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Ask HN: Why can't programmers get along with business type people?

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31–40 of 64 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why can't programmers get along with business type people?

#31

In my experience, the gap was more between "people that do things/makers" (designers, hackers, texters, testers, linguists, statistics people) and "people that talk" (aka business type people, usually economy students). It occured that the talking-only people where at some point so out of touch from the work that actually happens, but yet in charge, and interfering with everybody.

Business type people make businesses.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't programmers get along with business type people?

#32
Ego.

"Not getting along" is what happens when one believes that "I" is more important than "we".

Once one gets beyond themselves, one can "get along". They still may not agree, but now they've put themselves in a position to solve problems, not perpetuate conflict.

This is also true in the general class "Why x can't get along with y," not just for programmers and business type people.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't programmers get along with business type people?

#34

In my experience, the gap was more between "people that do things/makers" (designers, hackers, texters, testers, linguists, statistics people) and "people that talk" (aka business type people, usually economy students). It occured that the talking-only people where at some point so out of touch from the work that actually happens, but yet in charge, and interfering with everybody.

Sounds like broken company culture, not a general truth. I've never experienced that problem anywhere I have worked. The only problem I've seen is that the "talkers" often do not know what is possible, and the "makers" often don't know what the business needs to actually make money. The big moves come when both sides get together to determine the company's direction.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't programmers get along with business type people?

#36
post #30
post #19

I believe it's largely down to short term goals versus long term goals. From the business perspective, the company should do things quickly because that means the jobs are more profitable, cashflow is stable, and the business team believe that they can always find more clients even if the product is horrible. This is the short term outlook. From the programmers perspective the company should do things slowly because…

Also, programmers are usually "to the point" people, while business people love buzzwords.

Condescending remarks like this don't help the issue. A business person can also say "Business people are down to earth, while programmers love to use jargon that nobody understands."

There are good and bad communicators on both sides.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't programmers get along with business type people?

#38
post #26
post #19

I believe it's largely down to short term goals versus long term goals. From the business perspective, the company should do things quickly because that means the jobs are more profitable, cashflow is stable, and the business team believe that they can always find more clients even if the product is horrible. This is the short term outlook. From the programmers perspective the company should do things slowly because…

I think you're being very optimistic about programmer motivations, to be honest. > From the programmers perspective the company should do things slowly because that leads to more maintainable software, less technical debt, and higher quality products with fewer faults. Less money comes in, but the clients stick around for the quality goods. This is the long term outlook. This is the good version. But as we all know,…

On balance, I don't think programmer motivations worse than businesspeople motivations on average, though.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't programmers get along with business type people?

#39
post #9
post #6

They can; where they don't, it's usually due to a dysfunctional organization that means their incentives are misaligned.

It seems to be a philosophy endemic to embedded IT: "us" vs "the business".

And it's quite visible in some of the comments here.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't programmers get along with business type people?

#40
post #30
post #19

I believe it's largely down to short term goals versus long term goals. From the business perspective, the company should do things quickly because that means the jobs are more profitable, cashflow is stable, and the business team believe that they can always find more clients even if the product is horrible. This is the short term outlook. From the programmers perspective the company should do things slowly because…

Also, programmers are usually "to the point" people, while business people love buzzwords.

Does your experience with business people resonate with this at all? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyV_UG60dD4
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