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“Just remove the duck” (2013)

rachelbythebay.com

191–200 of 347 posts

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#191
post #12

Battle Chess was a great game. I believe I recall the rook eating the queen as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM3InfEH-cU

>> "From the PC game Battle Chess (Enhanced) by Interplay. The reason I discovered I was into vore."

I really, really shouldn't read even the descriptions on YouTube videos.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the aircraft in the US Presidential fleet, SAM 970, had a fake temperature control knob on the conference room desk. It was installed for then-VP Johnson, who was something of a control freak and who kept coming up to the cockpit to fiddle with the temperature. (The knob actually sent a signal to the pilots, who would adjust the temperature in the general direction that LBJ had tried to adjust it.) Source: lea…

Well, that's not exactly fake, it just has a human in the circuit.

Not to mention that obviously Johnson was aware of how the knob worked. And I find that it's funny that people think that a Vice President can't get temperature adjusted to his liking and should or would play games with him. "Oh there he goes again" type of thing. I don't think you get to be in a position of being able to fly a President or Vice President of any country by having an attitude and not being fully respectful of those in power.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#193
I'm reminded of a blog post by an old govvie that hated this approach. His argument was that every time we work around a problem in our process, whether it was a bad system or an incompetent co-worker or manager, we became the problem. Every time we added a duck or built a workaround we were building frameworks that would hold a bad policy in place for longer than if we just stopped and said "that's stupid". Adding the duck binds your co-workers and successors to a life of misery.

There's a real risk (of course) to killing the duck. Your client or your boss may hate you, and that's never healthy in the short run, but they also may come out of the interaction a wiser and better person. Or you may find yourself not working for an idiot, and be happier in the long run anyways. Keeping the duck alive is a bigger long-term risk for everyone.

Kill the duck.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#194
It's not uncommon, in business dealings or in legal contracts, to put things in that you know the other side will remove just in order to make them feel as if "money hasn't been left on the table" or that they have done their job for their client. You almost have to do that as part of negotiation to get what you want and to satisfy all parties many times.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#195
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you haven't read this before, I highly recommend: http://www.27bslash6.com/missy.html

...That guy is just an asshole. Not funny at all. He should just have declined instead of screwing around and wasting everybody's time.

Hate to break it to you, but 27b/6 is actually fiction.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it's a move which works when people demand changes in order to leave their mark or to be seen as "doing something"[0], it doesn't work in the case of people demanding changes because they actually want these changes. [0] an attitude I find myself unthinkingly adopting when doing reviews.

i have the guilts reviewing work of non native english speakers and asking them to rename functions after review. hard to ask for it without it seeming completely petty, particularly when everything else is perfect. it does represent a minor improvement.

There are two hard problems in computer science: naming things, cache invalidation and off by one errors.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#197

I'm reminded of a blog post by an old govvie that hated this approach. His argument was that every time we work around a problem in our process, whether it was a bad system or an incompetent co-worker or manager, we became the problem. Every time we added a duck or built a workaround we were building frameworks that would hold a bad policy in place for longer than if we just stopped and said "that's stupid". Adding t…

Put more simply, sometimes you are the idiot. Don't make it worse for everyone by acting like it.

Edit: that's a generic 'you', in case it's not obvious, not a reference to the parent.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#198

Putting on my client/product manager hat for a moment, this is incredibly annoying. You are putting me in the position of either (a) fixing the obvious ducks and not looking closely at the real problems, or (b) having to micromanage you and scheduling another review to make further changes. Maybe you get your desired result (a), but my opinion of your work is going to be much lower since you are making obvious duck-s…

If you are a product manager who provides thoughtful rather than asinine criticism, your developers will not do this. It's defence, not offence.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, this thing was beautiful http://cdn.mactrast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012-11-2... Apples design is hit and miss like everyone else.

My carpal tunnels ache just looking at it.

I agree with you. I could never use Apple mice. I hurt my arm muscles typing a few years back. Haven't been able to use them since.

(fixed the arm problem with physio and massage)

However, the apple trackpad on my macbook air seems to work great. I like this more than even ordinary mice, which can sometimes aggravate the issue.

Re: “Just remove the duck” (2013)

#200

I'm reminded of a blog post by an old govvie that hated this approach. His argument was that every time we work around a problem in our process, whether it was a bad system or an incompetent co-worker or manager, we became the problem. Every time we added a duck or built a workaround we were building frameworks that would hold a bad policy in place for longer than if we just stopped and said "that's stupid". Adding t…

Put more simply, sometimes you are the idiot. Don't make it worse for everyone by acting like it. Edit: that's a generic 'you', in case it's not obvious, not a reference to the parent.

Even if you specifically aren't the idiot (though I often am), never spend your time working around the idiot. Any time you work around an idiot, you've done more work and the idiot will still be there...
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