3 ms·

The assumption of manager making the best decision on prioritization is faulty. Priorities change, manager is busy, manager is not the one working on a project

by tehlike 10y ago

The assumption of manager making the best decision on prioritization is faulty. Priorities change, manager is busy, manager is not the one working on a project so may not be in the position to make the best decisions. Product always dont come with the brightest ideas. Eng could come up with much better ideas, as it should, and should be in a position to drive that product end to end, when necessary.

tehlike 10y ago
What i am trying to say, sure people think what they ask for is most important thing to do, but eng has their own thoughts, and they can / and should be able to prioritize. You should not commit to your priorities months in advance. If you think something is not important, you push back. If it's important and you agree, you do it. If some new project comes in, you reprioritize your own stuff - it might just take a day or two to implement and could prove to be of big impact. Manager will ask the eng what he think of the project, and then there will be discussions, meetings, requirements, formal processes, which will not only kill the mood, but also will slow down the projects significantly.
- jimmywanger 10y ago
  No, you are not interrupt driven. You do not get to interrupt engineers, especially if engineering has prioritization meetings every two weeks. Don't bother engineers to tell them what they have to do RIGHT AWAY. That's been determined already. If product doesn't have visibility two weeks into the future, what good are they?
  - tehlike 10y ago
    oh the meetings. I have seen engineers got stuck into them, because someone decided that it should get priority at the beginning of the quarter, and management wants to check the boxes on the spreadsheet tracking the OKR goals for their EOQ OKR rating. Once something is decided, it's pretty sticky, when it really shouldn't be.

3 ms·

The assumption of manager making the best decision on prioritization is faulty. Priorities change, manager is busy, manager is not the one working on a project

by tehlike 10y ago

tehlike 10y ago
What i am trying to say, sure people think what they ask for is most important thing to do, but eng has their own thoughts, and they can / and should be able to prioritize. You should not commit to your priorities months in advance. If you think something is not important, you push back. If it's important and you agree, you do it. If some new project comes in, you reprioritize your own stuff - it might just take a day or two to implement and could prove to be of big impact. Manager will ask the eng what he think of the project, and then there will be discussions, meetings, requirements, formal processes, which will not only kill the mood, but also will slow down the projects significantly.
- jimmywanger 10y ago
  No, you are not interrupt driven. You do not get to interrupt engineers, especially if engineering has prioritization meetings every two weeks. Don't bother engineers to tell them what they have to do RIGHT AWAY. That's been determined already. If product doesn't have visibility two weeks into the future, what good are they?
  - tehlike 10y ago
    oh the meetings. I have seen engineers got stuck into them, because someone decided that it should get priority at the beginning of the quarter, and management wants to check the boxes on the spreadsheet tracking the OKR goals for their EOQ OKR rating. Once something is decided, it's pretty sticky, when it really shouldn't be.