Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#1

Post by jamesku » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 6:57 PM UTC

The million dollar question. This is no doubt a problem that almost every developer has, that they've somewhat come to accept as normal. I'm just curious to see if anybody has any answers.

For example, the company I'm employed at now is all over React Native as being the savior of everything. While I think that it's a good platform, I'm also cautious of investing all of our energy into it, instead of diversifying, and ignoring advances made in platforms more conducive to AR, ML, and WebAssembly.

I know that favoring CRUD apps over missing the boat in AR, ML, and WebAssembly, is in the company's best interest. But it's neither going to be in mine or the company's best interest if we invest all of our energy into 1 platform and 2 years from now have an "oh crap" moment where we realize we're too far behind. Dogma is extremely dangerous for this reason. What is the most diplomatic yet assertive way to combat it?

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#2

Post by bradhe » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 7:46 PM UTC

You haven’t articulated why those other technology categories are important to your company’s technical strategy outside of “don’t wanna miss the boat” (which in itself is rather dogmatic). Start there.

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#3

Post by mabynogy » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 7:48 PM UTC

Start a project in your free time inside your office hours to show them they are wrong.

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#4

Post by fnbr » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 7:50 PM UTC

It's tough. I experienced that at a previous job, at a consulting firm, which prized Excel expertise over everything else (eg over data science skills with Python).

I just left, as I knew there was no easy way to argue.

I think you're in a tough spot. Unless you're very senior, and have buy-in from all the higher-ups, it's going to be almost impossible to change the course of the company. Unless you have a specific reason to stay, I'd move on. It'll be a huge battle that you're most likely going to lose, and even if you win, you'll be blamed for all the downsides of the solution you propose. That was my experience.

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#5

Post by maxxxxx » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 7:52 PM UTC

It depends on your company but for most companies investing in the latest platform is not useful. The danger of "missing the boat" is often less than chasing the latest tech while not providing customer value.

If you want to expand the company's tech portfolio you should look at where there is a gap right now. Provide examples how ML or whatever could provide more value to the customer than there is right now.

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#6

Post by maxxxxx » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 7:53 PM UTC

mabynogy wrote: post #3

Start a project in your free time inside your office hours to show them they are wrong.

Most likely they aren't wrong though.

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#7

Post by badminton1 » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 7:57 PM UTC

I think there are many problems with this question:

- Building an application that features Augmented reality on React Native is possible. What prevents you from adding AR to react native application? Project requirements, not technology.

- Machine learning is subset of computer science. What exactly in React native prevents you from applying machine learning concepts? Project requirements, not technology.

- WebAssembly interoperates with JavaScript. I don't see the problem here.

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#8

Post by tootie » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 7:59 PM UTC

My company is investing heavily in ML capabilities despite having no strategy whatsoever on what to do with it.

The fundamental problem is a lack of customer focus. Technologists get so far up their own butts that they think technology choices are more important than solving customer problems.

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#9

Post by jxub » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 8:00 PM UTC

mabynogy wrote: post #3

Start a project in your free time inside your office hours to show them they are wrong.

Is it right to invest so much time and energy in a company that isn't even yours?

I can't see the point of doing work demos dressed as pet projects unless you have a performance bonus or significant equity at stake.

Even then following blindly their "dogma" will make you look better, at least in the short and medium term.

Besides, they may even sue you for IP violation if you use any of their data/code/business rules for your datasets/program.

*

Edit

I haven't read well the "inside" bit in inside your office hours in parent's post so my first point is moot and scarface74's remarks are on point. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Re: Ask HN: What to do about dogma in a company culture?

#10

Post by crb002 » Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 8:10 PM UTC

Collect data, make it available. If data contradicts dogma then there is awareness.

On futureproofing emphasize X year plans with same stack will use X years old methodology product; and will not integrate business value until placed into production. Product launches should have conservative ballance of feature set and time to market.