I know this "no man", had to work on an approval from him once, and I actually saw the infamous code change that implemented this. I don't remember him reviewing it. IIRC it was sent to a mailing list, to which he might have or have not subscribed.
You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
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Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#62I'm a bit of a "no man", and at a company I worked at in the past my (pseudo-technical) manager told me to spend hours creating some sort of extremely purpose-specific test environment to aid in resolving a ticket that would only take me 30 minutes to resolve directly - so I just resolved the ticket instead and closed it, and got on with the rest of my work.
Eventually I was dismissed from this company a couple of days later and this situation was raised as one of the points. I was told "you can't refuse a mission given to you by your manager, regardless of the circumstances, that's ridiculous" and when I replied "I have different views to you on this" it was considered to be rude. The person who dismissed me is more or less the management boxing bag - a certified "yes man" who nobody respected.
Of course this hasn't changed my attitude, though. Still a proud "no man" and wouldn't go with the flow unless I'm sure everyone completely understands the consequences. At some point people have to realise that their loyalties don't go towards their manager and instead should go towards the shareholders and clients. There is a bit of give on this, of course, but eventually you have to do the right thing by the people that actually stand to gain and lose - not just being another cog in the machine that exists only to support other cogs in that machine.
Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It seems like nobody communicates correctly in that company, the author included, and it must hurt in so many places. Depending on what you think of Google (or maybe Rackspace, but I think Google's more likely the source of that post), you might be surprised at what company you're talking about. I think you're spot on but am curious if you'd write that if you knew where they worked.
Rachel's at Facebook
In 2011, a few months before the date of this post, she had quit google.
Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#64The most important part of a fast car is good brakes.
Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#65I'm a bit of a "no man", and at a company I worked at in the past my (pseudo-technical) manager told me to spend hours creating some sort of extremely purpose-specific test environment to aid in resolving a ticket that would only take me 30 minutes to resolve directly - so I just resolved the ticket instead and closed it, and got on with the rest of my work. Eventually I was dismissed from this company a couple of da…
Sounds like a toxic place. Instead of compromising or arguing a technical point and making the discussion an engineer effort, your manager ruled by feudal law. This is the antithesis of good engineer, in which good technical arguments and trade offs are made with everyone equal at the table.
Why your manager is making technical decisions is beyond me as well. Managers are supposed to be managing people, not doing engineering work.
Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#66I definitely felt this decades ago when I started in the industry. It's 2019 now though. only 8 years later, but a lot of things changed. The industry is growing fast, faster than knowledge can be shared even with all the power of the internet. It's very bottom up, with newer engineers severely outnumbering those that have been around. People are making fat salaries and companies are catering to their whims. They/we'…
> it quickly (very quickly) get out of control
javascript
Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#67I definitely felt this decades ago when I started in the industry. It's 2019 now though. only 8 years later, but a lot of things changed. The industry is growing fast, faster than knowledge can be shared even with all the power of the internet. It's very bottom up, with newer engineers severely outnumbering those that have been around. People are making fat salaries and companies are catering to their whims. They/we'…
I've had the opposite experience. Working for a "no guy" who was hired fresh out of school, stayed at the same place for 8 years or whatever, and then blocked anything anyone learned from working somewhere else.
We started to wonder if his blocking of everything was just pathological because the tech stack wasn't all that great.
Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#68The extreme example of Chesterton's Fence. Is this, then, Chesterton's Berlin Wall? That is, a completely idiotic waste based on idiot politics?
I suppose it's also worth noting that Chesterton's Fence is an (imagined) real physical thing which required time and resources to construct. Thus the odds are pretty good that it was made for some real purpose, as opposed to a policy which is ephemeral and does not intrinsically require a significant expense of time or effort to create.
Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It seems like nobody communicates correctly in that company, the author included, and it must hurt in so many places. Depending on what you think of Google (or maybe Rackspace, but I think Google's more likely the source of that post), you might be surprised at what company you're talking about. I think you're spot on but am curious if you'd write that if you knew where they worked.
Rachel's at Facebook
[deleted]
Re: You've heard of “yes men”. Now learn about “no men” (2011)
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It seems like nobody communicates correctly in that company, the author included, and it must hurt in so many places. Depending on what you think of Google (or maybe Rackspace, but I think Google's more likely the source of that post), you might be surprised at what company you're talking about. I think you're spot on but am curious if you'd write that if you knew where they worked.
Rachel's at Facebook
She left Facebook early this year, IIRC.