Branch off of main
davesnider.com
Branch off of main
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Re: Branch off of main
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Re: Branch off of main
#4Using the tools, trying the workflow, experiencing the friction, and just generally developing empathy for the day to day will make everyone better at their jobs. That includes job shadowing, which this is pretty much a form of. The major caveat is that you cant be part of critical path and its sometimes tricky to write even a great PR and expect honest feedback.
Re: Branch off of main
#5> The basic thesis is one of dedicated roles, with the manager archetype focusing their time towards enablement, communication, and expectation.
No, it's because programming requires a mental model of the software and most managers don't have that. Add in constant interruptions and the inability to focus and you have a recipe for disaster.
Would you sometimes take a break from programming to go help accounting do the accounting work? No, no you wouldn't - accounting would smack the tar out of you. Just because you think you can contribute because you used to be able to is the notion that you need to break, and this applies to other fields too.
> This starts young with telling kids they can't be good at multiple things. "You need to focus."
A lack of focus on a problem space is usually the problem, yes. This isn't because we want people to stay in their lane and want to keep kids from being creative. It's because difficult problems are hard to solve.
If you are going to spend hours pulling down code and building it, ask yourself this question:
"Is this the best use of my time? Is pulling down source code and waiting for a compiler the best thing I as a manager can be doing?"
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#7Quoted post unavailable.
The same reason you aren't supposed to use the words:
+ master
+ slave
+ blacklist
+ whitelist
+ grandfather
+ brown bag
+ manpower
+ hijack
+ kill
The list goes on (and on) and I have not transcribed even a portion of it.
https://itconnect.uw.edu/work/inclusive-language-guide/
https://blog.ongig.com/writing-job-descriptions/a-list-of-of...
Re: Branch off of main
#8> The basic thesis is one of dedicated roles, with the manager archetype focusing their time towards enablement, communication, and expectation. No, it's because programming requires a mental model of the software and most managers don't have that. Add in constant interruptions and the inability to focus and you have a recipe for disaster. Would you sometimes take a break from programming to go help accounting do the…
> It's because difficult problems are hard to solve.
Most software development does not involve difficult problems however - other than how to comprehend the stitching together or "complected-libraries-du-jour" via maximal indirection.
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#9> So, should managers code, design, and in other ways contribute in some way to production code or design? Sure, I don't see any reason they can't. Just understand the boundaries and stay out of other people's way.
Has this person been a manager? The amount of time is takes to keep up to date enough to make a net positive contribution is non-trivial. Doing this on top of management responsibilities? Good luck.
The communication between a development team and the rest of the company is complicated. Navigating this requires both a skillset completely orthogonal to writing software and a lot of time.
Re: Branch off of main
#10> The basic thesis is one of dedicated roles, with the manager archetype focusing their time towards enablement, communication, and expectation. No, it's because programming requires a mental model of the software and most managers don't have that. Add in constant interruptions and the inability to focus and you have a recipe for disaster. Would you sometimes take a break from programming to go help accounting do the…
> No, it's because programming requires a mental model of the software and most managers don't have that. Add in constant interruptions and the inability to focus and you have a recipe for disaster.
This is so strikingly true. I try to explain to people who want me to pause a job and do something else that in my head I have this large, abstract structure of what I am trying to build, that is in an abstraction that itself is ephemeral -- it doesn't map nicely onto black boxes or pipes or anything. It is whatever works at that moment, and it requires me to tour it in my head all the time for it to exist at all.
But to me it isn't a question of focus, strictly speaking, because focus doesn't explain my interaction with that model. It's more a question of relaxed, constant presence; it's about having blur over other stuff. If I can inhabit that model in my brain without having to worry too much, it starts to work itself through while I am doing menial tasks like washing up or laundry or cleaning.
As soon as the business side of my freelance life takes over as it sometimes must, I am suddenly on the outside of that abstraction looking in. And no amount of detailed notes or documentation or diagramming will help me back in quickly.