It's incredible how "old-timey" the writing feels, even as someone who was online at that time.
Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
71–80 of 86 posts
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#72Does anyone have a reference to the original thread or issue about sleep(1)?
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#73Reminds me of a story a friend related a long time ago about how to manage bosses. That probably applies to bike sheds. The general idea is to introduce a glaring mistake into any proposal you make. Then the boss (or whoever feels like bikeshedding) can "catch" that mistake upon which you congratulate them on their infinite wisdom, fix the mistake, and the project can move along. So to avoid the bikeshed color discus…
Do people actually do this? It seems silly and childish. Although I’ve never had a boss that needed to find an error.
Yes, but you're thinking far too literally. This is a negotiation tactic from the far reaches of history. Humans have always done this to manipulate one another.
You want something from someone else, at some cost to you. If you let the other party decline something you seemingly want, they have the impression that they're giving up less or are getting a better deal.
It's just compromise. Except you never actually wanted the thing you're compromising on and the ltjer party never cared about. It's just ticking the psychological boxes.
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It doesn't have to a mistake, it could be any other detail that you know would be disagreed with. A friend's father who was an architect used to do that all the time. He'd submit a drawing that definitely wouldn't pass planning regulations, then go for a meeting with the planning officer and say "Right well how about we swap the swimming pool I am allowed to have, for the dormer windows that I'm not allowed to have…
One more reason to opposed planning departments - too often they are focused on the wrong things. They need to ensure the fire department can rescue people if there is a fire. If my house has a dormer - that should be a first amendment free speech issue they have no interest in (assuming it is otherwise safe). However the looks are easy for someone to verify, while the important things need an engineer to spend time.
Okay, so no planning regulations at all?
So if I buy the plot of land in front of yours and want to build my house as a 40-metre tower of rusted Cor-Ten steel with 1kW floodlights every metre or so, you'd be okay with that?
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reminds me a bit of the story about "bird mode" at google [0] https://mashable.com/article/google-maps-origin-story-satell...
Wait Google Maps is not satellite photography it’s aerial?? I feel like I’ve been lied to.
It's a (mostly) seamless blend of satellite, areal, and ground photography.
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#76Reminds me of a story a friend related a long time ago about how to manage bosses. That probably applies to bike sheds. The general idea is to introduce a glaring mistake into any proposal you make. Then the boss (or whoever feels like bikeshedding) can "catch" that mistake upon which you congratulate them on their infinite wisdom, fix the mistake, and the project can move along. So to avoid the bikeshed color discus…
In the law school contract-drafting course that I teach, students read about "Combat Barbie" as a way of giving the other party's contract reviewer something to ask to be changed.
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#77Reminds me of a story a friend related a long time ago about how to manage bosses. That probably applies to bike sheds. The general idea is to introduce a glaring mistake into any proposal you make. Then the boss (or whoever feels like bikeshedding) can "catch" that mistake upon which you congratulate them on their infinite wisdom, fix the mistake, and the project can move along. So to avoid the bikeshed color discus…
later: "how did this get built without a wall?"
Can't help but think that getting a good review is also important, not just avoiding friction.
What if they catch the roof, but everyone gets a little tired as the review goes on and they miss some small mistake you actually made?
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
One more reason to opposed planning departments - too often they are focused on the wrong things. They need to ensure the fire department can rescue people if there is a fire. If my house has a dormer - that should be a first amendment free speech issue they have no interest in (assuming it is otherwise safe). However the looks are easy for someone to verify, while the important things need an engineer to spend time.
Okay, so no planning regulations at all? So if I buy the plot of land in front of yours and want to build my house as a 40-metre tower of rusted Cor-Ten steel with 1kW floodlights every metre or so, you'd be okay with that?
You have a responsibility to not spill excessive light or other polution to my property. Otherwise yes.
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#79Reminds me of a story a friend related a long time ago about how to manage bosses. That probably applies to bike sheds. The general idea is to introduce a glaring mistake into any proposal you make. Then the boss (or whoever feels like bikeshedding) can "catch" that mistake upon which you congratulate them on their infinite wisdom, fix the mistake, and the project can move along. So to avoid the bikeshed color discus…
> The general idea is to introduce a glaring mistake into any proposal you make. Then the boss (or whoever feels like bikeshedding) can "catch" that mistake upon which you congratulate them on their infinite wisdom, fix the mistake, and the project can move along.
As a programmer who perhaps has a little bit of OCD concerning code quality ;-) when I see such a mistake, I rather tend to dive much deeper into the proposal than when it looks "basically OK", because if there is one such glaring error, in my experience there often are at least dozens. And well, I indeed typically tend to find lots of them in such a situation.
TLDR: Depending on the personality traits of the person who reads the proposal this can be an insanely dangerous game to play.
Re: Why should I care what color the bikeshed is? (1999)
#80Reminds me of a story a friend related a long time ago about how to manage bosses. That probably applies to bike sheds. The general idea is to introduce a glaring mistake into any proposal you make. Then the boss (or whoever feels like bikeshedding) can "catch" that mistake upon which you congratulate them on their infinite wisdom, fix the mistake, and the project can move along. So to avoid the bikeshed color discus…
In the law school contract-drafting course that I teach, students read about "Combat Barbie" as a way of giving the other party's contract reviewer something to ask to be changed. https://www.contract-rpm.org/#combat-barbie
That's awesome. Having done a bit of contract ping-pong and karate (many times as collateral damage of one of the legal teams) as a founder, this makes a ton of sense, now :)
This point and the article is more interesting than the OP, IMO