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This - I almost got formally reprimanded for not doing what I was told, and I explained that actually I was only trying to explain how some features the non-tec

This - I almost got formally reprimanded for not doing what I was told, and I explained that actually I was only trying to explain how some features the non-technical product manager were suggesting were not scalable and couldn't be done well as described. It's hard to get the balance right, but I wouldn't want to work in a place like that any longer, as the codebase would presumably be a nightmare. Developers need to have some power to say "I can't do this well as scoped, is there something we can change" sometimes technical debt is essential, but it's a dialogue in a healthy company.

JamesBarney 7y ago
I've found the best way to get non-technical people to make the right technical decision is to explain how all of the technical trade offs of their decision will impacts end users(in writing) and try to get their sign off. "Hey Joe, yeah I'd love to add this new feature and I see how it could be really valuable to the end user. But I just wanted to let you know that there are some risks to this adding this feature. If we add this feature we'd be responsible for performance issues that will significantly degrade the end user experience. For instance it could change the time it takes to run a TPS report from 5 minutes to hours. This probably would be fixable but it could take up to 500+ hrs of engineering time. I have a couple ideas on some alternate approaches if you'd like to discuss." I've found that lots of people in corporate America avoid responsibility like the plague, and being willing to take responsibility is like a super power. 95% of the time the other person will just do what I propose to make sure if shit hits the fan I'm responsible for it instead of them. 4% of the time I learn that this technical debt is really worth it. And 1% of the time at least I got cover when it blows up.

JamesBarney 7y ago

I've found the best way to get non-technical people to make the right technical decision is to explain how all of the technical trade offs of their decision will impacts end users(in writing) and try to get their sign off. "Hey Joe, yeah I'd love to add this new feature and I see how it could be really valuable to the end user. But I just wanted to let you know that there are some risks to this adding this feature. If we add this feature we'd be responsible for performance issues that will significantly degrade the end user experience. For instance it could change the time it takes to run a TPS report from 5 minutes to hours. This probably would be fixable but it could take up to 500+ hrs of engineering time. I have a couple ideas on some alternate approaches if you'd like to discuss." I've found that lots of people in corporate America avoid responsibility like the plague, and being willing to take responsibility is like a super power. 95% of the time the other person will just do what I propose to make sure if shit hits the fan I'm responsible for it instead of them. 4% of the time I learn that this technical debt is really worth it. And 1% of the time at least I got cover when it blows up.