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It's hard to know how to comment on this because there's a huge range in what might really be going on. You might be a bozo. He might be a bozo. You both might

It's hard to know how to comment on this because there's a huge range in what might really be going on. You might be a bozo. He might be a bozo. You both might be bozos. Or maybe you are both pretty good and both just bad communicators. So without really having any insight about what's up here, I have two pieces of advice. Ask a lot of questions to understand why he thinks what he thinks. The job is not to explain to him why he's wrong; the job is to ask enough questions that you understand why he's reached some specific conclusion. And focus on getting things done. Forward progress tends to get everyone aligned and give you something specific to talk about that's productive. If in the "blah blah blah" he's telling you 'this will never work' then you have proof positive that he's wrong. Great. If in the "blah blah blah" he's telling you that your solution is not re-entrant and it's going to crash then you are going to find out he's right.

300bps 7y ago
You might be a bozo. He might be a bozo. You both might be bozos. Or maybe you are both pretty good and both just bad communicators. This should be a checklist of possibilities to consider anytime there is office conflict.
- chancla35 7y ago
  +1, though I would add “As frustrating as it may be, it doesn’t really matter who’s at fault because you’ll both end up looking bad if the situation undermines your productivity.”
- vokep 7y ago
  I'm bookmarking this and trying to commit it to memory. So good.
humanrebar 7y ago
> If in the "blah blah blah" he's telling you that your solution is not re-entrant and it's going to crash then you are going to find out he's right. To be fair to the soothsayers, you could find out you're wrong about reentrancy after the code is in production for two years and some records in the database start having garbage sporadically. There are some categories of problems where results are king, and some where humility is wiser.
- cmsonger 7y ago
  Completely agree. I read your comment as: "There exist OPs so far into the stupid space and senior colleagues far enough into the competent space that good advice may not be immediately apparent to OP, even through the lens of a first implementation." That's spot on and the example you cite is a good one. It's just so hard to advise here without knowing more about OP and the senior colleague. (That should be the title of the novel "OP and the Senior Colleague.")

300bps 7y ago

You might be a bozo. He might be a bozo. You both might be bozos. Or maybe you are both pretty good and both just bad communicators. This should be a checklist of possibilities to consider anytime there is office conflict.

chancla35 7y ago
+1, though I would add “As frustrating as it may be, it doesn’t really matter who’s at fault because you’ll both end up looking bad if the situation undermines your productivity.”
vokep 7y ago
I'm bookmarking this and trying to commit it to memory. So good.

humanrebar 7y ago

> If in the "blah blah blah" he's telling you that your solution is not re-entrant and it's going to crash then you are going to find out he's right. To be fair to the soothsayers, you could find out you're wrong about reentrancy after the code is in production for two years and some records in the database start having garbage sporadically. There are some categories of problems where results are king, and some where humility is wiser.

cmsonger 7y ago
Completely agree. I read your comment as: "There exist OPs so far into the stupid space and senior colleagues far enough into the competent space that good advice may not be immediately apparent to OP, even through the lens of a first implementation." That's spot on and the example you cite is a good one. It's just so hard to advise here without knowing more about OP and the senior colleague. (That should be the title of the novel "OP and the Senior Colleague.")