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What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

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Re: What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

#21

Post by Spooky23 »

matte_black wrote: post #14
geofft wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very sorry for your loss. I've heard "wins the lottery" as a less morbid metaphor for the same concept: one of your employees stops working in a low-probability event. Of course the higher-probability event is leaving their job (but somehow it's less polite to just say that); you usually get two weeks to hurriedly start documenting things, and with the current state of employee/employer relations you might easily…

I don’t like when people use “wins the lottery” because it leads to distracting tangents. A person that wins a lottery could do anything. How much did they win? Maybe they’ll still keep working? Maybe they’ll go off to start their own company and take a bunch of key employees with them? Maybe they’ll be broke in a year and come back to their job? Maybe they don’t leave right away? These are just distractions you don’…

I agree, and the "don't want to talk about morbid stuff" shows an overall immaturity in thinking about risk and controls. People die, people get sick, people leave for other jobs or roles, people steal. The institution has to be able to survive.

That's not to say folks should be callous about it. But failing to think about things like this is also unfair and stressful to employees who are not dead.

Re: What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

#22

Post by danso »

TomK32 wrote: post #15

I got hit by a bus two years ago, granted it was more of a rude push by the side of the bus that I was riding for 6 hours from Athens to its last stop Preveza and the bus driver was just about to park his bus, but getting hit by a bus is not necessary lethal. I simply got back on my feet and dusted my pants.

I don’t think the posted article is referring to non-lethal bus collisions.

Re: What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

#23

Post by jacquesm »

an-allen wrote: post #5

Real Story Here. A colleague and I developed a training course on the Foundations of DevOps. We started the course off with a discussion about risk in Software Delivery and IT in general. Attendees would often surface the "Key-Person Risk" or the "Hit by a Bus Risk" to which we would use as a teachable moment for pair programming, cross pollination, and measuring and improving the time it takes for new joins to becom…

That's really tough. Sorry to hear about that. It's all abstract until it actually happens and then suddenly all those lessons bear fruit. You of course hope you'll never need them, but just in case you (or those that take over from you) do you will be very happy (insofar as the situation allows) that you were prepared.

It is an interesting phenomenon that I hear several times per year 'but what are the chances of this actually happening?'. The chances in any particular case are pretty good. But with 43 companies we looked at in 2018 and 100+ over the last years there are multiple such instances that I can refer to so even if the chances are not super high they probably are a lot higher than you think they are!

Re: What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

#24

Post by diminoten »

elfakyn wrote: post #18
matte_black wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t like when people use “wins the lottery” because it leads to distracting tangents. A person that wins a lottery could do anything. How much did they win? Maybe they’ll still keep working? Maybe they’ll go off to start their own company and take a bunch of key employees with them? Maybe they’ll be broke in a year and come back to their job? Maybe they don’t leave right away? These are just distractions you don’…

The great thing about hypotheticals is you can just say "wins the lottery, leaves the job, and never comes back" and it's implied in the scenario that you shouldn't read too much into it.

A lot wordier than "hit by a bus" though.

Re: What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

#25

Post by geofft »

matte_black wrote: post #14
geofft wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very sorry for your loss. I've heard "wins the lottery" as a less morbid metaphor for the same concept: one of your employees stops working in a low-probability event. Of course the higher-probability event is leaving their job (but somehow it's less polite to just say that); you usually get two weeks to hurriedly start documenting things, and with the current state of employee/employer relations you might easily…

I don’t like when people use “wins the lottery” because it leads to distracting tangents. A person that wins a lottery could do anything. How much did they win? Maybe they’ll still keep working? Maybe they’ll go off to start their own company and take a bunch of key employees with them? Maybe they’ll be broke in a year and come back to their job? Maybe they don’t leave right away? These are just distractions you don’…

Hm. I guess if you read it as a euphemism for getting a better job offer elsewhere, winning a medium-sized lottery prize is more accurate: you can, in theory, contact a former employee, buy them drinks in exchange for getting their advice on a thorny problem, counteroffer them either now or in a year, etc. (And with a larger prize it's not impossible they'll use the winnings to start their own company or maybe even split the winnings with a coworker they're friends with.

Winning a lottery prize large enough to never talk to anyone again, and getting hit by a vehicle, are both very low-probability events. Employees (especially good employees, and perhaps in groups) leaving is a much more pressing risk.

Re: What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

#26

Post by roywiggins »

danso wrote: post #22
TomK32 wrote: post #15

I got hit by a bus two years ago, granted it was more of a rude push by the side of the bus that I was riding for 6 hours from Athens to its last stop Preveza and the bus driver was just about to park his bus, but getting hit by a bus is not necessary lethal. I simply got back on my feet and dusted my pants.

I don’t think the posted article is referring to non-lethal bus collisions.

Guess it depends on what kind of non-lethal. There's lots of ways to be functionally knocked out of commission for a long time.

Re: What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

#28

Post by cat199 »

geofft wrote: post #7
an-allen wrote: post #5

Real Story Here. A colleague and I developed a training course on the Foundations of DevOps. We started the course off with a discussion about risk in Software Delivery and IT in general. Attendees would often surface the "Key-Person Risk" or the "Hit by a Bus Risk" to which we would use as a teachable moment for pair programming, cross pollination, and measuring and improving the time it takes for new joins to becom…

I'm very sorry for your loss. I've heard "wins the lottery" as a less morbid metaphor for the same concept: one of your employees stops working in a low-probability event. Of course the higher-probability event is leaving their job (but somehow it's less polite to just say that); you usually get two weeks to hurriedly start documenting things, and with the current state of employee/employer relations you might easily…

the problem with 'wins the lottery' as a metaphor to me is basically that one is calling the winner a jerk..

if I suddenly could retire without a care in the world, I probably wouldn't mind dropping in for a day or two every now and again for knowledge transfer, even if I didn't like the company overall, to help my teammates..

Re: What If Linus Torvalds Gets Hit by a Bus? (2000)

#30

Post by bryanlarsen »

geofft wrote: post #7
an-allen wrote: post #5

Real Story Here. A colleague and I developed a training course on the Foundations of DevOps. We started the course off with a discussion about risk in Software Delivery and IT in general. Attendees would often surface the "Key-Person Risk" or the "Hit by a Bus Risk" to which we would use as a teachable moment for pair programming, cross pollination, and measuring and improving the time it takes for new joins to becom…

I'm very sorry for your loss. I've heard "wins the lottery" as a less morbid metaphor for the same concept: one of your employees stops working in a low-probability event. Of course the higher-probability event is leaving their job (but somehow it's less polite to just say that); you usually get two weeks to hurriedly start documenting things, and with the current state of employee/employer relations you might easily…

As far as I can tell, "hits by a bus" is actually the euphemism. The highest probability way to lose an employee is just the employee quitting to work somewhere else. But you can't say that because it implies that your current workplace is suboptimal. Whereas "hits by a bus" is out of the control of your employer, so safe to say...
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