Things I want to say to my boss • Hacker News Board

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#61

Post by theideaofcoffee » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:33 PM UTC

css_apologist wrote: post #49

reallymental wrote: post #3

I think y'all (i.e. who've contributed anonymously to the article), have taken these words too literally. I think we're finally seeing the culmination of around 15+ years (post '08) of leadership mindset finally reap its rewards. Over the last decade (last 3+ decades realistically, I'm around 35, so that's all my personal anecdotal data goes back to), these "leaders" have all thrown away the facade of "mentorship", "…

> last 3+ decades realistically, I'm around 35 ah yes, the formative years of 5-15 spent in 1-1 with my manager has drastically shaped my life & experience /s

Easy now, I think it's pretty easy to see that he's talking about "three decades" generally, a decade in his own experience and two or more generalized out. You can know about things that you don't directly experience.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#62

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:35 PM UTC

yakkomajuri wrote: post #47

As a side point, some people here seem to think this post specifically came from 24 contributors. The text at the bottom seems to indicate this and I initially got the same feeling. However, that's actually a description of the site itself, not the post. There are 24 essays, one per contributor.

That's what I thought, too - turns out this link is to just one of the essays.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#63

Post by jayd16 » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:35 PM UTC

css_apologist wrote: post #49

reallymental wrote: post #3

I think y'all (i.e. who've contributed anonymously to the article), have taken these words too literally. I think we're finally seeing the culmination of around 15+ years (post '08) of leadership mindset finally reap its rewards. Over the last decade (last 3+ decades realistically, I'm around 35, so that's all my personal anecdotal data goes back to), these "leaders" have all thrown away the facade of "mentorship", "…

> last 3+ decades realistically, I'm around 35 ah yes, the formative years of 5-15 spent in 1-1 with my manager has drastically shaped my life & experience /s

I gave it a pass for those decades being in "recent memory" even if the experience wasn't first hand.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#64

Post by mordae » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:35 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #39

firefoxd wrote: post #30

I know this will sound a bit cynical, but I've stopped putting too much care into my employer's product. I'll deliver work and perform my best, but I'm not killing myself over it. I've built viable products where I poured my soul into it just for it to be tossed aside [0]. I've optimized processes that went from 12 hours job to 17 minutes, I was fired shortly after [1]. I even wrote on HN to get advice when I felt I…

>I even wrote on HN to get advice when I felt I cared more about my work and colleagues [2]. Instead, my boss was promoted and I was scrutinized. In a lot of cases, "caring too much" is itself seen as a problem because the boss explicitly just wants you to implement the thing that benefits him. He doesn't really want to hear that its not going to work well and there are better alternatives. If you really don't care y…

Nah, you'll get yelled at if bosses solution you have implemented brings further trouble. Mostly for not fixing it for them.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#65

Post by parliament32 » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:36 PM UTC

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #41

ivanovm wrote: post #17

this has ai writing smell all over it. entire paragraphs that just say it's-not-this-it's-that over and over again

It's a construct that long predates AI. And using it with such intensity and frequency is more likely a sign that this _wasn't_ AI generated, since AI writing tends to _not_ repeat things quite so often.

I doubt a human would use it repetitively, even if it is common. This was most likely written paragraph-by-paragraph by AI, causing the repetition, if I had to guess.

I can't wait for the EU AI Act to require mandatory labelling for AI-generated content.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#66

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:36 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #39

firefoxd wrote: post #30

I know this will sound a bit cynical, but I've stopped putting too much care into my employer's product. I'll deliver work and perform my best, but I'm not killing myself over it. I've built viable products where I poured my soul into it just for it to be tossed aside [0]. I've optimized processes that went from 12 hours job to 17 minutes, I was fired shortly after [1]. I even wrote on HN to get advice when I felt I…

>I even wrote on HN to get advice when I felt I cared more about my work and colleagues [2]. Instead, my boss was promoted and I was scrutinized. In a lot of cases, "caring too much" is itself seen as a problem because the boss explicitly just wants you to implement the thing that benefits him. He doesn't really want to hear that its not going to work well and there are better alternatives. If you really don't care y…

[deleted]

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#67

Post by mordae » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:37 PM UTC

KaiserPro wrote: post #35

These are good solid points. For the care issue, I don't know how I would scale it. For my direct reports, I care, because I have yet to have take the MBA course where they remove my empathy. Its easy to know how they feel because I have the context. However, should I be good enough, or lucky enough to climb up the greasy pole and have reports with reports, I don't know how I would be able to scale the attention requ…

You hire caring direct reportees.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#68

Post by parliament32 » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:37 PM UTC

macintux wrote: post #58

jnovek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it matter? The information in the post still accurately captures a sentiment held by many people.

The complaint is definitely getting old. I wonder how many HN threads at this point don't have someone speculating about AI-generated content. Hopefully @dang adds something to the guidelines to discourage it.

AI generated content in the comments is already prohibited. I hope we extend the restrictions to submissions entirely.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#69

Post by xnorswap » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:37 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #31

agenticfish wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mad Men isn’t a documentary. Contemporary work culture influenced its creators, so you’re likely seeing a reflection of that when you watch the show.

A very good observation, and true of nearly any contemporary fiction set in the past. People just seem unable to avoid this flaw.

"contemporary fiction set in the past"

Nitpick, but this is a contradiction.

Contemporary fiction doesn't mean "current" (or least it didn't used to) it means "set in the time it was written".

I guess the word contemporary has been misused to the point of just meaning current or modern and I shouldn't nitpick it!

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#70

Post by dragonwriter » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:37 PM UTC

no_wizard wrote: post #50

phantasmish wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Professional Managerial Class (college -> management being the norm) gained a lot of steam in the '80s and had basically taken over the entire economy by the end of the '90s. My dad's career spanned the pre- and post-transition eras, with the latter coming as a very sudden shift due to a large merger. His description of the difference was... not flattering to the modern notion. Way, way more wasted time. Way more…

Deep professional understanding of a problem space that a business solves is way undervalued. Institutional knowledge, experience, and domain expertise have been devalued precisely because the managerial class (particularly executives and VPs) actively learn and live the idea that labor is always bad and to be minimized as much as possible. This is what the AI boom is really about, removing more power from labor. Its…

> This is what the AI boom is really about, removing more power from labor. Its why all the AI hype largely markets itself in this way "how AI can replace or minimize X role" as opposed to "This is how you can use AI to empower your workforce in the majority of discourse I've seen around it.

Arguably, AI is largely marketed that way because that's what corporate buyers care about, the same way every productivity improving invention has been marketed to corporate buyers even if a major actual effect is increasing the value of each labor hour and driving wages up. (Which is largely isomorphic to reducing the number X role needed in the production of Y units of a good or service.)

Its also sold as a labor productivity increase to independent creators. And the two things are, after all, different sides of the same coin.