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Yes, and apply the same philosophy to your product manager, etc. as a developer. Developers tend to assume that the manager has carefully considered the cost of
by blt 8y ago
Yes, and apply the same philosophy to your product manager, etc. as a developer. Developers tend to assume that the manager has carefully considered the cost of what they ask for, and is certain that the result is worth it. But this usually isn't true. Managers tend to ask for more than the developers can deliver. They do not always remember to make clear to employees which requests are essential vs. "nice to have". I think this is often an honest mistake - the manager does not realize they are failing to communicate their priorities.
If the cost/benefit seems fishy, the developer should ask the manager for more justification. A lot of developers don't realize they can push back.
- mooreds 8y agoNot just that they can push back, but that the business, product or service, and developer happiness is better if the developer and manager partner on understanding the business problem and solving it. This is in contrast to the developer just "implementing to spec" and then being surprised when the end user is bummed that "this doesn't work the way I thought it would". We are experts in our domain of software development and do no one favors when we hide it and just do what we're told. (That isn't to say that the developer has the only opinion that matters, just that they are a stakeholder with expertise and should act like it.)
- blt 8y agoAgreed. I think it's hard for a non programmer to estimate the difficulty of implementing a certain feature. Both in time and in technical debt. For example if some feature really doesn't fit in the program architecture and will require ugly hacks to achieve. It's the programmer's duty to let the manager know when such a cost will be incurred.