classical knowledge (aka, memorizing: Algorithms, DS) and mathematical ability. Try interviewing at MS, big G or Amazon and you will see what I mean. These developers are great as code monkeys, but a lot of them don't have any idea what their code contributes to, or even how their business makes money. I attended a hack…
I agree. In fact, the more I look at this problem, the more convinced I become that coding shouldn't be an end to itself. Very few companies need super-smart generic programmer cut-outs. Instead, they need business folks who can program.
It makes sense if you think about it. If software is truly eating the world, it's an upheaval on the scale of writing. Nobody hires specialized people to write; that's idiotic. Writing is so closely associated with what we do day-to-day that whatever your job (in the business sector), you're expected to be able to form a sentence and write it down. Same goes for programming.
I have no idea how long it will take to fully make the transition. A hundred years? Twenty? It'll be interesting to watch, though!
Re: Heisenberg Developers (2014)
#130The story begins with a new feature request that the "business" thinks is needed while the "developers" think is not. It's really hard to pick sides here without knowing more about the specifics. I've seen situations where developers are completely wrong about the business value of something and I've seen it the other way around. If the new feature was indeed critical to the business then the boss finds himself in a…
> "business" thinks is needed while the "developers" think is not
Some correction here: "business" thinks is needed, while "developers" think is impossible. Have you really never seen that happen?
Then, a developer gets a great idea that turn an impossible idea into a possible mega-project. But, for lack of experience with this kind of project, thinks it's an small, viable one. Then, the project fails - big duh.
What's a problem here is that all it takes is one instance of this happening to the management to declare its team a failure and replace everything. Without any inspection or introspection. That's (if the history is complete) a profound lack of professionalism.