6 ms·

For me, it depends on who is creeping. A junior engineer, I'd probably pull them up and start explaining what is going on. A fellow senior engineer I'd probably

For me, it depends on who is creeping. A junior engineer, I'd probably pull them up and start explaining what is going on. A fellow senior engineer I'd probably take a welcome break and ask them to grab a coffee - the only reason they'd be lurking lol. If it is a PM or someone else it might put me on edge - likely because they wouldn't have the context to understand what I was working on and if they didn't say anything I'd just be wondering what they wanted...

rakamotog 7y ago
The only time I (a PM) would do this is when you are working on validation messages / error messages / user facing text.
- afarrell 7y ago
  Error message phrasing is really very important, but it’s probably better to have that refined in code review or to have some explicit step for it.
  - dotancohen 7y ago
    Error message phrasing should not be in code. It should be in localization files, even for the default language, and not require a developer to modify.
    - SamuelAdams 7y ago
      Depends on the requirements. I've had many internal-only applications only require one language: English. At that point you can hard code many things, which skips the loading other files, checking different languages, etc.
      - OJFord 7y ago
        I'd still rather the exact wording isn't in code, personally: get_msg('fail_add_address') vs. 'I\'m sorry, we\'ve been unable to add the address %s at this time,' \ ' please try again later.' (... but that's an ideal I have without ever having worked with it, so what do I know, and ymmv, etc.)
    - rmetzler 7y ago
      It really depends on who‘s the target group. I hate localization in Developer Tools etc, because googling it is harder and a lot of times English is just easier to understand. It’s different for a shopping site.
    - rakamotog 7y ago
      And what is this localization file called? We do not have a system where non dev can commit any change in our product. We do have a constants file which has all the messages but a PM does not access to code/commit and has to go via a Dev.
- high_derivative 7y ago
  How would you know this without entering their personal space?
Scarblac 7y ago
So in all three cases, your focus is gone and what you were doing has stopped.
- aspaceman 7y ago
  Helping a junior and maintaining relationships with your fellow seniors is a part of the job too.
  - monsieurbanana 7y ago
    But surely there's ways of doing that without making people lose their focus.
    - SolaceQuantum 7y ago
      Actually, is there?
      - OJFord 7y ago
        Yes, you pick the moment (much) better than wandering over to peek over their shoulder when 'something interesting is going on'. IMO that's exactly when you don't, ask them about it later. To borrow from that cringeworthy scene in The Social Network: He's wired in!
    - nickpsecurity 7y ago
      Such as assigning times for focused vs collaborative work.
    - bochoh 7y ago
      Yes, a vibrant meme room in a "management expects you to respond to business issues in this room" channel on <slack|teams|etc>
  - chasd00 7y ago
    also, imo explaining something complex to someone junior often leads to answers to other questions. For some reason, talking through code out loud helps the problem solving process.

rakamotog 7y ago

The only time I (a PM) would do this is when you are working on validation messages / error messages / user facing text.

afarrell 7y ago
Error message phrasing is really very important, but it’s probably better to have that refined in code review or to have some explicit step for it.
- dotancohen 7y ago
  Error message phrasing should not be in code. It should be in localization files, even for the default language, and not require a developer to modify.
  - SamuelAdams 7y ago
    Depends on the requirements. I've had many internal-only applications only require one language: English. At that point you can hard code many things, which skips the loading other files, checking different languages, etc.
    - OJFord 7y ago
      I'd still rather the exact wording isn't in code, personally: get_msg('fail_add_address') vs. 'I\'m sorry, we\'ve been unable to add the address %s at this time,' \ ' please try again later.' (... but that's an ideal I have without ever having worked with it, so what do I know, and ymmv, etc.)
  - rmetzler 7y ago
    It really depends on who‘s the target group. I hate localization in Developer Tools etc, because googling it is harder and a lot of times English is just easier to understand. It’s different for a shopping site.
  - rakamotog 7y ago
    And what is this localization file called? We do not have a system where non dev can commit any change in our product. We do have a constants file which has all the messages but a PM does not access to code/commit and has to go via a Dev.
high_derivative 7y ago
How would you know this without entering their personal space?

Scarblac 7y ago

So in all three cases, your focus is gone and what you were doing has stopped.

aspaceman 7y ago
Helping a junior and maintaining relationships with your fellow seniors is a part of the job too.
- monsieurbanana 7y ago
  But surely there's ways of doing that without making people lose their focus.
  - SolaceQuantum 7y ago
    Actually, is there?
    - OJFord 7y ago
      Yes, you pick the moment (much) better than wandering over to peek over their shoulder when 'something interesting is going on'. IMO that's exactly when you don't, ask them about it later. To borrow from that cringeworthy scene in The Social Network: He's wired in!
  - nickpsecurity 7y ago
    Such as assigning times for focused vs collaborative work.
  - bochoh 7y ago
    Yes, a vibrant meme room in a "management expects you to respond to business issues in this room" channel on <slack|teams|etc>
- chasd00 7y ago
  also, imo explaining something complex to someone junior often leads to answers to other questions. For some reason, talking through code out loud helps the problem solving process.