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I have a theory that software drives people insane

graybeard.ing

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Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#131

Post by raphar »

The part that the cost of changing software is unknown, ignored and fixed is not true anymore. This is a thing I realized recently.

A company cannot get free (o low cost) software changes anymore. Someone invented llms and they charge by work produced (useful or not)

So a PM cannot "save" costs by pushing. The employees will resort to their agents and there will be cost. If there is no agent, another company will beat them. So now a change has a measurable cost and even you can calculate in what was spent (agent logs)

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#132

Post by mandevil »

godelski wrote: post #111
stinos wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For 2 larger projects I'm on, I'm both the developer and a user: on a regular basis I use the software myself. And not just for one-off tests. I really use it the way other users use it. This has provided rather deep and interesting insights in software development for these particular products and in general. Or in OP's lingo: not a lot of potential for insanity at all. Because any new idea immediately gets regarded…

I find that if people don't dogfood their software the software just ends up being shit. As engineers we need to be a little grumpy. Frustrating with our software provide directions to improve it. If we're not grumpy, we don't know what to fix. But some of this also comes from top down. Engineers also need the freedom to fix things. They're the experts. Management Also shouldn't interpret that frustration in quality…

At very large $companyIUsedToWorkFor, the accessibility features got a lot better once we hired a blind developer. Once it went from "we have to pass this test" as our only feedback to "Bob did this because it confused his text-to-speech program when he was looking for another bug" we got such a great success flywheel going. Very quick feedback cycles really is required for successful software development.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#133

Post by Chance-Device »

When you know something can be changed relatively easily, say compared to a building or a car, the tendency is to do it. Especially when there is no tight feedback loop telling you what is a right and wrong move. The churn is the result of the psychology of uncertainty combined with the ability to act on that anxiety.

Shipping MVPs or minimal features quickly and seeing if they stick is a solution. Quick and dirty until you know something is worth further effort. Yes, user feedback is good but often people don’t know what they want, or think they want things they won’t actually use, and you won’t find out until it’s sitting in front of them.

And someone is always yelling that everything is taking too long, usually the same person who told their boss that something would be done by x date without asking anyone else.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#135

Post by 0x445442 »

hathawsh wrote: post #63
devmor wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What problem are we trying to solve?" is a question I have to ask constantly in corporate development environments, and rarely does anyone presenting the task to be done actually know the answer! It's very frustrating.

I try to remember to say something like this: "This is an interesting solution, but I'm not confident we have a shared understanding of the problem we're solving. I have a few guesses, but I don't want to bias the discussion, so please restate the problem without suggesting a solution. If it's too difficult to explain, I can suggest what problems I think you might be running into." I wish I always remembered to say t…

Upper management material right there.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#136

Post by beyonddream »

bob1029 wrote: post #4

Software development untethered from the practical realities of the customer / user is what drives people insane. When developers are required to interact with the customer on a regular basis , the freewheeling effects described in this article are damped massively. The potential for insanity goes off the charts when the development team is siloed away in solitary confinement and the only interactions with the client…

When the user is understood as yet another human who doesn’t know what they want, the insanity returns! Because an average customer usually doesn’t have practically grounded wants.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#137

Post by hungryhobbit »

glitchc wrote: post #6

Beautifully written post and true on many levels. The art of software stopped being an art once large amounts of capital started creeping in. There are no signs that we're returning to sanity any time soon.

Ok, I get how you might like the ideas there, but "beautifully written"?!? Really?

The goal of writing is to communicate. That means saying what you mean to say ... and not filling paragraph after paragraph with pointless and redundant things you don't need to say.

There is not an English teacher in this world who would argue that was even a well-written essay, let alone a beautifully-written one.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#138

Post by cm11 »

asdfman123 wrote: post #100
burningChrome wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I think that over-reliance on analytics has had a similar effect I lost track of how many times the directors would tell us, "Since the analytics say A, we should do B." then the research person says, "Sure Jim, great idea, lets get a few rounds of useability research and confirm it first." Then the always predictable thing happens: Users never align with your analytics. Seeing data and seeing someone struggling t…

My problem is I can skip all those steps and 8 separate meetings by applying a little common sense to software design. Unfortunately, orgs often treat devs like this as indulgent or wasting time. They need it to be done the inefficient way because that's the only way they have visibility and control.

Yes. And in most of those meetings where the researcher invalidated the leaders, the leaders have left the meeting saying (and thinking? I’m not sure) they were validated. So because of the leaders we have we should skip the meetings and research in both cases.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#139

Post by reaperducer »

natdavidson wrote: post #106
devmor wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What problem are we trying to solve?" is a question I have to ask constantly in corporate development environments, and rarely does anyone presenting the task to be done actually know the answer! It's very frustrating.

I wouldn’t ask that if you want to keep your job.

I wouldn’t ask that if you want to keep your job.

You are correct. You ask that if you want to get promoted to a better job, because you understood the problem and likely saved the company money, time, effort or all three, rather than just pushing the buttons like a good code monkey.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#140

Post by nxnxnxdd »

randusername wrote: post #8

My observation is simply that tech leaders misinterpret rewards from the market in conquering some abstract representation of a facet of a domain with conquering the domain itself. Then they become egomaniacal. Did you conquer commercial real-estate ushering in the future of work and society, or did you build a handy scheduling app? Did you have a neat idea for an online community or did you revolutionize human conne…

We are the "...whatever gets us $2m seed..." layer for the AI of the future of finance.
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