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How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

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Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#71

Post by xivzgrev »

Due date driven work isn’t necessarily because that’s copied from manufacturing. It often seems to be just an accountability and planning measure. Ie if we (stakeholders) know the thing will be delivered in June, then I can launch my thing in July and I build that into my forecasts.

If there were no deadlines for features And teams could pivot willy billy based on whatever they find, cross functional planning would probably be difficult.

I think the right hybrid for larger companies is some agree on cadence for adjustments in direction based on customer feedback / learnings (eg quarterly)

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#72

Post by OJFord »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #37
m463 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's hilarious - I can't help but think of this dilbert cartoon on making change: https://dilbert.com/strip/1993-03-20 (I am not putting you down)

I would have thought of this one: https://dilbert.com/strip/1998-03-17 My dad always disliked the strip you cite, because the change Dilbert expects is $5.25, but there's no way to provide $7.14 in a way that couldn't be trivially reduced to $2.14. If the goal is to make things easy for the cashier, he should obviously provide $2.14 and just keep the $5 he already has anyway.

Oh dear. Erroneous 'grossing up' percentages and mis-non-use of percentage points is a pet hate of mine. I didn't realise I was a cartoon!

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#73

Post by alexashka »

It's inevitable, isn't it, given that we have to work for a living?

In school they call it 'procrastinating', when you're supposed to be doing an assignment, but you're doing everything but the assignment?

You can force people to do the bare minimum - I just don't know how long we can have enough jobs where the bare minimum is better than not doing it at all, or automating it in some fashion.

This is the question of the 21st century and I'm afraid it'll only be the upcoming generation of politicians like Andrew Yang who even stand a chance of answering it in a way that doesn't lead to significant civil unrest.

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#74

Post by jakear »

totetsu wrote: post #56
Robelius wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PHB Effect?

this maybe? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29214487/

Certainly not. But the results they list are interesting - my gut tells me they wouldn’t be reproducible.

Can’t seem to find the full text though, pretty messed up that my tax dollars go to finance academia that I can’t even consume.

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#75

Post by eindiran »

totetsu wrote: post #56
Robelius wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PHB Effect?

this maybe? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29214487/

"PHB" means "Pointy-Haired Boss": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointy-haired_Boss

The relevant bit:

> He is notable for his micromanagement, gross incompetence, obliviousness to his surroundings, and unhelpful buzzword usage; yet somehow retains power in the workplace.

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#76

Post by taneq »

danbmil99 wrote: post #66
worriedformyjob wrote: post #13

Obviously using a throwaway here. Our board members got it into their heads that successful companies must have an AI "play", so they instructed the CEO to invest about 10% of our development budget on AI. We are doing absolutely inane projects that have no hope of succeeding. We serve a niche industry where certified professionals have to do certain tasks personally, instead of being able to delegate to secretaries.…

Think about open-sourcing some of the stuff you're doing. Otherwise it's likely to stay buried in the corporate IP portfolio

Is it really worth doing so if it's as inane as they say?

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#77

Post by rb808 »

The problem is that software no-one wants often has the best careers.

I worked on a system used by many people and it was hard work, was getting 10-15 years old, held together with tape and lots of users who all had their gripes and requests.

I moved to a system hardly used by anyone and life is so much better. Get to play with interesting technology and no one minds because there is now risk of annoying a our users who dont really care. The best thing is I get paid more here too.

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#78

Post by emmelaich »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #37
m463 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's hilarious - I can't help but think of this dilbert cartoon on making change: https://dilbert.com/strip/1993-03-20 (I am not putting you down)

I would have thought of this one: https://dilbert.com/strip/1998-03-17 My dad always disliked the strip you cite, because the change Dilbert expects is $5.25, but there's no way to provide $7.14 in a way that couldn't be trivially reduced to $2.14. If the goal is to make things easy for the cashier, he should obviously provide $2.14 and just keep the $5 he already has anyway.

I'm sure that's intended; Dilbert is smart but dumb. Or dumb but smart.

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#79

Post by np_tedious »

worriedformyjob wrote: post #13

Obviously using a throwaway here. Our board members got it into their heads that successful companies must have an AI "play", so they instructed the CEO to invest about 10% of our development budget on AI. We are doing absolutely inane projects that have no hope of succeeding. We serve a niche industry where certified professionals have to do certain tasks personally, instead of being able to delegate to secretaries.…

Would it be a better (even marginally) play to use AI to detect if they are passing off the work to underlings?

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#80

Post by marcosdumay »

rurp wrote: post #68
m463 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's hilarious - I can't help but think of this dilbert cartoon on making change: https://dilbert.com/strip/1993-03-20 (I am not putting you down)

Years ago I worked at a store with registers that didn't calculate change; myself and the other cashiers would need to calculate the change mentally. Once in a while I would get people like this who threw out convoluted amounts of change. Normally it was fine, but sometimes towards the end of a long day when my brain was tired I wanted to strangle them. The store actually had really great employees overall and I susp…

The Python effect for cashiers?
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