Things make me miserable that other people are fine with. I change jobs every two years. It's just life.
Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
251–260 of 261 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#252You have an obvious lack of respect for the difficulty of running the business side of a business: >> Bogus business plans, inability to close deals, short-sighted decisions, petty management techniques, overly frequent pivots, you name it... This presents a killer opportunity for personal growth: go start your own business. You'll either learn that you are a masterful business planner, only making high-minded long-t…
Thank you for your comment. I indeed intend to do that. However, I don't believe in patching up a magical business formula, hypnotising VCs and raising again every other year. I believe in small bootstrapped businesses that take years to build and can't become full-time occupations before a long time. I find raising 1M and making 100K in revenue less successful and admirable than raising 0 and making 10K. But that's…
No it's pretty solid, from the ground up stance. Those who values independence and control over their life are much happier with this setup rather than going too quickly to barely catch up or even fall.
I think there is nothing wrong with your observation as long as you remain kind to people around you. Meanwhile you can be figuring up way how make your ideas happen.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#253Given your description, I wonder if perhaps you're burning out due to over-committing to your work. Caring about the work one does is laudable, but if it's the only thing one cares about, it will never completely satisfy, and a passion-then-quit cycle like you describe seems to be a familiar result.
There are plenty of suggestions online for ways to avoid burnout, but it seems like it's even harder to diagnose than prevent, and usually involves a lot of soul searching. I unfortunately don't have any good recommendations for either diagnosis or prevention, but it might be worth considering as a possibility.
If you're not familiar with the patterns of burnout, I found this article to be a good introduction: http://nymag.com/news/features/24757/
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#254I think it would be helpful to try to understand the perspective of management. Consider an extreme stereotype: the "business school guy." He went to XYZ school of management, where he learned that a business is an organization that takes in raw materials and creates something more valuable than the sum of the unfinished parts. He learned how to raise money by selling his business idea to other people who think like…
Naturally some companies are better than others. You want to find a manager who thinks of himself as your equal rather than your slaver. This is key. The first sin of management is to think they're managing people. Innovation comes from collaboration among talented equals trying to solve a real problem in the world, not from someone bestowing his unique vision upon the masses and giving them the privilege of working…
Couldn't agree more, I had a great manager for many years and the way we worked together is that we were working together but were handling different parts of the problem.
We would met before he went to an important meeting or before he took an official position on something, he'd tell me what he thought about it etc. We discuss what we could do, if there was something I needed or something I didn't want to happen. Sometimes I couldn't get what he needed, sometimes it was the other way around but it was very functional.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
I cringe each time I read this quote. It isn't helpful. I have had too many people take advantage of "second chances" by pleading ignorance. Maybe I'm just too cynical. The only take away here is that you have to treat malice and stupidity the same. The person in question either messed up intentionally, or is too stupid to do their job. You should fire them, or quit, whichever position you happen to be in.
"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."
Heyyyyyy, no bogarting Clarke's third law.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#256There is a saying that if you look around and all you see are assholes, you're probably the asshole.
I think there is more to that quote but that's the jist of it.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
I cringe each time I read this quote. It isn't helpful. I have had too many people take advantage of "second chances" by pleading ignorance. Maybe I'm just too cynical. The only take away here is that you have to treat malice and stupidity the same. The person in question either messed up intentionally, or is too stupid to do their job. You should fire them, or quit, whichever position you happen to be in.
It helps you frame your point of view and, true, avoid cynicism.
Stupidity can also be more subtle. It's not always clear cut idiocy, there's a continuum between total and absolute head-desk stupidity, and ignorance or information blindness that's outside one's control.
Whereas malice is much less a continuum: the only question is, to what degree is this person an asshole, and when will they strike next? Intentionally and willfully hurting others is another world from anything unintentional.
The law treats it the same way. Hence, I believe it is helpful.
In any case, it's a razor: it separates illogical conceptual rabbit-holes from that which is more likely to be true.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
Interestingly enough (in the context of this thread) my personal corollary to that is: "Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by bad management."
100% agree!
This is very Deming-esque, you know? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interestingly enough (in the context of this thread) my personal corollary to that is: "Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by bad management."
If you blame management every time, you'll never take responsibility for your own actions.
You'd think this, but it turns out not to be true.
When a person is working under good management, with the autonomy to do what they need to be successful, the ability to get better at their work and master a field, and a clear purpose, responsibility is a given.
It is when individuals are falsely given responsibility for things they cannot possibly control that personal responsibility loses its credibility.
You don't have to blame management (or the system you're in) every time (and most people don't), but you should every time it is true, to preserve the very idea and value of responsibility itself.
Re: Ask HN: Is it me or ...?
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."
Heyyyyyy, no bogarting Clarke's third law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke's_three_laws