The Epistemology of Software Quality

I'm more on the technical solution team, mostly because the problems of the whole process (including your sleepless nights) will be determined by the particularities of your technologies. You can choose your technology well or you can choose poorly and go down the rabbit hole of new and new secondary problems and issues that only exist because of that poor decision. Practical wisdom is very effective.

That said of course life/work balance is an important aspect and we should strive to avoid work cultures that value time invested versus output, because they reward mostly the appearance of bussiness instead of useful work, so you get both negatives workers are tired from working hard on appearing to be busy and the production becomes secondary, lower quality and slower.

“various drivers and flaws” doesn’t mean “jerk,” although lots of folks like to assume that anyone not in a fairly narrow band of behavior, is one.

I get treated like a jerk, sometimes, and I’m not one. I just don’t match the “modern software developer” stereotype, and that often makes folks uncomfortable. Most of my employees, while I was a manager, also were quite “different.” We weren’t always sunflowers and unicorns, but we also weren’t prima donnas.

I will tell you one thing: If we treat people with hostility, they will usually return the favor, which can establish an immediate negative feedback loop. Since humans tend to have “other -> hostile” built into our operating system, we sometimes never give cooperation a chance; starting many relationships off on a bad foot, right out the door. We decide someone is a “jerk,” because they fit (or don’t fit) an internal stereotype, and the rest is history, as we make sure that the relationship is going nowhere, from the start.

It can be seen on this very forum. I know that it happens to many others, but I can only speak from my experience.

Fairly regularly, someone that has never had any interaction with me, of any kind, suddenly responds to one of my posts, with hostility; usually in the form of an insult.

I may come across as a bit "stuffy," but I sincerely never mean to offer offense, or throw punches. I do have some personal positions that go against the common grain, but I don't consider myself to be much of a "bomb-thrower." Basically, I feel like it's a privilege to participate here, and try to bring something good to the table.

It was my job, as a manager, to understand each of my employees, as an individual, and my team, as a whole, and keep a balance, while also ensuring that the company’s priorities were being met. Also, there are limits, as to how much individual focus we can give each team member, when it comes to things like employment law and corporate policy, so there’s always tradeoffs.

It’s also been my experience that a good manager (and I like to think I was one) can coax excellence out of almost anyone. We often have a rockstar in us, but each individual has different blockers and accelerators. If a corporation has a culture of mediocrity, then they can force racehorses to pull plows, and Clydesdales to run steeplechase.

Some of my employees were driven by basic avarice, but I can really only think of maybe one or two, during my 25 years as a manager. Most were focused on their families, excitement over their work, being included as peers in high-functioning teams, or the satisfaction of a job well done.

Not everyone in my team always got along with each other, but it’s difficult to have a bunch of self-sufficient high achievers together, without friction. Surprisingly, we managed to stay together, as a team, for decades, and deliver value for our company.

What would you have us do? There is no such validation process.

It's a shame that we immediately assume talented and passionate people are jerks. Not sure where that comes from. I suspect that it may be a US thing, as we are a ferociously competitive culture, and, these days, it seems that everyone on a team considers their teammates to be "the competition."

Sorry, I should have been more clear. Independent validation and verification is a thing: https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/independent_verification.... We still use it in, for instance, NPP automation, avionics, and defense. Which not only makes sense but usually required by law. Interestingly, outside these few domains, we usually omit it as too costly as if doing the first and only independent validation with our own users is not.