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I've seen this pattern as engineer and as an engineering director. You can always put the blame for these things on leadership's inability to make decisions. To

by madrox 10y ago

I've seen this pattern as engineer and as an engineering director. You can always put the blame for these things on leadership's inability to make decisions. Too much time is spent in the theoretical, "what's possible" headspace that no final decisions get made that gives the team anchor points. It says a lot that the switch from open world to level transitions (a major decision) happened so late. Staying that there was no real plan to get to the end...that's the job of an executive. The best executives I've ever seen, for better or worse, will regularly make decisions on the project so there's a continual sense of marching towards goals. They may not always be the right decisions, but making the wrong decisions can be less damaging than making no decisions.

Negative1 10y ago
Great points, but, remember that executive behavior is a by-product of the company culture and environment. I've seen high-ups afraid to make these important strategic decisions in a timely fashion that were rightfully worried. Sadly, some people do not share the sentiment that failure can be just another data point and reward it harshly.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > remember that executive behavior is a by-product of the company culture and environment. Conversely, company culture and environment is a by-product of the executive behavior. The latter probably is a stronger influence in younger, smaller companies, the former stronger in older and larger firms.
  - ajmurmann 10y ago
    Yep and the company the author worked at was founded by Peter Molyneux who is infamous for dreaming up stuff that's not possible in the real world with real constraints.
    - madrox 10y ago
      That was my thought. Peter has a history of big ideas that have a hard time translating into final products. Those kinds of minds are integral to a great product, but past a certain point it can also be a hinderance

by madrox 10y ago

Negative1 10y ago

Great points, but, remember that executive behavior is a by-product of the company culture and environment. I've seen high-ups afraid to make these important strategic decisions in a timely fashion that were rightfully worried. Sadly, some people do not share the sentiment that failure can be just another data point and reward it harshly.

dragonwriter 10y ago
> remember that executive behavior is a by-product of the company culture and environment. Conversely, company culture and environment is a by-product of the executive behavior. The latter probably is a stronger influence in younger, smaller companies, the former stronger in older and larger firms.
- ajmurmann 10y ago
  Yep and the company the author worked at was founded by Peter Molyneux who is infamous for dreaming up stuff that's not possible in the real world with real constraints.
  - madrox 10y ago
    That was my thought. Peter has a history of big ideas that have a hard time translating into final products. Those kinds of minds are integral to a great product, but past a certain point it can also be a hinderance