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You're really just talking about the differences in skill sets and interests between people who, in a bigger organization, would be sorted into the engineering
by rdiddly 8y ago
You're really just talking about the differences in skill sets and interests between people who, in a bigger organization, would be sorted into the engineering team and the executive team. The "passionate about technology" people will end up in engineering. To the executive team, finding and serving the customer is the focus, while technologies (and engineers for that matter) are very much a cost that has to be justified.
But yeah they're different skill sets. The only time it's a problem is when they both have to reside in the same person, for example the solo app developer. You're trying to serve as both the engineering staff and the executive/management team, plus wearing several other hats as well.
- konschubert 8y agoThe problem is that an engineering team full of developers that only care about processes, clean code and learning new stuff is mis-aligned with the goals of the organisation. It will take a constant uphill battle to take them to ship anything, something that generally isn't worth it I believe. Of course technical debt needs to be paid and clean code is the essential foundation of every productive company. But as a developer, you need a desire to SHIP as well.
- closeparen 8y agoA process worth caring about leads to shipped software, and production is the wisest teacher and the most thorough QA. Shipping is important, but then you have to keep resources committed to quality improvement, not move on to the next shiny new thing.
- baxtr 8y agoThat’s one of the biggest misconception I’ve experienced with developers. No one cares about whether you ship or not, unless it brings values. Shipping just for the sake of shipping is a fundamental misunderstanding of how a business works.
- closeparen 8y agoWell, sure, but whether the software has business value is the concern of the PM. Developers are usually haggling over the balance between speed of delivery and quality, for a fixed set of requirements.
- hyperpallium 8y ago> To the executive team, finding and serving the customer is the focus I would call that marketing.
- em-bee 8y agomarketing is to find a customer with a problem for the solution that you already developed. serving the customer happens after they are found, to adapt your solution to the actual problem the customer has.