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Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

kubie.co

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Re: Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

#11

Post by cthor »

Joe8Bit wrote: post #3

I don't want to be too negative, I generally agree with and am aligned with the content of the article, but this struck me as a really bad take: > In my experience, “show me the data” is often a tactic employed by weak managers who don’t know how to hang as part of a design process. I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying…

The odds of "the data" being gathered in a rigorous enough manner to have any truth value is exceedingly low. It's mostly a tactic to avoid accountability, much like consultants and committees.

Re: Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

#12

Post by [deleted] »

Joe8Bit wrote: post #3

I don't want to be too negative, I generally agree with and am aligned with the content of the article, but this struck me as a really bad take: > In my experience, “show me the data” is often a tactic employed by weak managers who don’t know how to hang as part of a design process. I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying…

[deleted]

Re: Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

#13

Post by Hasu »

Joe8Bit wrote: post #3

I don't want to be too negative, I generally agree with and am aligned with the content of the article, but this struck me as a really bad take: > In my experience, “show me the data” is often a tactic employed by weak managers who don’t know how to hang as part of a design process. I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying…

> I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying the "design process" is just a giant, strictly qualitative "appeal to authority" fallacy and anyone who doesn't "get it" is some kind of naive rube?

I don't think you're quite understanding the context when this happens and why it's a sign of a weak manager.

The team is discussing a new design. A disagreement comes up: what should the text on this button say? Both sides seem to have good arguments, but the manager doesn't know how to pick between them. What to do?

"Do we have any data on this? Maybe we should run an A/B test?"

But no A/B test is needed: this is text on a button that doesn't have a meaningful conversion rate, it's just about clarity. The data we gather will not be useful. The problem is the manager didn't want to be seen as picking sides or playing favorites, or just doesn't understand what's happening, so they moved their own responsibility to an "objective, external measurement" to avoid making a decision.

Generally, "data-driven" is a buzzword that means "we manipulate statistics to do what we wanted to do anyway".

Re: Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

#14

Post by Hasu »

nsteel wrote: post #6
Joe8Bit wrote: post #3

I don't want to be too negative, I generally agree with and am aligned with the content of the article, but this struck me as a really bad take: > In my experience, “show me the data” is often a tactic employed by weak managers who don’t know how to hang as part of a design process. I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying…

Although I do design things, I'm not a manager so maybe this is just outside my job description, but how do you "hang" during a design process? What does it mean? Leave it for bit and see? Honest question.

It means being able to participate in the conversation, understand what is being proposed, and make useful decisions in the moment.

Re: Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

#16

Post by ajuc »

Hasu wrote: post #13
Joe8Bit wrote: post #3

I don't want to be too negative, I generally agree with and am aligned with the content of the article, but this struck me as a really bad take: > In my experience, “show me the data” is often a tactic employed by weak managers who don’t know how to hang as part of a design process. I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying…

> I really don't understand how asking to see data and talk in facts, rather than opinions, is a bad thing? This take seems to be implying the "design process" is just a giant, strictly qualitative "appeal to authority" fallacy and anyone who doesn't "get it" is some kind of naive rube? I don't think you're quite understanding the context when this happens and why it's a sign of a weak manager. The team is discussing…

It's the old joke about tossing a coin so you can realize what you root for, just in real life.

Re: Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

#17

Post by ajuc »

This is a rare advantage nonenglish programming teams have.

We have additional namespace for free. If it's the class it's account. If it's just an account it's konto or however you say account in your language.

Sometimes stuff is overloaded many times. Like transaction the user makes with the company, the DAO entity representing it, the db transaction, the spring transaction...

Re: Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

#19

Post by febeling »

I hope this idea makes the rounds. It's so terrible when you have to learn the idiosyncratic nomenclature of products.

It feels like it was already worse some years ago, but this piece spells it out. And, ironically, gives the problem a name, which is a good thing in this case.

Re: Fighting back against proper noun feature names (2021)

#20

Post by justin_oaks »

codesnik wrote: post #10

"My account" is innocent enough, compared to some other real life examples. And it sometimes doesn't come from marketing, but from development too. I've worked in company which added a "funny" codename to everything: features, libraries, sprints, sections of backoffice interface. I don't know, maybe for some developers it makes things more engaging, for me it added a ton of unnecessary stuff to memorize or look up. A…

I also don't like AWS's odd names, but there are competing priorities when choosing to name something. I thought of some things to consider when you're naming which may make you choose a (possibly terrible) proper noun instead of a generic term.

* Is what you're naming a product which you can trademark? Or is it just a feature that would be silly to trademark? (EC2, Sagemaker, CloudFront vs account, billing profile, user)

* Does the name help with people differentiating your product from your competitors product?

* Does the name help people find the product when searching online?

* Does the name help ensure that the product isn't regarded as "Just a (generic term)" when it is more than that?

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