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Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

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Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#71

Post by 7Figures2Commas »

jaegerpicker wrote: post #6

Dear God this was my life at a past employer. The biggest issue is that Get Shit Done usually turns to Get Shit Done exactly how I want even though I won't tell you what it is because I'm "Getting Shit Done!". I know better now. If I see that at an interview now, I'll run, not walk, run away. People bitch about how hard it is to find good developers and yet hire talented developers but put them in shitty positions. T…

> People bitch about how hard it is to find good developers and yet hire talented developers but put them in shitty positions.

Notwithstanding the fact that the GSD mentality is often nonsense that comes from folks who don't know what they're doing, I would make the point that a lot of software jobs are "shitty" in the context of what many expect to find when they decide to become a developer. And that's life.

Even at many of the biggest names in tech, a lot of developers are performing mundane tasks that are not nearly as interesting or sexy as one would imagine. If even the biggest companies in tech, which deal with some of the biggest problems, can't create more "good" positions than "shitty" ones, it shouldn't come as a surprise that smaller companies and startups can't either.

Incidentally, it's like this in just about every profession that is glamorized in some fashion (i.e. investment banking, law, etc.).

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#72

Post by UK-AL »

Kurtz79 wrote: post #70
api wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced "fire fast" on the receiving end once. It's the one and only time I've been let go for any cause from a job. It occurred at a shall remain unnamed big startup on the East Coast. I was hired on the merit of my portfolio and past positions (I do not have a high-snob-factor college degree), and dove in and got up to speed pretty quick. Job was to implement a lot of Java code and some .NET for a major web-b…

Great story, thanks for sharing. In a way, it was for the best, isn't it ? It is clear that you weren't a good fit for their development team and their interpretation of "agile" software ...

Yes but it can quite easily end up disaster. When you get a new job, what is the first thing they ask for? References.

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#73

Post by RougeFemme »

smacktoward wrote: post #8

Is this an actual thing? Are there really people out there who think running around yelling "Get Shit Done!" constitutes actual project management? We are doomed.

There are those who believe that projects don't need any management, just "doing/executing". . .and that when projects fail, it's because project management got in the way. . .which is true sometimes, but not usually.

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#74

Post by UK-AL »

api wrote: post #31
UK-AL wrote: post #12

The whole start-up culture encourages this behaviour. The current fire fast trend, rather than trying find the root cause for example. Firing someone can completely mess up someones career, but people are being told to fire someone on a whim, if they're not right fit(I mean that could be anything). Turn it around, and put yourself in their shoes.

I experienced "fire fast" on the receiving end once. It's the one and only time I've been let go for any cause from a job. It occurred at a shall remain unnamed big startup on the East Coast. I was hired on the merit of my portfolio and past positions (I do not have a high-snob-factor college degree), and dove in and got up to speed pretty quick. Job was to implement a lot of Java code and some .NET for a major web-b…

This is a brilliant story, and reenforces the problem start up culture atm.

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#75

Post by brown9-2 »

api wrote: post #66
brown9-2 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a really bad sign when people look at the end of the sprint as an absolute deadline for things needing to get done.

In this case my part of the sprint probably would have run over by one day, since I had one more feature to implement around the new core I had written and I had to spend extra time refactoring code for existing features a little (not too badly) to make them work with said new core code. The logical thing would have been to punt that one feature, make everything else work (it was very close), then spend the rest of t…

Was there seriously no one there that appreciated the AWS cost savings?

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#76

Post by JumpCrisscross »

"Everyone has the potential to be productive or unproductive. There aren’t people who are A players and C players. Just people who are performing at an A level and at a C level."

But some people will go from 0 to A faster and with less assistance than others within the scope of a specific set of tasks for which they have innate talent or relateable experience.

Further, if the skill set demanded is fungible it is cheaper to buy talent than build it in-house. Firing a C to hire an A is better business than hiring a C and expending time and energy to increase the probability of them converting to an A at some unknown point in the future provided that there is a ready supply of As (or Bs) on the market. With regards to entry and mid-level programming positions, that appears to be the case.

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#77

Post by [deleted] »

jaegerpicker wrote: post #6

Dear God this was my life at a past employer. The biggest issue is that Get Shit Done usually turns to Get Shit Done exactly how I want even though I won't tell you what it is because I'm "Getting Shit Done!". I know better now. If I see that at an interview now, I'll run, not walk, run away. People bitch about how hard it is to find good developers and yet hire talented developers but put them in shitty positions. T…

[deleted]

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#78

Post by walshemj »

UK-AL wrote: post #72
Kurtz79 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great story, thanks for sharing. In a way, it was for the best, isn't it ? It is clear that you weren't a good fit for their development team and their interpretation of "agile" software ...

Yes but it can quite easily end up disaster. When you get a new job, what is the first thing they ask for? References.

That is why companys tend to give brief factual references so that some manger doesn't go off on one and land the company with a big lawsuit.

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#79

Post by cwilson »

The only way this "strategy" works is if a few things are already happening:

1. Communication is already really good

2. You have a basic plan in place, milestones laid out, and because of #1 being good you're ready to handle anything that doesn't go to plan (because things definitely won't)

3. If you have a plan in place you better have discovered some hint of product-market-fit (figured out who your customers are, what pain point they have, and how you think you can solve it) that the plan is based around

If you have those things in line, there isn't anything wrong with "get shit done!" (which I really take to mean less meetings, less screwing around over-planning, etc). This mentality or strategy backfires when you are missing a few items from my list, or you have bad managers / founders who don't understand the importance of the list.

Re: Get Shit Done: The Worst Startup Culture

#80

Post by RougeFemme »

As the manager/co-founder, helping with tools, coping mechanisms, etc. is often not enough. When an employee has shit falling off of his/her plate, he often needs help prioritization. Managers/co-founders often assume everyone knows the priorities of projects and that's often not the case. If the manager's or company's priorities have shifted, that needs to be communicated to everyone. If you have a meeting scheduled with some big-wig tomorrowand I'm providing data for that meeting, I need to know; otherwise you may not get your S until it's too late. But, by God, I'm GSD!!
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