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27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

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Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#161

Post by tlivolsi »

tesdinger wrote: post #159
glitchc wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, that's how the world works most of the time. Superstars also know it and are used to it from early childhood. They are expected to carry the load and equally importantly, the team is expected to listen to them. It works like this in all walks of life, because simply put, human beings are not equal in ability. Things break down when the team and management stop listening. That's when the superstar actually g…

Here in Germany, we had a bad experience listening to our superstar Adolf and decided we should try democracy next time. Some parts of.the political party AFD is trying to change that, unsuccessfully, so far.

What the heck are you talking about?

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#162

Post by wiseowise »

iwontberude wrote: post #117
glitchc wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, that's how the world works most of the time. Superstars also know it and are used to it from early childhood. They are expected to carry the load and equally importantly, the team is expected to listen to them. It works like this in all walks of life, because simply put, human beings are not equal in ability. Things break down when the team and management stop listening. That's when the superstar actually g…

Superstars are why I don’t try harder and am less engaged. They take all of the interesting ownership and inject themselves into every process and space for communication. I wait for these people to burn out and want to actually be a team member instead of a productivity bully hoarding opportunity for themselves. They want to be the first on everything so they can influence it to be more how they like, the rest of te…

> They don’t care if the rest of the team feels unmotivated from a lack of ownership, at least they got theirs? I don’t understand the mentality.

Because when the "team" undoubtedly fails, it falls on shoulders of the superstar to fix it.

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#163

Post by tacheiordache »

anonreeeeplor wrote: post #3

Corporations, at their root, are an arbitrage on the fact that other corporations follow the bell curve. The entire goal of salaries and “teams” in my experience, is to ENSURE that high performers get diluted and averaged in with mediocre performers so the company can pretend the high performers don’t exist. This was my experience in (large co). I have seen situations where a single IC is dragging a division of 30 pe…

Why are superstars seeking employment in corporations though?

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#164

Post by tesdinger »

anonreeeeplor wrote: post #3

Corporations, at their root, are an arbitrage on the fact that other corporations follow the bell curve. The entire goal of salaries and “teams” in my experience, is to ENSURE that high performers get diluted and averaged in with mediocre performers so the company can pretend the high performers don’t exist. This was my experience in (large co). I have seen situations where a single IC is dragging a division of 30 pe…

Employees can have phases of high and low productivity, tasks they struggle with and other tasks they blaze through. The article and most of the comments oversimplify things.

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#165

Post by wiseowise »

curiousguy wrote: post #116
anonreeeeplor wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally have known several people. They are not narcissists. They are literally 100x talent. One of them built out a half dozen hit games, doing all the art and programming for one employer which represented half the companies profit. Then he left, started a 30 person company, got frustrated, quit and built another game entirely from scratch doing all the art direction and sold millions then retired. One person.

> I personally have known several people. They are not narcissists. They are literally 100x talent. I guess this can varies per company. It’s not difficult to be a super star in a dinosaur company. After all, “In The Land of The Blind, The One Eyed Man is King.” This is really common in many European companies. Most developers are doing the bare minimum and it’s common for the department to be carryover by a single g…

> My understanding is that people don’t put any effort because of a mix of factors: no technical career; low salaries; no financial reward for putting extra effort; management is mostly non technical and don’t value developers; companies can’t increase salary for a single individual in the same role because of unions or country laws; people can’t be easily fired; etc.

Or they just plain don't care about software engineering and just do bare minimum for salary.

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#166

Post by shakes_mcjunkie »

Dave_Rosenthal wrote: post #157
hef19898 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hero worshippong always puzzles me. All real world examples, from certified sport super stars to actual rock stars, show us that the proverbial employee rockstar is a myth. No Messi, Ronaldo or Mbappé can win a Championship or the Champions League on their own. Nor can Brady win the Super Bowl without a team. Every rockstar has a team of song writers (there are exceptions to that so), producers, marketing and to…

Saying "a star can't do it without a team" is very silly. That's like saying "well, sure but Shakespeare couldn't have written anything with a pen". True at some level, but I think we both know in that equation whether the pen or the man was more valuable. The point is that teams are necessary, but in many cases, are easier to come by than stars. Engineering stars do exist. Not all are loose cannons, like in popular…

Shakespeare's works likely wouldn't have been known without a team of performers to perform them, without an audience willing to accept them, no one gets anything done alone.

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#167

Post by throwaway892238 »

The best employees focus on both.

You know what makes a great chef? Mise en place, technique, and taste. Organization, preparation, skills, and that indelible knowledge of what looks and tastes good and why. The best chefs don't focus "on process" or "on content", they have to do both, or the dishes will either be inconsistent or mediocre.

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#168

Post by jbverschoor »

iwontberude wrote: post #117
glitchc wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, that's how the world works most of the time. Superstars also know it and are used to it from early childhood. They are expected to carry the load and equally importantly, the team is expected to listen to them. It works like this in all walks of life, because simply put, human beings are not equal in ability. Things break down when the team and management stop listening. That's when the superstar actually g…

Superstars are why I don’t try harder and am less engaged. They take all of the interesting ownership and inject themselves into every process and space for communication. I wait for these people to burn out and want to actually be a team member instead of a productivity bully hoarding opportunity for themselves. They want to be the first on everything so they can influence it to be more how they like, the rest of te…

Lowest common denominator. If you happen to work with people who are slower / have less ability than you.. you'd be the "superstar".. Now everybody is just picking their nose... welcome to Shitco. inc.

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#169

Post by wiseowise »

chii wrote: post #47
quickthrower2 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admit I was sometimes carried. In creative work this is bound to happen. All people firing on all cylinders and coordinating well is a rarity in creative work. It might work in a kitchen or sailing boat though.

There's several types of "carrying". You have the type where one person is the visionary, is capable, but doesn't have the patience to do the grunt work and only wants to do the most prestigous or "important" shit. They do it well, but expect the rest of the team to do the thankless stuff. This is the type i hate, and i rather not have them. The other type is someone who is self-less, and just does the work regardles…

> The other type is someone who is self-less, and just does the work regardless of self-interest or agenda. They will do both prestigious work, and will also do thankless work, as long as it contributes to the success of the project. They will stay late, fix up other's mistakes, etc, without complaints or expectation that others do the same.

Been there, done that, it's a career dead-end.

Re: 27 years ago, Steve Jobs said the best employees focus on content, not process

#170

Post by xen2xen1 »

tlivolsi wrote: post #161
tesdinger wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Germany, we had a bad experience listening to our superstar Adolf and decided we should try democracy next time. Some parts of.the political party AFD is trying to change that, unsuccessfully, so far.

What the heck are you talking about?

It's been a while since I've seen Godwin's law, and this time by a real German!
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