The Bozo Event Horizon
blogs.law.harvard.edu
The Bozo Event Horizon
1–10 of 106 posts
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#2"Others, like James Gosling, quietly change the world by building something (the core Java language and libraries) that make so much sense and are so elegant that you just smile when you use them."
I'm afraid everybody says this about whatever is new. Nowadays people would say this about Guido, Matz, etc.
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#3"Others, like James Gosling, quietly change the world by building something (the core Java language and libraries) that make so much sense and are so elegant that you just smile when you use them ." I'm afraid everybody says this about whatever is new. Nowadays people would say this about Guido, Matz, etc.
Also, I'm not sure that of all of Gosling's achievements, I would point to Java-the-language (or the UTTERLY GODAWFUL initial libraries) as a particular exemplar of elegance. NeWS was much, much, much more interesting and forward-thinking, for one.
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#4This reminds me of mushroom cap[1].
[1] http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/work-relationships/9781...
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#5I am a fan of the word "bozo", and even used it in a book title. It explains so many bad things in our industry. The fact that this author is associating it with Google is just the icing on the cake for me.
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#6These companies seem to suffer brain-drain and increasing mediocrity in the same way that online communities suffer the constant erosion of their best users.
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#7I've seen startups with rigorous hiring processes, places where only top employees are hired. But then when it comes to hiring execs, they get so focused on luring in a "superstar", that they do little to no screening. The idea is that the person is so great, all you need to do is sell.
And thats how great startups hire a bozo exec team. And we all know where that leads.
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#8"Others, like James Gosling, quietly change the world by building something (the core Java language and libraries) that make so much sense and are so elegant that you just smile when you use them ." I'm afraid everybody says this about whatever is new. Nowadays people would say this about Guido, Matz, etc.
Man, I'm sort of with you. In the last few years, I've spent time in a variety of languages --- Python, Ruby, JS, Java, and lately Go and Haskell --- and Java just seemed completely terrible: bureaucratic, staid, and just plain mediocre by many standards.
Then I started reading a lot of C++. And I mean no disrespect to the many brilliant people who use and enjoy C++, but it wasn't until then that I really got why Java exists.
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#9"Others, like James Gosling, quietly change the world by building something (the core Java language and libraries) that make so much sense and are so elegant that you just smile when you use them ." I'm afraid everybody says this about whatever is new. Nowadays people would say this about Guido, Matz, etc.
Also, I'm not sure that of all of Gosling's achievements, I would point to Java-the-language (or the UTTERLY GODAWFUL initial libraries) as a particular exemplar of elegance. NeWS was much, much, much more interesting and forward-thinking, for one.
his phd thesis was pretty cool. It's one approach at a constraint solver built into a language. I can't, off the top of my head think of any direct application (maybe some prolog variant), but it's a neat way to model stuff.
Re: The Bozo Event Horizon
#10> A number of you asked...what I’m seeing happening at Google (and what I mean by a bozo).
The subjectivity of this is the core of the problem. One man's Zen Master is another man's Bozo. Often, they look indistinguishable to the uninitiated.
> Others, like James Gosling, quietly change the world by building something (the core Java language and libraries) that make so much sense and are so elegant that you just smile when you use them.
Another example of how one man's X is another man's Y. (EDIT: In putting it this way, I mean to respect both directions of opinion.)
> The indicator is when process and fairness becomes more important than judgement, and when it isn’t ok to say that some people have reached their limit.
Process and fairness are often used as proxies for meaningful relationships and understanding among coworkers. Often they are used as a means of avoiding taking such responsibility.