sometimes when i wake up, there’s a dark tightness in my chest, like the right side of my ribcage is twisted. Everything is terrible: the world is full of wrong. Our society is in decay, and actively destroying the environment we depend on. My state government is ignoring these problems and persecuting trans people instead. … Read morewhen the world feels wrong
At my first real job, around the turn of the millenium, software engineers were graded on a bell curve. On a scale of 1 to 5, most people should get 3s, with a lower number of 4s and 2s and a much lower number of 1s and 5s. The bell curve, also called the normal … Read moreSymmathesies follow a power law, not a bell curve
If ya know how to do it, stick with the bureaucracy. If you’re building software, it’s always new — you need a generative org with a resilient structure.
As a manager, I want to tell a team what I need and they make it. Is that too much to ask? It depends what you mean by “tell.” Without the information we need, work is like “Bring me a stone.” In this game, the Boss says to the Worker, “Bring me a stone.” The … Read moreControl from within
In any large enough company, there are front-line workers, management, and executives. Executives set direction, management sets up the situation for the workers, and workers do the labor. Workers do the company business every day, providing capabilities to external or internal customers. Management gets them the tools and training they need, for today and for … Read moreSoftware teams are like Executive Teams
What’s more valuable, a big old company with assets, or a small nimble company with ideas?
Functional stupidity is: don’t self-reflect, don’t ask why, and only think about what we ask you to think about. This can be good in corporate-land. It is a disaster for software.
With increasing variety, each newly created incentive is weaker.
Yet disincentives get more powerful.
They ask us for quality. What is “quality”? “Well, free of defects.” (Oh it’s a lot more than that.) What is a “defect”? “Well, when it doesn’t work like we expect it to. Like we agreed it should.” Trust me, you didn’t specify how it works. That’s my job, as a developer. To organize all … Read moreOne Secret to Quality Software
