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Why are you so busy?

tomlingham.com

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Re: Why are you so busy?

#121

Post by helge9210 »

hbrn wrote: post #119
helge9210 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know that most feel that they absolutely HAVE to do these things, since there are part of the business process/ definition of done/company guidelines etc... Anecdote: at current position I've noticed 100% of my team time goes to "these things". As a team lead I tried to figure out the actual necessity. After I've "lost" the half of the team insisting on doing all the rituals the remaining half started to deliver…

As the company gets bigger, it naturally starts doing more rituals. Some are justified, most are a cargo cult. The sad part is that since rituals are an inherent to a big company, following (and enforcing) rituals is synonymous to being professional. And fighting them is often seen as amateur. No, I'm not doing performance reviews and weekly 1:1 with each team member. Not because I'm an amateur, but because I'm in th…

> As the company gets bigger

In first startup I was working we were four engineers and our whole shared context could fit into two whiteboards and Kanban board in GitHub.

Next one was a couple of hundreds of engineers and a lot of coordination activity directed by iron fist of program managers.

Next one was fifty engineers but with the same amount of coordination activities (for the sake of the process) and much less progress.

And the current one had ten people in engineering, three chapters (backend, frontend, DevOps), incident board, 1-1s, retro, planning, refinement, weekly, quarter retro and planning and sprint review.

Fun fact: at current place no one knew the term "cargo cult". When I explained the meaning some colleagues considered it offensive.

Re: Why are you so busy?

#124

Post by tjlingham »

jvanderbot wrote: post #117
tjlingham wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question! I'll try my best to explain, though it's late and I may ramble – apologies in advance. (You said you understand this bit but I'll put it here too just incase someone else could benefit). By modelling "the architecture", I'm referring to the architecture or the design of the system where work is happening. Think, for example, whether it's a system composed of many small components (modules, micro-servi…

Thank you. A quibble: "model" may not be the best choice of verb here (it's what threw me off). I think "have well understood processes in place" is what you're trying to communicate, which is both "model" and "adhere".

Thank you – I think of "model" as meaning the way I think about, reason, and communicate an idea. But I completely see how that usage is not idiomatic. I appreciate the feedback.

Re: Why are you so busy?

#125

Post by glouwbug »

laserlight wrote: post #77
siva7 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for pointing out. Someone who can’t hold a job for more than a year on average in almost a decade isn’t someone i would take team/engineering advice from.

> can’t hold That's a bit presumptuous. He could have left for better opportunities.

Don't sweat it - It's easy to gatekeep when your job is your identity

Re: Why are you so busy?

#126

Post by d0mine »

wolframhempel wrote: post #93

As a tech lead, when you're asked to deliver more, the first impulse tends to be asking your team "how can we do more work?" The correct question should be "What can we NOT do?" - and usually there's a long list of things that don't generate business value - from processes, meetings, reporting and overly detailed planning sessions to technical hurdles including slow builds, pre-check in hooks, sign off requirements e…

The general thesis: "to optimize, do less" is correct (even tautological in the time performance area) but specific examples without additional context are troubling: I see an enthusiastic manager reading your post as an endorsement of dropping tests, code reviews, git, any kind of automation, etc (as it doesn't bring direct business value). Obviously, it is shortsighted. You'll pay dearly for any time you initially save by dropping these practices in most contexts.

Re: Why are you so busy?

#128

Post by therealdrag0 »

atoav wrote: post #71

The crazy thing about this is that it can be purely mental. My most productive coding session this year happened when I had to quarantine and I knew my employer wouldn't mind if I just did nothing. There was no pressure, but I still wanted to move on a little bit with the project. Just a few hours a day. I mai ly did this because I like the project and I would get into a lot stress later if it was not done. I got mor…

I also do this (flow on my own mini projects) a few times a year it seems.

I think it’s easy to idealize it, but likely those times are enabled by cultivation of your thought during all the other times at work, and there’s a selection bias of I know that you can accomplish it in that time. Basically it’s a well defined task already specc’d out (or defined bounds or a path forward) in your mind ahead of time. This is just as important to flow as removing distractions.

Re: Why are you so busy?

#129

Post by therealdrag0 »

kaon123 wrote: post #114

I have a question: I've noticed that whenever I talk to Americans, or read American blogs and books, they always tend to talk about working so many hours. Personally having worked in Switzerland and Holland I've never experienced this. Is it that Americans actually structurally work overtime? Or is it the braggadocio way American English works where everything is always in hyperbole? Has anybody here worked on both c…

I haven’t worked in both continents. But in US some people do and some people don’t. We definitely have many people who subscribe to a work hard to get more attitude. Those people work hard including long hours because they are ambitious, especially startup cultures. Founders really hustle. Alternately there are those that work hard because their manager makes it expected and the employee need their job badly and it’s “easy” to fire people in US. Alternately there are MANY people too that have good WLB or coast.

Personally my WLB has varied by job and responsibilities. I’ve had many years of ~35h weeks, and never worked a 50hr week. My partner though is more neurotic and ambitious and often works 10hr days.

Re: Why are you so busy?

#130

Post by Breza »

d0mine wrote: post #126
wolframhempel wrote: post #93

As a tech lead, when you're asked to deliver more, the first impulse tends to be asking your team "how can we do more work?" The correct question should be "What can we NOT do?" - and usually there's a long list of things that don't generate business value - from processes, meetings, reporting and overly detailed planning sessions to technical hurdles including slow builds, pre-check in hooks, sign off requirements e…

The general thesis: "to optimize, do less" is correct (even tautological in the time performance area) but specific examples without additional context are troubling: I see an enthusiastic manager reading your post as an endorsement of dropping tests, code reviews, git, any kind of automation, etc (as it doesn't bring direct business value). Obviously, it is shortsighted. You'll pay dearly for any time you initially…

I run the data science department in a corporation. The best thing I've done is banishing Excel from our reporting workflow and replacing it with various types of automated reporting. Stuff like that is what you should cut, not something that'll end up adding technical debt.
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