Some of these are actual science, such as Fitt’s law. Some are humorous simplifications that point to observed phenomena that are good to know. And then there’s bullshit like “Dilbert’s law”: information-free inside jokes technical people come up with to disparage other disciplines.
Hacker Laws
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Re: Hacker Laws
#12Some of these are actual science, such as Fitt’s law. Some are humorous simplifications that point to observed phenomena that are good to know. And then there’s bullshit like “Dilbert’s law”: information-free inside jokes technical people come up with to disparage other disciplines.
I'm surprised the Gervais principle[0] isn't there, as it supercedes the Peter Principle and Dilbert's law as far as I'm concerned:
All organizations are perfectly pathological, their hierarchy being divided up between sociopaths (management), clueless (middle-management) and losers (everyone else). Sociopaths, in their own best interests, knowingly promote over-performing losers into middle-management, groom under-performing losers into sociopaths, and leave the average bare-minimum-effort losers to fend for themselves.
[0]https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
Re: Hacker Laws
#13Other laws that I liked:
"If you're not 5 minutes early, you're 10 minutes late."
"The expectation that more programmers on the team leads to faster shipment times is like expecting two women to give life to a baby in 4.5 months."
"Only 50% of programming is writing code. The other 90% is debugging."
Hofstadter's law: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law."
Re: Hacker Laws
#14Good collection of wisdoms for development.
With “Hacker” in the title, I was expecting more unwritten rules like “When you find yourself in a place you’re not suppose to be in, like admin access, make no changes that cause harm”
Re: Hacker Laws
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amelius' law: Management will always refer to Hofstadter's law as a myth or an excuse.
Heh. I have been at the butt end of that one a few times. Another favorite of mine is when they push back with Parkinson's law: work expands to meet time available for its completion.
I think in the future I'll just use error bars, which they may ignore at their own peril.
Re: Hacker Laws
#16Some of these are actual science, such as Fitt’s law. Some are humorous simplifications that point to observed phenomena that are good to know. And then there’s bullshit like “Dilbert’s law”: information-free inside jokes technical people come up with to disparage other disciplines.
I'm surprised the Gervais principle[0] isn't there, as it supercedes the Peter Principle and Dilbert's law as far as I'm concerned: All organizations are perfectly pathological, their hierarchy being divided up between sociopaths (management), clueless (middle-management) and losers (everyone else). Sociopaths, in their own best interests, knowingly promote over-performing losers into middle-management, groom under-p…
I genuinely feel bad for folks who actually believe stuff like this, because it must make the world a dark and sad place to be in.
Re: Hacker Laws
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm surprised the Gervais principle[0] isn't there, as it supercedes the Peter Principle and Dilbert's law as far as I'm concerned: All organizations are perfectly pathological, their hierarchy being divided up between sociopaths (management), clueless (middle-management) and losers (everyone else). Sociopaths, in their own best interests, knowingly promote over-performing losers into middle-management, groom under-p…
I genuinely feel bad for folks who actually believe stuff like this, because it must make the world a dark and sad place to be in.
The world can be a dark and sad place to be in, and stuff like this is accurate more often than not, even if this is slightly satirical.
But realizing that and accepting it for what it is can be liberating.
Re: Hacker Laws
#18https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup provides much of the same content but in fortune format.
Re: Hacker Laws
#19I've always found the 90-9-1 rule fascinating. Especially when considering anonymous or semi-anonymous forums such as Hacker News or Reddit. These sites have large audiences and don't require users to log in. Therefore, they have an incredible amount of "lurkers" who do not comment, post, or vote. I think voting is an important aspect of content curation. So if a type of individual is more likely to vote, then that t…
I wish more communities these days had "preserving the signal-to-noise ratio" as a cultural value.
Re: Hacker Laws
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
I genuinely feel bad for folks who actually believe stuff like this, because it must make the world a dark and sad place to be in.
The world can be a dark and sad place to be in, and stuff like this is accurate more often than not, even if this is slightly satirical. But realizing that and accepting it for what it is can be liberating.
You have complete control over whether or not it is dark and sad in this particular way, which is why I feel bad for people who think otherwise.