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How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

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Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#51

Post by okr »

rodgerd wrote: post #19
mathewsanders wrote: post #5

“Agile teams that truly iterate with the customer can often avoid these problems because the customer is there the whole way through and the team continuously pivots to close gaps discovered by the customer throughout the project, thereby building something the customer actually needs and wants.” I‘m 2 years into my first role as a product owner (made the switch from design) and working at a fortune 100. The thing th…

The problem is the definition of customer and the actual commitment to a customer focus, in my experience. It's usually hijacked away from the actual customer - that is to say, a person who pays your company for products and/or services - to various internal "customers" who are nothing of the sort. Spotify are ostensibly the Gods of Agile, but how many Spotify music customers were actually begging for podcasts? How m…

Spotify feels natural to me to listen to Podcasts. So i am at least one paying customers, who was just waiting for it.

(Never knew, that spotify also has video. Who is using that?)

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#52

Post by extra_rice »

shultays wrote: post #48
nurettin wrote: post #4

> Don't just build Something™, build an industry leading product that customers want and love! The point of writing software is to get paid. If the process leads to something actually useful, good on you. If not, you still got paid. It was just a drill, life continues.

That is highly subjective. Money is a motivation but some people seeks more from their jobs. I wouldn't work on a job if it is not really giving me a sense of accomplishment either.

I currently work on a project that has struggled to make actual sense for a few years now. Sure I like getting paid, but there's a growing void in my soul.

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#53

Post by denkmoon »

I am currently employed to develop an entire data analytics system because a government department can't get their firewall rules right.

None of the members of this government department want a bespoke system, they want to use tools they are familiar with but due to the firewall rules this isn't possible.

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#55

Post by Robelius »

hedora wrote: post #49
worriedformyjob wrote: post #13

Obviously using a throwaway here. Our board members got it into their heads that successful companies must have an AI "play", so they instructed the CEO to invest about 10% of our development budget on AI. We are doing absolutely inane projects that have no hope of succeeding. We serve a niche industry where certified professionals have to do certain tasks personally, instead of being able to delegate to secretaries.…

Once the CEO asked me to build a human level AGI in front of our only customer (small company). I asked them what they wanted to do (it was solvable with keyword search) and told the CEO that I’d be happy to get it into the next version. It took an afternoon or so to implement. Gotta love the PHB effect.

PHB Effect?

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#56

Post by totetsu »

Robelius wrote: post #55
hedora wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once the CEO asked me to build a human level AGI in front of our only customer (small company). I asked them what they wanted to do (it was solvable with keyword search) and told the CEO that I’d be happy to get it into the next version. It took an afternoon or so to implement. Gotta love the PHB effect.

PHB Effect?

this maybe? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29214487/

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#58

Post by draw_down »

nurettin wrote: post #4

> Don't just build Something™, build an industry leading product that customers want and love! The point of writing software is to get paid. If the process leads to something actually useful, good on you. If not, you still got paid. It was just a drill, life continues.

People here cannot bear the thought that software development could be, gasp, just a job. But there’s nothing wrong with shoveling the shit and getting paid.

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#59

Post by hedora »

Robelius wrote: post #55
hedora wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once the CEO asked me to build a human level AGI in front of our only customer (small company). I asked them what they wanted to do (it was solvable with keyword search) and told the CEO that I’d be happy to get it into the next version. It took an afternoon or so to implement. Gotta love the PHB effect.

PHB Effect?

Pointy haired boss. (From Dilbert)

Re: How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?

#60

Post by noizejoy »

worriedformyjob wrote: post #13

Obviously using a throwaway here. Our board members got it into their heads that successful companies must have an AI "play", so they instructed the CEO to invest about 10% of our development budget on AI. We are doing absolutely inane projects that have no hope of succeeding. We serve a niche industry where certified professionals have to do certain tasks personally, instead of being able to delegate to secretaries.…

> but at least we can now tell investors we are a keen company with an AI play up our sleeve

Obviously I don't know the details of your company situation, but I've experienced myself over the years, that sometimes it can be less overall cost and trouble to give this kind of lip service, rather than fighting an overwhelming fashionable trend until that trend runs its natural course to extinction.

> Team motivation is in a weird space: everyone is relaxed because there is no pressure to succeed

If I was leading that team, I would try to find (or insert) nuggets of goodness (smaller/non-obvious objectives and tasks) in that project which allow the team members to get some personal longer term benefit out of it.

And ideally find (or insert) nuggets of goodness (smaller/non-obvious objectives and tasks) in that project, which have a good chance of becoming useful to the company later - beyond the scope of the official project.

And hopefully the team would become excited about doing something meaningful beyond the official project objective.

p.s. I'm speaking from experience in this kind of a situation.

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