The Alpha Engineer
blog.aha.io
The Alpha Engineer
1–10 of 30 posts
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#2IMHO an alpha engineer should do one of two things:
1) Architect the application and divide the detail programming in enough well-defined subtasks that lesser gods can start working on these subtasks while the alpha starts engineering further. Well-defined subtasks need relatively little communication, and economies of scale are used. 2) Add the brilliance to an existing framework built by beta engineers (Like Rembrandt painting the lace on the painting of an apprentice).
It basically depends on where a product is in the life cycle which of the two strategies is most effective.
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#3I'm not quite sure what is the point of this post. Being smart = good. Thanks for the heads up? And I'm sure that building aha.io is extremely intellectually demanding (judging by description on the splash page).
Also isn't this just that one thing that Steve Jobs used to say but in a blog post form?
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#4Nice essay, but backed by these horrible examples:
* a group of mediocre architects could have built a better dome in Florence than Brunelleschi
* a group of mediocre stock pickers could have outperformed Buffett
* a group of mediocre designers could have built a better computer than Jobs
* a group of mediocre basketball players could have beat Jordan in the NBA finals
* a group of mediocre humanitarians could have had a bigger impact than Schindler
when the truth is:
* Brunelleschi did not lay the 4 million bricks of the dome, a large team did that
* Buffet outperforms the average stock picker by about 13% to 20%, it so happens that in the financial business 13% to 20% is a big deal, while 13% to 20% better is not disruptice startup-level improvements
* Jobs never built a computer, he needed to lord power over a large team to do that
* I believe that a team of 5 mediocre players could easily beat a team of 1 Jordan
* 1 Schindler saved 1200, while 2 million mediocre Nazis killed about 9 billion who they felt where ethnically inferior. In this case, I think the mediocre Nazis had a bigger impact.
So while my heart tells me to believe in the point you're trying to make, that one alpha engineer is worth a ton of mediocres, the examples do not support that point.
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#5That alpha engineer is only going to make a successful system if they know how to work with others and produce maintainable code. For every one of the types of alpha engineers this article deifies there is at least one other alpha engineer that is difficult to work work, doesn't document their code and has a NIH attitude that refuses to incorporate the work of others even when suitable for the task at hand.
These guys are usually known as the BBM and are can appear to be awesome but by the time you realize their shortcomings ultimately make them impotent and their work irrelevant, it's too late.
I don't care how brilliant you are. If you don't produce maintainable code with well thought interfaces, your brilliant code is going to rot by itself after you are gone. Brilliant and productive programmers also exhibit empathy for other developers who will maintain and extend the code or build other systems to interface with the code written by the alpha coder.
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#6That alpha engineer is only going to make a successful system if they know how to work with others and produce maintainable code. For every one of the types of alpha engineers this article deifies there is at least one other alpha engineer that is difficult to work work, doesn't document their code and has a NIH attitude that refuses to incorporate the work of others even when suitable for the task at hand. These guy…
You are missing the point a bit - I don't think the OP is saying that a bad engineer ("difficult to work with", "don't produce maintainable code", etc) suddenly becomes better when they work by themselves. The point is that one person working alone can sometimes be significantly more productive than if threw more people at the project.
The natural engineering management answer to so many problems is "I need more headcount" - but often that can be the opposite of what the problem needs.
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#7Nice essay, but backed by these horrible examples: * a group of mediocre architects could have built a better dome in Florence than Brunelleschi * a group of mediocre stock pickers could have outperformed Buffett * a group of mediocre designers could have built a better computer than Jobs * a group of mediocre basketball players could have beat Jordan in the NBA finals * a group of mediocre humanitarians could have h…
Thanks for the comments. So you do agree that Brunelleschi lead with his brilliant design and Buffett does dramatically outperform his peers. Jordan never lost a championship and would handily beat 5 mediocre basketball players from the general population -- remember that every player who makes the NBA is an alpha. I edited out the final bullet as it unnecessarily complicates the post.
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#8I'm not quite sure what is the point of this post. Being smart = good. Thanks for the heads up? And I'm sure that building aha.io is extremely intellectually demanding (judging by description on the splash page). Also isn't this just that one thing that Steve Jobs used to say but in a blog post form?
The point is simple. Find the Alpha Engineer and put him or her in a position to succeed, get rid of group think, and prosper.
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#9That alpha engineer is only going to make a successful system if they know how to work with others and produce maintainable code. For every one of the types of alpha engineers this article deifies there is at least one other alpha engineer that is difficult to work work, doesn't document their code and has a NIH attitude that refuses to incorporate the work of others even when suitable for the task at hand. These guy…
You are missing the point a bit - I don't think the OP is saying that a bad engineer ("difficult to work with", "don't produce maintainable code", etc) suddenly becomes better when they work by themselves. The point is that one person working alone can sometimes be significantly more productive than if threw more people at the project. The natural engineering management answer to so many problems is "I need more head…
Agreed. I considered referencing The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering by Fred Brooks. The central theme is that "adding manpower to a late software project makes it later". I think that this theory can be applied to both new and late projects. More people does not typically increase productivity.
Re: The Alpha Engineer
#10That alpha engineer is only going to make a successful system if they know how to work with others and produce maintainable code. For every one of the types of alpha engineers this article deifies there is at least one other alpha engineer that is difficult to work work, doesn't document their code and has a NIH attitude that refuses to incorporate the work of others even when suitable for the task at hand. These guy…
Yes, I think you have touched on an important point. I did not try to equate the Alpha Engineer with bad behavior. Great leaders set clear vision, lead by example, and bring the team along with them.