Stop Speaking in Bullshit
blog.danilocampos.com
Stop Speaking in Bullshit
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Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#2Good piece.
The second job description is written by a manager-type that only vaguely understands the technology. Actually, a place like that would be okay to work if they gave you high enough levels of authority. If you were to inquire about the position, you could say something like, "Hi, I'm interested in your posting, I fit your desired qualifications and skills quite well, but I was wondering who I'd directly report to and how much experience they have with technology?" Interview them a little. Then if (when) they say not much, you explain you'd be interested in the position so long as you get to do things your way. They give you the broad overview of what they want to achieve, you give them the timetable, resources required, and method you propose to achieve it. Working for a non-technical boss isn't actually always the horror it's made out to be, so long as he respects your talent and stays out of the way.
I've managed people with various skills I don't have, and it's actually not that hard - I explain what the high level objectives we want to achieve are, have those objectives repeated back to me in the person's own words, and then let them build a plan to get there from here and execute it. I'll do enough research into the field that I can ask a smart question or two and generally know what's going on, but then I try to just get good people and stay out of the way. If you can set that sort of thing up, it can be quite satisfying if you like self starting and autonomy.
Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#3There is no incentive for people to speak clearly[1] when their careers, environment and everyday interactions are highly hierarchical, and they're paid, and indeed retain their positions, by being obscure, in an attempt to sound "big". Sometimes they don't even mean it.
Getting clear answers from the Enterprise types is akin to the Socratic method, if not psycho-analysis. You would have to repeat the same question over and over again, until you can illicit the root answer from layers of vague reasons and non-goals. If you're a contractor, a good way is to not make eye-contact, and "delve" deeper into thinking as you listen to their answers (you're not really thinking, you're just encouraging them to think, by mimicking you.)
Of all the W-questions, "Why" is the most important. Keep asking why, why, why, until you hit a logical tera firma, something closest to reality, further down from their tower of froth, and woolly ideas.
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[1] I was gonna say "clear spoken", O'oh! Then I remembered my Strunk & White.
Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#4This isn't just a characteristic of the tech community, but people in general. People who don't know or understand something, companies who aren't selling life improving substantial products, and those without confidence need to resort to the fine art of bullshit to make them feel more confident in whatever snake oil they're trying to sell. When you don't have the goods, it's much easier and beneficial to you to add the fluff. It sucks, but it isn't going away. :(
Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#5As someone who reads scores of pitches a week from tech startups, I can't say how much I agree with this.
Most of the pitches I get these days force me to wade through swamps of buzzwords that have become absolutely meaningless. It's enough of a turn-off that I pretty much ignore those pitches -- I figure that if the company had something really exciting to tell me, they'd figure out a way to tell me so within a couple sentences without using endless strings of empty jargon.
In pitching (to journalists, or users, or potential employees), keep in mind the most basic rule of poetry: The fewer the words, the more powerful the statement. I.e., less is more.
Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#6Here's another great bullshit speak piece by an entrepreneurship program at ASU called the "Venture Catalyst." Warning, there are more buzzwords here than a new employee handbook.
asuventurecatalyst.org
Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#7The strange thing about this article is I read the first patch of job descriptions and I thought you were poised to make fun of them - not the latter one.
Those first descriptions make me wonder if it's really OK to run the same startup template again and again, even if you say that it makes you "human". I expect to read that first job description amongst a million three-person startups - besides maybe the profitable part. Is that really who you are? The cool start-up?
The inability to show discernible qualities in this kind of company kinda worries me as it comes to differentiating yourself in product - are you also the same company that's the next Google that can do better SEO and just loves that Lean Startup philosophy? I mean, they're all real and we want to do them, but what does that mean? At least those automated, robotic startups aren't pretending to be something else. They're automated machines. But if your straightforward nap-centric job description is trying to adhere to a standard professed in this forum, I wonder about your true ability to imbue the unique competitive advantages that will ultimately make you successful.
Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#8Ever notice how much easier it is to talk straight when what you've done is legitimately impressive? Google's press release is held up as an example. I bet that press release would be every bit as interesting if they just said "Oh, umm, hi, yeah...look at this!" followed by a video or in-person demonstration of the cars driving themselves.
As my 3rd grade teacher always said - actions speak louder than words.
Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#9That job posting stood out to me as well, and I think for startups this is great advice. However, the elephant in the room is what a pitch for Windows Mobile actually should look like?
It seems like acknowledging the shitty past would be a huge gamble, because you would be reminding customers of how bad Windows Mobile was in general, which makes the customer question how much it really could have improved. Granted, everyone appreciates straight talk in theory, but they also have to weigh how many people will correctly interpret a straight message versus how many would be sucked in by the BS. Of course it would have been much easier if they had something truly interesting to offer, but let's face it, most products are not world-changing, and for a company with the kind of political overhead Microsoft has, it's already a major success to ship something that brings them up to par with other market players.
Re: Stop Speaking in Bullshit
#10But speaking bullshit is so comforting, it makes you feel safe.
When you're synergizing your core competencies dynamically, nobody understands what you meant and nobody is going to challenge you. You have the power. You must be important, people are paying attention to you, or at least doing a good job of faking it.
Besides baffling them with bullshit is what makes meetings work, and meetings are where things get done! (aren't they?)
//Gur nobir jnf fngver