Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

bradfitz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 280 posts

Re: An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

#211

Post by privateSFacct »

reaperducer wrote: post #197
RobertRoberts wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you deal with people criticizing your masking tape construction? This has been a bane for me since I can remember. I love prototyping but hate the instant terrible feedback. People often look at the construction instead of the results and/or can't/won't imagine it a first step or how awesome a final product it can turn into.

Do things for yourself, not for others. Don't even look at the comments. Turn them off if you can. They're not paying you, so you are under no obligation to please them. On the other hand, if you know that you're going to get undesired feedback, why post your stuff in public in the first place? You don't get the glory without the risk. Before the internet, people did things because they liked to, and because they enj…

What's funny is that people who are paying like the masking tape construction - they often just want something working.

Re: An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

#212

Post by pvarangot »

AlexCoventry wrote: post #171
SamWhited wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When can this fad end It's not a fad, businesses aren't doing this just because it's trendy and cool and they think people will like it, they're doing it because it saves them a fortune and they care more about their bottom line than their employees well being.

I'm curious whether Google's decision to stick to open floor plans was data-driven.

Data: we can't get our shit together about who works on what and how many people we need where and when so our office needs to be an open canvass for our amazing executive creativity.

Yeah totally data driven.

Re: An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

#213

Post by Buge »

RobertRoberts wrote: post #115
bradfitz wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, I forgot about that door opener! I found the page: https://bradfitz.com/misc/projects/remotedoor/

How did you deal with people criticizing your masking tape construction? This has been a bane for me since I can remember. I love prototyping but hate the instant terrible feedback. People often look at the construction instead of the results and/or can't/won't imagine it a first step or how awesome a final product it can turn into.

> I'm not talking fashion, Mr. Fox, so much as function.

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/976f8050-5fc9-4cbc-abf3-16cfaa4...

Re: An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

#214

Post by bloodorange »

User23 wrote: post #102
chrshawkes wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many companies, even non-tech companies with tech divisions adopted this plague and now it seems there is no turning back. I find the constant movement to be the biggest distraction over noise.

If you have diagnosed ADHD and are forced to work in an extremely distracting environment like an open floor plan then talk to your manager and HR about getting an accommodation. They will work with you to find some reasonable way to limit the distraction based on the particulars of your workplace.

Alternately, they'll make no accommodations. The developer's productivity keeps falling. Eventually he's put on a PIP (performance improvement plan) and finally once it runs its course, they'll have a legal way to just kick him out.

Re: An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

#215

Post by athriren »

chrisseaton wrote: post #180
bovermyer wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's not. Capital expenditures are reported differently and held to different standards and strategies.

But if you have a million in funding, then who does it matter to if you spend it on infrastructure or operational expenses? You're still burning the same amount of cash.

It matters a lot to your board, your creditors and investors, the government. If you’re publicly held, it matters to a significantly larger number of investors and changes your legal obligations somewhat.

If you’ve ever heard someone talking about “the color of money” in a business context in regards to different types of incoming and outgoing accounts, this is what they’re talking about.

Whether capex is better or worse than opex from any particular vantage point is so heavily context dependent that I’m unsuited to provide a general overview, but it is easy to see how it could matter when you compare expenses attributable to salary vs expenses attributable to the purchase of real property in much the same way it matters to you as an individual whether you used your finances to buy a house or pay someone to mow your lawn.

Re: An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

#216

Post by lonelappde »

RobertRoberts wrote: post #115
bradfitz wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, I forgot about that door opener! I found the page: https://bradfitz.com/misc/projects/remotedoor/

How did you deal with people criticizing your masking tape construction? This has been a bane for me since I can remember. I love prototyping but hate the instant terrible feedback. People often look at the construction instead of the results and/or can't/won't imagine it a first step or how awesome a final product it can turn into.

Ignore the incompetent haters. Problem solved.

Re: An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

#218

Post by lonelappde »

agar wrote: post #82

It's been great fun to follow bradfitz's career. I first learned of him from a post on Slashdot about a cool remote controlled door hack in a college dorm. His roommate posted and basically said, "this guy is brilliant, it's just the tip of the iceberg - he posts what he's working on at bradfitz.com, check it out." This was in...1998? 1999? Seeing him start to post a daily journal, get frustrated, then write LiveJour…

> having a trillion dollar organization there to remove roadblocks would subvert a key driver for his personal innovation and inspiration.

I don't think anyone would say that Google is too cushy and roadblock free when it comes to getting things done. Mo' money, mo' problems.

Re: An Update on Bradfitz: Leaving Google

#219

Post by faizshah »

thrower123 wrote: post #184
magduf wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>My theory is that open space is extremely helpful to certain types of people, and those traits coincidentally overlap with the people calling the shots at a lot of companies. Sociable upper managerial-types probably value being able to collaborate more easily in open space more than being able to concentrate in private offices. Yes, and in addition, sociable developers value being able to collaborate more easily in…

If your developers skew towards those in their 20s, many of them have never experienced working in solitude. University culture is dominated by study groups and camping out in the library, so it's no great stretch to go from that to an open-office layout, or even one where you are forced to hot-desk. And laptops have been the norm. It's a little different when you were accustomed to go back to your dorm room where yo…

This theory doesn't pass the smell test.

Virtually every university library has quiet areas and collaborative areas now. Most of my peers go to the library to concentrate (work in solitude) and visit the loud area of the library when they want to be more social or meet in groups. Also it's not like people are constantly talking in the loud area either, most people are by themselves focusing on work but will be interrupted by friends occasionally whereas in the quiet area interruptions don't happen at all. You sometimes end up texting your friend next to you because you don't wanna disturb others.

There was a post a few months ago on HN saying that librarians are rethinking how libraries should be structured because people are using them to go and focus rather than for books.

Your hot-desk point is true though, my peers at the office and at school are more accustomed to carrying around a laptop and setting up wherever rather than setting up a personal workspace with pictures of family and the sort.

Post reply on HN