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> someone who really gave a damn got their hands dirty Although this person is the hero of the story, I feel obligated to point out that in today's JIRA-driven

> someone who really gave a damn got their hands dirty Although this person is the hero of the story, I feel obligated to point out that in today's JIRA-driven "what have you done for me lately" close-the-stories what's-your-velocity we're-about-to-downsize-so-you'd-better-prove-you're-valuable culture of "efficiency", the person who did this either had a LOT of job security (as in, compromising photos of the CEO in a public bathhouse job security) or did this on their own time while spending their "working hours" closing tickets and attending conference calls.

lkbm 8y ago
Or they work in a sane company that values individuals taking initiative? Okay, maybe not a sane company, given the story, but there are plenty of places without the toxic culture you describe above.
- commandlinefan 8y ago
  You mean a company whose management can tell the difference between working on something complex and not working at all? Sadly, very few exist, and those end up being bought by the evil kind.
  - burkaman 8y ago
    You really need to find a new job. I don't know anyone who works for a company like you describe. Just ask questions like "How long have you worked here?" and "How do you handle tasks that run over their time estimates?" during interviews.
    - twojerbs 8y ago
      I have two full-time jobs like he described
      - burkaman 8y ago
        Why?
        twojerbs 8y ago
        $$
        burkaman 8y ago
        No, why this type of job? Why not quit one of your jobs for a couple weeks and spend that time looking for better ones? Everyone is hiring.
        twojerbs 8y ago
        Because I guess I have more drive to maximize my income than I do integrity. I'm able to do these two simultaneously for the most part.
    - bartread 8y ago
      I did 8 months contracting for $large_uk_enterprise and it was exactly like that. I tolerated it for so long because the money was good and I thought I might be able to learn some useful lessons. I got told off more than once for showing initiative and pushing something forward that wasn't on the approved list for the sprint even though I had time and there wasn't anything left to pick up. Yes, mobbing fans, I know, I could have jumped in on a story that already had people working on it. This is what management there said to me as well. Nevertheless I'm rather old fashioned so I have two comments to make: 1) Too many cooks... etc. 2) Adding more people to a project/story that's not going to deliver on time will only make it later. (Here I'm obviously paraphrasing Fred Brooks.) And if it's going to deliver on time then why add more people instead of enabling those people to work on something else that's useful? In the end I gave notice without any plan about what to do next but had three opportunities lined up before I'd worked my notice period and have been much happier since.
ComputerGuru 8y ago
I’ve never worked at companies where using Jira was synonymous with bug quantity over quality. There will always be buglets, bugs, Bugs, and then BUGS. On the flip side, every once in a while in the fish-shell GitHub repo we get an idiot that files an issue titled “is this even maintained?” because there is a non-zero number of opened issues (or I file a bug on GH and the the repo owner closes it immediately as “will revisit later” so the issue count doesn’t go up). It’s not a technology problem. It’s a people problem.
- userbinator 8y ago
  On the flip side, every once in a while in the fish-shell GitHub repo we get an idiot that files an issue titled “is this even maintained?” because there is a non-zero number of opened issues (or I file a bug on GH and the the repo owner closes it immediately as “will revisit later” so the issue count doesn’t go up). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
- setquk 8y ago
  It’s always a people problem. You have to force people to own every ticket or they will just rot.
darioush 8y ago
#closing-tickets-and-attending-conference-calls #ctaacc (read like SEA-TAC) I promise I'm sober

lkbm 8y ago

Or they work in a sane company that values individuals taking initiative? Okay, maybe not a sane company, given the story, but there are plenty of places without the toxic culture you describe above.

commandlinefan 8y ago
You mean a company whose management can tell the difference between working on something complex and not working at all? Sadly, very few exist, and those end up being bought by the evil kind.
- burkaman 8y ago
  You really need to find a new job. I don't know anyone who works for a company like you describe. Just ask questions like "How long have you worked here?" and "How do you handle tasks that run over their time estimates?" during interviews.
  - twojerbs 8y ago
    I have two full-time jobs like he described
    - burkaman 8y ago
      Why?
      - twojerbs 8y ago
        $$
        burkaman 8y ago
        No, why this type of job? Why not quit one of your jobs for a couple weeks and spend that time looking for better ones? Everyone is hiring.
        twojerbs 8y ago
        Because I guess I have more drive to maximize my income than I do integrity. I'm able to do these two simultaneously for the most part.
  - bartread 8y ago
    I did 8 months contracting for $large_uk_enterprise and it was exactly like that. I tolerated it for so long because the money was good and I thought I might be able to learn some useful lessons. I got told off more than once for showing initiative and pushing something forward that wasn't on the approved list for the sprint even though I had time and there wasn't anything left to pick up. Yes, mobbing fans, I know, I could have jumped in on a story that already had people working on it. This is what management there said to me as well. Nevertheless I'm rather old fashioned so I have two comments to make: 1) Too many cooks... etc. 2) Adding more people to a project/story that's not going to deliver on time will only make it later. (Here I'm obviously paraphrasing Fred Brooks.) And if it's going to deliver on time then why add more people instead of enabling those people to work on something else that's useful? In the end I gave notice without any plan about what to do next but had three opportunities lined up before I'd worked my notice period and have been much happier since.

ComputerGuru 8y ago

I’ve never worked at companies where using Jira was synonymous with bug quantity over quality. There will always be buglets, bugs, Bugs, and then BUGS. On the flip side, every once in a while in the fish-shell GitHub repo we get an idiot that files an issue titled “is this even maintained?” because there is a non-zero number of opened issues (or I file a bug on GH and the the repo owner closes it immediately as “will revisit later” so the issue count doesn’t go up). It’s not a technology problem. It’s a people problem.

userbinator 8y ago
On the flip side, every once in a while in the fish-shell GitHub repo we get an idiot that files an issue titled “is this even maintained?” because there is a non-zero number of opened issues (or I file a bug on GH and the the repo owner closes it immediately as “will revisit later” so the issue count doesn’t go up). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
setquk 8y ago
It’s always a people problem. You have to force people to own every ticket or they will just rot.

darioush 8y ago

#closing-tickets-and-attending-conference-calls #ctaacc (read like SEA-TAC) I promise I'm sober