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Conversation from two days ago: manager: Why did you allow this thing to happen. me: It was an edge case that I pointed out 7 months ago. I've put it on the

Conversation from two days ago: manager: Why did you allow this thing to happen. me: It was an edge case that I pointed out 7 months ago. I've put it on the backlog 3 times, and you've removed it each time citing that it's an edge case that would never happen, and other newer features needed to be implemented. manager: That's an engineer's response. Just fix it! me: welp, shrug

majormajor 9y ago
I've had luck redirecting this type of question into "why did the process let this happen" where it becomes less my fault vs your fault and more "i did what you said, you did what the business person told you to prioritize, something broke" from a blame-agnostic point of view. In certain cases I've also overridden the "ignore that for now" in favor of at least some minimal fix because part of my job is to give you what you don't know you need to ask for, not just exactly what you ask for. And there's the value add because compared to people who don't consider that part of their job, my stuff / my team's stuff works better out the door. Another similar question that I've noticed others not always asking are things like "how often would this be used again, is it just a temporary one-off" which, of course, has an answer that's subject to change, but at least guides the initial design. And when it changes it gets revisited.
- taneq 9y ago
  > In certain cases I've also overridden the "ignore that for now" in favor of at least some minimal fix because part of my job is to give you what you don't know you need to ask for, not just exactly what you ask for. This is a two-edged sword, though. I agree it's best practice from a technical point of view, but enabling wilful ignorance on the part of someone above you in the chain will eventually lead to a showdown when you really do need a week to fix it and it really is critical, and they tell you not to, and they'll stick to their guns because (as far as they know) they've been right every time.
  - majormajor 9y ago
    > This is a two-edged sword, though. I agree it's best practice from a technical point of view, but enabling wilful ignorance on the part of someone above you in the chain will eventually lead to a showdown when you really do need a week to fix it and it really is critical, and they tell you not to, and they'll stick to their guns because (as far as they know) they've been right every time. Yeah, pushing that too much requires either (a) sufficiently-padded early estimates so it's not a slippage and a nasty surprise (a good practice anyway, but hard), or (b) a sufficient level of don't-give-a-fuck, or (c) really good judgment around "when this is necessary to give them what they need vs what they want" and when not to e.g. truly critical and immediately messagable stuff. A healthy dose of don't-give-a-fuck/willing-to-say-no is often a good thing anyway, though, if you're able to do it politically/smoothly enough :)
JustSomeNobody 9y ago
This is so not uncommon. :)
defined 9y ago
> manager: That's an engineer's response. Just fix it! Translation: I didn't actually require any answer other than "I am sorry, sir/ma'am, it will never happen again." Facts are irrelevant. I may not always be right, but I am never wrong, code monkey.
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
  That's right. I have often spoken rapidly while saying the real reason(s) I believe lead to failure and then slow down and say "but never mind that, let's work out how to fix this and prevent it from happening, I'll get right on it", or something to that affect.

majormajor 9y ago

I've had luck redirecting this type of question into "why did the process let this happen" where it becomes less my fault vs your fault and more "i did what you said, you did what the business person told you to prioritize, something broke" from a blame-agnostic point of view. In certain cases I've also overridden the "ignore that for now" in favor of at least some minimal fix because part of my job is to give you what you don't know you need to ask for, not just exactly what you ask for. And there's the value add because compared to people who don't consider that part of their job, my stuff / my team's stuff works better out the door. Another similar question that I've noticed others not always asking are things like "how often would this be used again, is it just a temporary one-off" which, of course, has an answer that's subject to change, but at least guides the initial design. And when it changes it gets revisited.

taneq 9y ago
> In certain cases I've also overridden the "ignore that for now" in favor of at least some minimal fix because part of my job is to give you what you don't know you need to ask for, not just exactly what you ask for. This is a two-edged sword, though. I agree it's best practice from a technical point of view, but enabling wilful ignorance on the part of someone above you in the chain will eventually lead to a showdown when you really do need a week to fix it and it really is critical, and they tell you not to, and they'll stick to their guns because (as far as they know) they've been right every time.
- majormajor 9y ago
  > This is a two-edged sword, though. I agree it's best practice from a technical point of view, but enabling wilful ignorance on the part of someone above you in the chain will eventually lead to a showdown when you really do need a week to fix it and it really is critical, and they tell you not to, and they'll stick to their guns because (as far as they know) they've been right every time. Yeah, pushing that too much requires either (a) sufficiently-padded early estimates so it's not a slippage and a nasty surprise (a good practice anyway, but hard), or (b) a sufficient level of don't-give-a-fuck, or (c) really good judgment around "when this is necessary to give them what they need vs what they want" and when not to e.g. truly critical and immediately messagable stuff. A healthy dose of don't-give-a-fuck/willing-to-say-no is often a good thing anyway, though, if you're able to do it politically/smoothly enough :)

JustSomeNobody 9y ago

This is so not uncommon. :)

defined 9y ago

> manager: That's an engineer's response. Just fix it! Translation: I didn't actually require any answer other than "I am sorry, sir/ma'am, it will never happen again." Facts are irrelevant. I may not always be right, but I am never wrong, code monkey.

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
That's right. I have often spoken rapidly while saying the real reason(s) I believe lead to failure and then slow down and say "but never mind that, let's work out how to fix this and prevent it from happening, I'll get right on it", or something to that affect.