3 ms·

You say "convince". I don't think that has application to many technical discussions. Often these aren't settled on merit, because they're not actually technica

by colinb 11y ago

You say "convince". I don't think that has application to many technical discussions. Often these aren't settled on merit, because they're not actually technical at all. It surprises and disappoints me that many of the most heated arguments at work are really discussions about human factors. Pretending that all discussions are going to be resolved amicably ignores ego, laziness, resistance to change, dislike of being publicly gainsaid, unwillingness to admit to mistakes, obsession with what's cool and so on. These are never going to go away. The very best managers can take these conflicting concerns, balance them, and make a choice while explaining to all that yes, what they said is interesting and important but no, they don't always get their way. The less good managers, i.e. most of them [us - I used to be a manager, but I wasn't very good at it] lack that ability and so arguments rumble on, grudges fester and somewhere along the line, someone who might be a sweetheart most of the time will take malicious glee in screwing things up.

Pyxl101 11y ago
There's always a reason behind a decision that can be explained to a group of people such that they understand and accept (if not agree) with it. A decision very well might have nothing to do with engineering. That's fine, and it's acceptable to say: "We're making this decision because of X." It's better to expose everyone to the full business context so that they understand what the priorities are (within reason). From experience, engineers and scientists aren't always training themselves to consider business value. Sometimes it requires a step back to say, even though this is worse from an engineering perspective it's better from a business perspective. We're all here to serve the business, so let's do what's right for the business. Software doesn't exist to serve itself. Maybe we know how to engineer and manufacture the best widget in the world, but the widget market is falling off, and we need to build a wamboozle instead. People understand this stuff. The failure is often a failure to explain it.
- unoti 11y ago
  There is an implicit assumption that in the workplace, we're all rational adults. Reasonable people who deep down are all the same and just want to do the right thing for the company. That is usually true, but a leader should keep in mind that often it is not true. I disagree with your apparent assertion that people never have irrational and destructive motives at work.

by colinb 11y ago

Pyxl101 11y ago

There's always a reason behind a decision that can be explained to a group of people such that they understand and accept (if not agree) with it. A decision very well might have nothing to do with engineering. That's fine, and it's acceptable to say: "We're making this decision because of X." It's better to expose everyone to the full business context so that they understand what the priorities are (within reason). From experience, engineers and scientists aren't always training themselves to consider business value. Sometimes it requires a step back to say, even though this is worse from an engineering perspective it's better from a business perspective. We're all here to serve the business, so let's do what's right for the business. Software doesn't exist to serve itself. Maybe we know how to engineer and manufacture the best widget in the world, but the widget market is falling off, and we need to build a wamboozle instead. People understand this stuff. The failure is often a failure to explain it.

unoti 11y ago
There is an implicit assumption that in the workplace, we're all rational adults. Reasonable people who deep down are all the same and just want to do the right thing for the company. That is usually true, but a leader should keep in mind that often it is not true. I disagree with your apparent assertion that people never have irrational and destructive motives at work.