201–210 of 419 posts
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Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight. - Bill Gates
And I bet an in progress airplane that weighs a 1000lbs is further along than an airplane that weighs 1.
This is cathartic to read, but I also despair at getting the people who need to hear it to take it seriously. > But many people want the world to be simple This is the source of so much insanity in the world, not just with regard to allocating labor. Details matter, but people who plan "timelines" desperately don't want to hear it. They can go through whole careers without being forced out of the cozy illusion that t…
You are on the money[1]. People want to estimate work without even telling what is it that needs to be done in the first place.
[1] http://johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/reality-has-a-surprising-...
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Devs: there are no 10x engineers!! Orgs: okay you are indistinguishable cogs and we will treat you as cattle Devs: no wait not like that Truth is everyone knows that who or which teams takes a task matters immensely. We know that if Bob leads it’s gonna suck and if Alice does it’s gonna rock and finish on time. Managers know this also. But we’ve constructed a corporate culture where this is not allowed to be said. So…
Not only are there 10x engineers, I personally know an objectively measured 500x engineer. He is humble because he knows someone who produces 10x what he does (albeit spending twice as much time at it). The measurement happened as a result of a joint venture between Siemens AG and Ericsson called Ellemtel. Each company sent 250 [edit: not 500] engineers. It was a six month project, the classic death march: if it did…
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> And really, if your definition of a 10xer is some poor fool who’s willing to take the job of 10 people for a single person’s salary, good luck finding someone who wants to spend their lives living that way. Right, they are paid more. The going rate for good people is around 1.5x up to 10x for exceptional cases. Edit: And I am not talking about minimizing cost of salaries, I am talking about how much a good software…
I mean, if all you’re saying is that “better programmers deserve better pay”, then you’re not exactly saying anything groundbreaking and the concept of “10xer” is not going to be necessary to make that point. It should also be noted that the salary that you get isn’t just a product of your talent but also of how well you sell yourself. Amongst many other factors, of course.
Did we ever figure out why he wants the computer that comes in the smallest box?
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>One of the primary jobs of managers at all levels is to plan and then execute in accordance with the plan "Plans" can never be set in stone. They evolve based on the people involved and circumstances. A Manager's job is to understand his people and then Plan accordingly; not the other way around. >If all you can do is complain This is exactly the wrong way to frame the discussion. Pointing out that you are clueless…
> "Plans" can never be set in stone Setting plans in stone was the entire Waterfall Methodology where contracts had requirements and milestones locked in and any deviation meant heavy penalties.
Royce's five additional steps (which included writing complete documentation at various stages of development) never took mainstream hold, but his diagram of what he considered a flawed process became the starting point when describing a "waterfall" approach.
Realizing this is important for retention. It's damaging when upper management falsely thinks people are interchangeble, which is a common view among non-technical types and HR. This leads to 10x people feeling underappreciated and resentful, ultimately causing them to resign for higher compensation and more appreciation elsewhere. It can literally destroy small companies if an individual's unique contribution isn't…
Gelled teams are an actual thing though. A good team can be better at something than all it's seperate members.
I'm an introvert, I love working from home, I live in the woods with a 1/3rd mile long driveway. Since my youngest went off to college I'm here alone with her fish and a cat. I go into town once or twice a week for supplies and the rest of the time I'm just out here in my little sanctuary enjoying the lack of people. That said, even I know that while individuals matter, teams matter more. And I don't see anything in…
Previously from danluu.com on the topics you mentioned Company culture matters https://danluu.com/culture/ Different organisations have radically different expectations about how fast and well you can work https://danluu.com/productivity-velocity/ Different organisations are capable of different things because of the (kinds of) people who work there https://danluu.com/in-house/ Two different kinds of oransations work…
This is cathartic to read, but I also despair at getting the people who need to hear it to take it seriously. > But many people want the world to be simple This is the source of so much insanity in the world, not just with regard to allocating labor. Details matter, but people who plan "timelines" desperately don't want to hear it. They can go through whole careers without being forced out of the cozy illusion that t…
> Details matter, You are on the money[1]. People want to estimate work without even telling what is it that needs to be done in the first place. [1] http://johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/reality-has-a-surprising-...
I am a security engineer but have been a business leader from time to time. Business leaders often need to plan around dates- eg ”should we spend $50k announcing at conference Y in month Z, or should we wait until month A?” “Our competition just launched; will we be able to launch this quarter (the board wants to know, and we have to report material financial impact items quarterly or face SEC fines)?” Every team I h…
To begin with, it is interesting to see you lumping up different kinds of timelines. For example, the cost of not meeting SEC timeline different one compared to demo to be shown in a press conference.
> should we spend $50k announcing at conference Y in month Z, or should we wait until month A?
What is it that you want to announce? Product launch perhaps? Then let's work with the product folks to design it and then take it to engineers to figure out work estimate. Give them time to estimate; if the timelines don't match then reduce the scope.
> Our competition just launched; will we be able to launch this quarter
Sure, they launched this quarter. Do you know how long have they been working on it? If not then it's a similar exercise as above.
> we have to report material financial impact items quarterly or face SEC fines
Why are you telling me this? SEC doesn't ask for such reports overnight. You messed up by not telling us so fine it is. OR there is some human at the SEC with whom you negotiate.
> So show me a methodology that mere mortals can implement successfully.
If there were such a methodology we wouldn't be having this discussion to begin with. It would have been commoditised, similar to a car manufacturing assembly line.
What business people don't understand (or internalise) is software is a truly a new beast. It is a tool that can be applied in just about every domain. No such tool has existed ever in human history. If you want to disrupt a domain then you either develop expertise in it or hire them from the industry.
> If all you can do is complain and point out unicorn 500x engineers (yeah try hiring for that characteristic, good luck), then I don’t want to hear it.
In some cases that is indeed the reality. If you don't even want to acknowledge the reality then good luck hiring good people. If you say point out how Apple launches products like clockwork then I'll point out how they have had close to 50 years worth of experience and all the associated optimisations they have done with their supply chain and what not.
Reality is, whether you acknowledge or not, is full of detail[1]. It can't be bent to your convenience, unfortunately.
[1] http://johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/reality-has-a-surprising-...