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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

#181

Post by win311fwg »

devmor wrote: post #162
win311fwg wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reverse engineering the problem from someone's solution is the job. If you find it to be frustrating, you might be in the wrong profession.

I don’t know what job you think I have, but my job is to identify and implement solutions to problems, not figure what problems exist from someone else’s contrived answer to the problem.

That’s the job we all want to have, but it doesn’t exist. It’d be nice to say you are the lone outlier here but unless the previous comment was completely made up we know that’s not the case.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#182

Post by devmor »

win311fwg wrote: post #181
devmor wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know what job you think I have, but my job is to identify and implement solutions to problems, not figure what problems exist from someone else’s contrived answer to the problem.

That’s the job we all want to have, but it doesn’t exist. It’d be nice to say you are the lone outlier here but unless the previous comment was completely made up we know that’s not the case.

Your job doesn't have to be that way.

You can't always change your circumstances, but if you work to make little changes to improve your environment, the people that work with you probably will too.

My current team is like that - we all see the roadblocks that make our job harder, and we know we can't solve them all, but we talk about and work on making our own solutions to get around those things - like making a habit of asking those questions to better understand what's really desired by the stakeholder.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#183

Post by mitxela »

win311fwg wrote: post #141
da_chicken wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, this is the only kind of software that ends up not sucking. If development is not driven by users in a very intimate way -- like being one and the same person -- then you routinely end up with necessary features only half working or splitting essential information across multiple screens or dialogs. Eating your own dog food is essential to rising above that, because only that reality will overwhelm…

> It's why only software like [...] web browsers gets to be really good. Huh? Web browsers are still laughably bad even after all these years. They are engineering marvels, certainly, but using them leaves a lot to be desired. I cannot imagine anyone would voluntarily use them if the ultimate function was equally available another way.

You mean installing the Reddit, X and Instagram apps on my phone? I use them in the browser because the browser is so terrible they don't spy on me as much.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#184

Post by mitxela »

my002 wrote: post #145
arthurfirst wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes a lot of people dumber -- they doom scroll, gossip, play childrens games, and on the high end post cat memes. But it's a tool like any other and the results depend on the user. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear it is (was) the Library of Alexandria. The knowledge of the world unfiltered without gate keeper trolls deciding what you can see and learn. Getting on the internet in 1993 completely change…

The Internet doesn't make people dumber any more than video games, rock music, picaresque novels, the printing press, or writing did. These kinds of arguments come around with every new technology and have always been fatuous.

All of them were true to some extent, except probably the printing press.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#185

Post by mitxela »

icantevenhold wrote: post #32
jadbox wrote: post #9

As a founder of a few software startups, I agree with this. If I can give advice to other founders, remember than software is usually a means to an end, and for most users, they just want the bare bone essentials to work and work well. Everything else is nice-to-have-fluff that won't drive 99% of sales. The apps I pay for are simple and focus on a super basic interface. BookFusion and Libro.fm are great examples.

It’s interesting because my experience is inverse (b2b software) - the bloated shiny solution what actually doesnt work at all performs better in the market than the sober, unsexy solution that just works. Companies like Oracle or Microsoft are so massive not because they sell simple and focused products that work well; quite the opposite Might be different when you’re selling to endusers

Oracle and Microsoft are in the contracting business, and software is just an excuse for them to get contracts.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#186

Post by vismit2000 »

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…

https://www.productftw.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto%2Cwidth...

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#187

Post by [deleted] »

Chance-Device wrote: post #133

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 un…

[deleted]

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#188

Post by rwmj »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #103
anthonypasq wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the average developer back then was much better. 50% of engineers in the average IT department produce zero or negative value. I worked at one of the largest financial institutions in the world and had coworkers that literally committed zero code for months.

> coworkers that literally committed zero code for months That's awesome I would much prefer to have coworkers that literally commit zero code than the monkeys I sometimes work with who commit way too much code, or just plain commit the wrong code

> than the monkeys I sometimes work with who commit way too much code, or just plain commit the wrong code

We've managed to emulate this behaviour in silicon now.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#189

Post by damethos »

The article had me at "[...] every new feature is the one that's going to be the one (but certainly not that one that was supposed to be the one during the previous sprint)".

I have fought way too many times the new "the one" feature. Just ship it, it's already good enough, everything else just adds cost, especially psychological cost to the team.

Re: I have a theory that software drives people insane

#190

Post by hulitu »

PaulHoule wrote: post #65
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…

A similar disease comes out of an industry being overly concentrated in a single geography. For instance Firefox could keep failing and losing market share for decades because Google knows politicians will be stupid enough to believe that Firefox with a 0.01% market share will mean Chrome is not a monopoly. The one thing that could possible reverse that market share decline would be having some empathy for people out…

> Firefox

Nobody asked Mozilla for a redesign.

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