Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to deal with difficult people on software projects

howtodeal.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 130 posts

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#81

Post by forty »

bartread wrote: post #56
stevecalifornia wrote: post #16

This is a horrible website and you will likely experience diminished tenure if you follow it's advice. First, there is a complete lack of empathy for the person being labelled. What are the motivations and constraints that led to this person acting this way? A key question and the foundation for building healthy productive relationships. Second, the 'solutions' are horrible. "Go around the person" is terrible advice…

> This is a horrible website and you will likely experience diminished tenure if you follow it's advice. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be at least somewhat humorous/tongue in cheek. I can certainly recognise the tropes both in myself and in others. It's just kind of fun, and I'm certainly not planning to take any of its advice that seriously.

I'm baffled that some people might think this is serious. I found it hilarious.

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#82

Post by outworlder »

TameAntelope wrote: post #43

The author is clearly a developer, as there are some positive stereotypes in that category, but no positive stereotypes in any other category. I'm guessing their perspective on the related roles is either only through the lens of a developer, or through no lens at all, just squinting from afar.

~There are no positive stereotypes in that category.~ Scratch that, you are correct. The entire website does have some, outside of that "difficult people section".

But there are way more stereotypes there, so I agree that they are probably a developer.

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#83

Post by outworlder »

stevecalifornia wrote: post #16

This is a horrible website and you will likely experience diminished tenure if you follow it's advice. First, there is a complete lack of empathy for the person being labelled. What are the motivations and constraints that led to this person acting this way? A key question and the foundation for building healthy productive relationships. Second, the 'solutions' are horrible. "Go around the person" is terrible advice…

> This is a horrible website and you will likely experience diminished tenure if you follow it's advice.

Only if you take this seriously. It's no less toxic than a Dilbert strip. You are also doomed if you try to follow Dilbert.

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#84

Post by hitekker »

Curiously, the author doesn't bother to categories difficult executives. He exhibits a willingness to criticize everyone except for the ones far above him.

The rest of his advice reads pretty poorly. He claims that non-technical managers don't hurt projects and that the remediation is just for developers to not rely on them to arbite technical disputes. At this point in my management career, I've witnessed several non-technical managers unknowingly misrepresent their teams capability, causing projects to fail without developer meddling.

I wouldn't take this website seriously.

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#85

Post by alexk »

If the author is reading this. I think this website would have been much better if you presented these flaws as biases as opposed to labels. You can also make it clear that bias is something that you can change about yourself by being conscious about it and changes over time.

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#86

Post by leetcrew »

failboat wrote: post #53

Where is the category for devs that will weasel out of any work by claiming a ticket is out of scope, or that the responsibilities for handling a certain piece of work lies with some other team, or that you should go through the project manager so that the work can be done 5 sprints later?

the first thing I ask myself in this sort of situation is whether the person is actually correct. part of being effective in a specific role is refusing to take on random work people throw at you. estimates can't be valid if key players are spending lots of time on stuff that wasn't on the schedule.

if the person is really just being obstructive, explain to their manager (or have your manager explain to that manager) why you think that team should fix the issue. keep going up the chain until someone with authority knows who ought to fix the issue. it's possible you get all the way to the CEO without finding someone responsible for fixing the issue, but in this case the problem is with the organization, not the IC.

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#87

Post by sjg007 »

I'd be interested in discussions on the Silos, the CYA , the NIMBY and the NIH archetypes. Silos is generally indicate a bigger org problem. CYA blames everyone else, the NIMBY refuses change, and NIH reinvent everything.

Nothing more frustrating when working with soldiers who say they were just following orders and miss the forest surrounding the tree. In the end multiple levels of missed opportunity to provide feedback which points to a process problem.

Also don't let your QA team get too powerful...

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#88

Post by konjin »

stevecalifornia wrote: post #16

This is a horrible website and you will likely experience diminished tenure if you follow it's advice. First, there is a complete lack of empathy for the person being labelled. What are the motivations and constraints that led to this person acting this way? A key question and the foundation for building healthy productive relationships. Second, the 'solutions' are horrible. "Go around the person" is terrible advice…

You sound like the The Peacemaker.

You should try and see how websites like this facilitate technological excellence even though they make you uncomfortable.

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#89

Post by joshuamorton »

konjin wrote: post #88
stevecalifornia wrote: post #16

This is a horrible website and you will likely experience diminished tenure if you follow it's advice. First, there is a complete lack of empathy for the person being labelled. What are the motivations and constraints that led to this person acting this way? A key question and the foundation for building healthy productive relationships. Second, the 'solutions' are horrible. "Go around the person" is terrible advice…

You sound like the The Peacemaker. You should try and see how websites like this facilitate technological excellence even though they make you uncomfortable.

What? The peacemaker wants to avoid arguments. Going around someone avoids arguments. The peacemaker would follow the advice on the site and go around someone. This person, on the other hand, is saying thats bad, and that a more confrontational (but less passive aggressive) approach is likely better.

That's both more mature and more likely to lead to technical excellence.

Re: How to deal with difficult people on software projects

#90

Post by bigbob2 »

stevecalifornia wrote: post #16

This is a horrible website and you will likely experience diminished tenure if you follow it's advice. First, there is a complete lack of empathy for the person being labelled. What are the motivations and constraints that led to this person acting this way? A key question and the foundation for building healthy productive relationships. Second, the 'solutions' are horrible. "Go around the person" is terrible advice…

Agreed - maybe there is a grain of validity in many of these stereotypes, but it's riddled with misinformation such as:

> Typically – especially on large development teams – low quality is caused by individual developers rather than the team as a whole.

Maybe that's true at whatever firm they work at, but in my experience it's failure of leadership to implement process where it's needed.

I've been viewing it in a comedic light because it feels like a joke, and it is quite funny.

Post reply on HN