We're talking about culture in tech, probably relatable:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rlmnptRyRWi6w73x-blasw
Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
241–250 of 405 posts
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny enough i though so as well but discovered quite quickly that without this stuff, a lot of people are doing shit. Do i think someone needs to tell me not to put every shitty tool on my work laptop which has a corp certificate? Access to vpn and corp network? With access to HyperScalers? No. What do my collegues? Everything. Oh there is a nice new shiny tool and it sends metrics to an external service, lets try t…
I'm not in favour of the "BigCorp controls my entire machine" approach, but this is silly. It's not a lot of people doing shit, it's a problem of scale. Have you verified that every single application installed on your machines sends no telemetry, no crash reporting, and has no random web servers running that run arbitrary code? It's likely that you've missed one application. Now multiply that by 10,000 employees - a…
When you reach a certain scale, you will verify the tools which are running on the machines of your employees.
I'm not seeing a problem with it and my default stack is not that big: chrome, intellij, shell etc. it is reasonable and someone has to do it.
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#243In 1605 there was an attempt to blow up the British Parliament during the state opening by placing explosives in the cellars. 415 years later they still search the cellars for barrels of explosives, using oil lanterns and armed with swords. I feel that so many organisations are doing the same thing, maintaining an old solution for a problem that no longer exists. So I think it's just as, or more, important to apply t…
To be clear, they don't continue to search the cellars as an actual security measure. It's purely ceremonial and done as part of the traditions around opening Parliament for a new session. Hence the oil lanterns and swords.
They also (ceremonially) hold a member of the Commons "hostage" while the Queen is in Parliament to ensure her safe return.
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#244In BigCorps, if there's a stupid requirement, there's usually a reason for the stupid requirement to be there in the first place but getting to the reason might require un-peeling a few org layers to since the people enforcing the policy will not be the people who wrote the policy. A more productive use of time would be to understand the reason for the policy, document out why it doesn't apply to your case and then a…
> Chesterton's fence Is there a "reverse" version of this where you do understand the reasoning, explain clearly why it doesn't apply anymore, but the other side just refuses to think for themselves and just sticks with the status quo because it must've been done with good reason and they don't want to second-guess it?
Appeal to tradition: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#245The best way to deal with stupid corporate policies is to ignore them. Working remote when you're not "allowed to" is a big one to ignore, and if you don't have the access credentials you need, it might not even be possible. There are other policies that are much easier to ignore, though. Don't like the dress code? Dress however you want. Don't think the status meeting requires your attendance? Don't go. Mandatory of…
I really like this approach (and I tend to do this myself), but lots of people get really upset.
PG wrote an essay recently in which he talks about “aggressive conformists” and “aggressive non-conformists”. You’re right in that being an aggressive non-conformist at a big company likely (though not definitely) won’t get you fired, but it certainly will rankle the aggressive conformists and not make you many friends from that group. And that may or may not be really bad for your career.
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#246I feel like I can deal with most things but “mandatory training” drives me nuts. At one company after another these are always over-produced things that impose way more distraction and time than they need to (all video/audio with little to no text transcript, stupid things like the inability to even click “next” until the unnecessary narrator finishes reading you some slide, etc.). And then they have serious technica…
I like to turn these over-produced mandatory training exercises into speed-runs, posting my results to internal chat.
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#247If i pay an external $1000 per day and that price doesn't change when they are in my office or at home, i would put them in my office for obvious security risks. If corona means i can't get my work done, i have a new risk. Security risk for external consultants having full access at their home vs. no one can work -> i might choose the externals giving access. Its not imaginary.
Pretty sure my home is more secure than your office. Literally no one wanders in here and tries to steal corporate secrets / install malware. It happens all the time in actual offices, and it's surprisingly easy to gain access to the most "secure" offices.
Company has their office under control but not yours. Doesn't matter if you think your office is more secure. Mine has access control.
Also we are not talking about the person who is really smart about it we talk about the avg person. There are plenty of stories of laptops being stolen in coffee shops or from a train.
And its also a Network thing. Do i want you to be able to pull/push something into my corp network fromyour home network?
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#248This is why managers need a high level of emotional intelligence, the ability to empathize and quickly place themselves in the position of others. Without those three qualities management is ill equipped to handle these kinds of things sensibly. Sadly the above traits are more deemed leadership qualities rather than management qualities and so often missing in management. Leadership skills are far harder to teach tha…
Sorry, but this just feels like you are projecting some vague management 101 platitudes that could be applicable to any organizational problem. I mean you're not wrong, but it's akin to saying if we all loved each other there would be no war. I've seen plenty of great emphatic leaders get bogged down in large corps.
FYI, you probably meant "empathetic", not "emphatic".
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#249The best way to deal with stupid corporate policies is to ignore them. Working remote when you're not "allowed to" is a big one to ignore, and if you don't have the access credentials you need, it might not even be possible. There are other policies that are much easier to ignore, though. Don't like the dress code? Dress however you want. Don't think the status meeting requires your attendance? Don't go. Mandatory of…
Protip: don't follow this advice. Your coworkers will resent you and you'll have a bad time.
Corporate rules can be broken, but it should always been done in a savvy way instead of a brazen way. In most orgs, your performance is less important than people's perception and opinion of you. Find a way to show them the respect and deference they crave, even if you break their rules anyway.
Re: Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary
#250The best way to deal with stupid corporate policies is to ignore them. Working remote when you're not "allowed to" is a big one to ignore, and if you don't have the access credentials you need, it might not even be possible. There are other policies that are much easier to ignore, though. Don't like the dress code? Dress however you want. Don't think the status meeting requires your attendance? Don't go. Mandatory of…
True.
I always showed up at 11, while they didn't fire me, they also didn't promote me.