This sounds like every place I've worked at ever and I don't expect it to change anytime soon
Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
161–170 of 286 posts
Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#162It's very interesting to see a huge cultural gap within the tech industry, from many of the comments here. Quite a few people are saying : what's so bad about the feature factory ? This sounds like a desirable environment. Whereas I, and many others here, see it as a living nightmare of endless busywork and improductivity. (I've once worked in an environment a bit like that, so I know they actually exist.)
I agree and think it’s a divide between product and engineering. Product managers (at least good ones) love thinking about the problem, while developers love thinking about solutions. I’m generalizing of course, and both mindsets are needed, but it’s the product manager’s job to make sure the developers are solving the right problems and not just launching features that don’t speak to a customer benefit.
Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#163I'm part of the technical leadership at a company who is transitioning from small to medium-sized company. This article is disparaging virtually all of the initiatives we're trying to actually implement. It's actually really hard to transition from anarchy into a more process-oriented where each person has a role to play so that Devs are no longer responsible for literally everything because everyone is used to Devs…
Done poorly, all that process is going to hurt you. You'll end up with teams of people who know their role, celebrate the process, but don't know or care how to connect their work back to the bigger picture.
Agile and Sprints can lead to this. You will see a lot of ceremony, and the team might increase their throughout. But you find your team disenfranchised and producing substandard code that doesn't really do what it needs to do.
Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#164I suggest re-reading this article in the negative: Assume that your team implemented every single one of these bullet points perfectly, for every feature in every sprint. Now imagine that each of those bullet points is a recurring meeting invite on your calendar. Now imagine how happy you'd be spending all of that time in meetings or reading process-related e-mails so your company could satisfy the criteria of not be…
Ultimately it isn't an engineer's place to complain if they're working for a product that needs 100 more features to succeed in a competitive marketplace and win over customers. I had the exact same reaction as you to this article after seeing it again, and wanted to share why I've also changed my mind on this. I was in "a feature factory" for few years and absolutely hated it. After leaving and going to a "not-featu…
What actually happen is: There are multiple pyramids. Sometimes 20-30 pyramids being built simultaneously. Then priesthood comes up with their own tasks, and add random initiatives at random intervals to the load. There's also certifications and external verifications/revisions, each time a big surprise.
The blocks, pyramids, tasks are often unfinished or neglected after completion. Because nobody has time to make proper utilization of it all!
Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
A useful metaphor we use in game dev: Players are the patient, you are the doctor. They're great at finding pain, but not at knowing how to heal it. It's on you to figure out what the underlying problem is and how to solve it. Also, some of my favorite quotes on this subject: You listen to all your fans and they always say "You should add this" or "You should add that." They never say "Take this out, take that out."…
I’m not saying this to argue against your points: I’m a fan of Tangerine bank and have been continually and loudly telling them to remove the balances on the account overview screen as it now triggers “burning a hole in my pocket” psychology. I only mean to say at least a few fans are actively asking for things to be removed, simplified, and (thoughtfully) refined.
Can't really tell if this is sarcasm or not...
Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#166IMO, this is an ego-centric article. Unless you're trying to change the world...be happy you have a continual stream of work. If they don't have a need to keep you busy that's when you should be worried. As a programmer, I try to keep my employer happy and I don't try to meddle in business decisions. I try to understand them as best as possible and give suggestions or ask questions when things are not clear or don't make sense but knowing that my job is to make the things to match specifications. When I see "feature factory" I initially thought it was good as you are building new things but didn't know it was a negative article until I started reading. I'm grateful in other words as I'm pretty normal, not some bright programmer working at SpaceX.
Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#167I suggest re-reading this article in the negative: Assume that your team implemented every single one of these bullet points perfectly, for every feature in every sprint. Now imagine that each of those bullet points is a recurring meeting invite on your calendar. Now imagine how happy you'd be spending all of that time in meetings or reading process-related e-mails so your company could satisfy the criteria of not be…
Ultimately it isn't an engineer's place to complain if they're working for a product that needs 100 more features to succeed in a competitive marketplace and win over customers. I had the exact same reaction as you to this article after seeing it again, and wanted to share why I've also changed my mind on this. I was in "a feature factory" for few years and absolutely hated it. After leaving and going to a "not-featu…
I think you are more aligned with the author than you think.
A feature factory is bad for the business not because it's not "fun", but because resources are tied up producing huge amounts of work that don't really matter.
Kind of like a civilization using its vast resources building giant piles of rocks in the dessert because that's what they've always done.
Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#168I suggest re-reading this article in the negative: Assume that your team implemented every single one of these bullet points perfectly, for every feature in every sprint. Now imagine that each of those bullet points is a recurring meeting invite on your calendar. Now imagine how happy you'd be spending all of that time in meetings or reading process-related e-mails so your company could satisfy the criteria of not be…
Ultimately it isn't an engineer's place to complain if they're working for a product that needs 100 more features to succeed in a competitive marketplace and win over customers. I had the exact same reaction as you to this article after seeing it again, and wanted to share why I've also changed my mind on this. I was in "a feature factory" for few years and absolutely hated it. After leaving and going to a "not-featu…
> This is why product managers will never be 100% aligned with engineers. Product managers see "is the block there" and engineers see "is the block perfectly set" and "why am I not being appreciated?" and "why do they only care about putting down blocks".
I just want the damn PM to be able to tell me where the block should go instead of fucking around with bullshit vague descriptions like "the block should be in a good place". And after I get instructed to place a block midair somewhere, I'm going to want the PM to show that he actually decided "where" based on some kind of information and not by throwing darts.
It is also totally reasonable to expect that someone is looking at each block as part of the overall goal, and identifying that those blocks which were just placed on the ground next to the pyramid were a total waste of time. It doesn't have to be me - but if nobody is doing it, who says we'll end up with a pyramid at all!?
Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most times when users say they won't use a product because it's missing a feature: - Those specific users won't use it anyway even if you add it - The problem they identified is a legitimate problem that was preventing other people from using it - Whether your metrics actually go up depends on where that feature was in the critical path of your funnel. All else being equal, fixing legitimate problems with your produc…
> Those specific users won't use it anyway even if you add it I think people read this and think, "Why bother, then?" As someone who is often this user, I don't end up using your product because I've already moved onto a competing product or service; or because I never hear that you have added the feature. Whether your metrics move after adding the feature might be a matter of timing. There's also the chance I will c…
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Re: Signs you’re working in a feature factory (2016)
#170Does this ever not happen? I am being serious... Have any of you worked at a company for any substantial period of time where some for of this has not become the norm?