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The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

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Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#121

Post by perl4ever »

summerdown2 wrote: post #119
henrikschroder wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If leading people is so goddamn easy compared to software engineering, why do so few engineers want to move into people leadership, and why do so many of them absolutely suck at it? I think you are severely discounting the skills it takes to lead people, and you are also making an extremely optimistic assumption that companies in the future somehow would be magically more meritocratic than existing companies, when th…

I don't disagree with you about leadership being hard. But the argument you use to get there is easily rebuttable: > If leading people is so goddamn easy compared to software engineering, why do so few engineers want to move into people leadership, a) because they wouldn't enjoy it as much as their current job? b) because for engineers, being a manager does not give them status amongst their peer group. > and why do…

"b) because for engineers, being a manager does not give them status amongst their peer group."

I am so reminded of Brave New World...

"Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki...I'm so glad I'm a Beta"

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#122

Post by proc0 »

henrikschroder wrote: post #110
proc0 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

If leading people is so goddamn easy compared to software engineering, why do so few engineers want to move into people leadership, and why do so many of them absolutely suck at it? I think you are severely discounting the skills it takes to lead people, and you are also making an extremely optimistic assumption that companies in the future somehow would be magically more meritocratic than existing companies, when th…

Maybe I should have clarified, but leadership will have to be an additional requirement on top of knowing how to develop. If you look at the history of software development in enterprise, software developers have increasingly had to work multiple overlapping roles, the more recent of which, in my experience, is making developers be testers as well. It used be QA was a separate role, but now it has evaporated because there are so many tools surrounding this discipline that require knowing how to code, so exclusive testing roles are not favored as much anymore. I don't how many years from now this is, but I really believe that everyone will have to know how to code to a great extent in order to use the software tools of the discipline.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#123

Post by proc0 »

james_s_tayler wrote: post #116
proc0 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think current "leadership" is on its way to being extinct. It will be replaced by algorithms and best practices, along with better tools. If you're not contributing to code, there will be very little room for them in the software company of the future. The concepts that non-technical leaders have to learn are trivial compared to the advanced techniques of software development.

You're joking right?

No, but I did leave out some important clarifications. It's not that leaders will go away, but that I think leaders will also be required to contribute to some code. Also this isn't in the near future either, but just like many roles (i.e. QA), leadership will slowly become absorbed by developers who will have multiple specializations along with knowing how to code.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#124

Post by Pxtl »

teddyh wrote: post #120
Pxtl wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just the Trump thing. He loves to butt heads with the social justice types in a way that makes him look awful. Wrote some creepy antifemist blog-posts too. In the wake of a shooting (can't remember which) he tried to push his WhenHub product as a journalism tool. And his fence-sitting support of Trump has always been "now I'm no Trump fan but here's a long list of things Trump is good at and I'll be very def…

Again, actual references to your allegations would be useful.

https://ew.com/article/2011/03/30/dilbert-scott-adams-femini...

https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/11556797972...

https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/75939845922...

Also the sockpuppet incident:

https://www.salon.com/2011/04/19/scott_adams_sock_puppetry_s...

There's also the Affirmations thing - the guy believes in his own brand of The Secret, where writing something down over and over again and wanting it bad enough will magic the universe into making it happen.

http://mindhacks.org/scott-adams-affirmations/135

The guy is kind of a mess. At this point he's his own worst enemy, PR wise.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#125

Post by perl4ever »

kornakiewicz wrote: post #117
bcassedy wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why CEOs make less $ than software engineers right?

I don't really agree with commenter above, but this argument is blatantly wrong. Executives are paid the way they are just because they are in charge of, among other things, compensations.

An explanation that contains circular logic is not an explanation.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#126

Post by perl4ever »

teddyh wrote: post #88
Pxtl wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adams has gone a bit nuts in recent years and has become quite a controversial figure. Like, Ive seen him in political flamewars on Twitter responding to criticism with pictures of his abs. He was a little weird for a long time, but his divorce in 2014 kind of unmoored him.

As far as I know, his “cancellation” stems from one thing, and one thing only: He says that Trump is skilled at being convincing (and explains how, at length). This, in the eyes of others, makes him a Trump apologist, and must therefore be shunned. If you had a link to that weird tweet I would like to see it; it would be interesting to see if I agree with your characterization.

"Trump is skilled at being convincing"

Isn't that an odd thing to say, from a completely objective, dispassionate, and non-partisan perspective?

Perhaps it just seems obvious to me because I am familiar with the page on 538[1] where they track approval ratings in parallel with (I think) every other administration that was heavily polled.

Every other president has had their ups and downs, no matter how controversial or how partisan people were. But with this one, the percentages for and against seem practically set in stone at approximately the same ratio as the election. That seems to indicate he's convincing almost nobody who likes him or who dislikes him to change their minds.

[1]https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#127

Post by Pxtl »

briefcomment wrote: post #96
Pxtl wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adams has gone a bit nuts in recent years and has become quite a controversial figure. Like, Ive seen him in political flamewars on Twitter responding to criticism with pictures of his abs. He was a little weird for a long time, but his divorce in 2014 kind of unmoored him.

He's still very lucid, creative, and open-minded. If you have the energy to not get offended by ideas, he's a good read.

Absolutely. He's a heck of a writer. I loved his older books. But for me his problems have made him intolerable.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#128

Post by james_s_tayler »

proc0 wrote: post #123
james_s_tayler wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're joking right?

No, but I did leave out some important clarifications. It's not that leaders will go away, but that I think leaders will also be required to contribute to some code. Also this isn't in the near future either, but just like many roles (i.e. QA), leadership will slowly become absorbed by developers who will have multiple specializations along with knowing how to code.

No.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#129

Post by cushychicken »

harimau777 wrote: post #80
cushychicken wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I understand that culture counts for a lot, but modern organisational cultures are getting complaints that "leadership" is not going to solve at scale. I'm not sure if I agree or disagree with you - on the one hand, this statement seems wrong, but on the other hand, everything else you said makes a ton of sense to me. Everyone seems so caught up by culture these days that they forget the other big part of the leader…

How would you approach customizing the process to the individual or to a given circumstance? For example, I had a situation where I had a story to write functional tests for a piece of our software. The story's scope had creeped (there turned out to be disagreement between different levels of leadership over what the tests should cover), but I had reached a point where I had implemented roughly 80% of the tests that…

>How would you approach customizing the process to the individual or to a given circumstance?

Ideally, you don't. The heart of a good process starts with asking up front: "Is this situation generic enough that we need a procedure for it?"

If yes, write process.

If no, handle as a one off.

I'm not sure how your example applies.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#130

Post by henrikschroder »

proc0 wrote: post #122
henrikschroder wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If leading people is so goddamn easy compared to software engineering, why do so few engineers want to move into people leadership, and why do so many of them absolutely suck at it? I think you are severely discounting the skills it takes to lead people, and you are also making an extremely optimistic assumption that companies in the future somehow would be magically more meritocratic than existing companies, when th…

Maybe I should have clarified, but leadership will have to be an additional requirement on top of knowing how to develop. If you look at the history of software development in enterprise, software developers have increasingly had to work multiple overlapping roles, the more recent of which, in my experience, is making developers be testers as well. It used be QA was a separate role, but now it has evaporated because…

If you look at the history of software development in enterprise, somehow, engineers never seem to be rewarded according to their actual contribution to the bottom line.

Somehow, the managerial class and the investor class insert themselves between the fruits of the labour and the engineers performing said labour. And if you think that's suddenly going to stop because the nature of the labour changes, then I think you're mistaken.

Enterprise structures rewards rent-seekers, because they are built by, and controlled by rent-seekers, utilizing disposable labour. The only way a power structure like that can be flipped, is through revolution. Or by forming your own company, out-competing these enterprises.

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