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That's a really passive aggressive way to build what you think is right... Have some backbone and learn to defend your perspective directly.

levosmetalo 6y ago
Passive aggressive way is sometimes the only possible way when the imbalance of power is so overwhelming that you don't even get the possibility to express your perspective, let alone defend it directly.
- darkerside 6y ago
  You always have the power to express your perspective. Although sometimes it can take some skill to express it well without getting yourself in trouble.
  - wizzwizz4 6y ago
    That's simply not true. Sure, a place where you can't isn't going to be around for long, but if it's part of a larger, fairly-sane company then it might struggle along for a while before the entire company finally folds.
  - rstuart4133 6y ago
    Yeah, but your perspective can be just ignored. A story: I was asked to write an invoicing system. I know a _lot_ about invoicing systems. The owners who employ me were very explicit: all figures this invoicing system displays must exclude gst/vat. That made sense to them, because gst/vat just confuses their profit figures. However, the whole point point of an invoice is to communicate to the customer what they will be paying and why. The customers in this case are retail. They are interested in only one figure: what comes out of their bank account. That figure includes gst/vat of course. As part of this I asked to see what they were doing now. The old system they were using did adhere to their edict: everything was ex gst/vat. As a consequence every person who customer facing (ie, the the vast majority of the employees) carried a calculator to convert the figures to what the customer wanted as they spoke with them. It looked difficult to me, but evidently madly stabbing calculator buttons while maintaining a smooth flow of conversation must be a skill most people can acquire. This was insanity of course: we could save the bulk of the organisation time and considerable fustraton by just giving these people the figures they needed. So I very explicitly ignored their direct instructions. Note: I had to ignore it, as I had already lost the argument. In due course it was rolled out for testing. I went down a month or two later. The calculators were gone, people were expressing their gratitude. Not a word was said by my managers, and I duly been rewarded every year with raises. I am an professional. I am hired very explicitly because I know far more about computer systems than the people who hire me. Like a doctor who refuses to prescribe opioid's, I view as my duty to steer them them in the right direction even when they don't want to be steered. If that requires putting my balls on the line and refusing to budge, so be it. They can always fire me if I've made a grave error.
    - darkerside 6y ago
      What I think gets missed here is that there could be a hidden requirement you don't know about. Were the owners using this invoicing system for internal accounting as well? Making that clear could have helped even more people do their jobs well. Typically I find the cure for misinformation is more information.
darkerside 6y ago
Passive aggressive would be not saying anything about it. That's not mutually exclusive with this. You can tell the PM, I disagree with you for these reasons, I'm going to build it the way I think is right, and if you need something different, go find someone else to build it. What else would you do if your PM wants you to build backdoors into your encryption, for example?
- heyoni 6y ago
  It sounds like they’re suggesting they bumps it their way and wait until people figure it out.

levosmetalo 6y ago

Passive aggressive way is sometimes the only possible way when the imbalance of power is so overwhelming that you don't even get the possibility to express your perspective, let alone defend it directly.

darkerside 6y ago
You always have the power to express your perspective. Although sometimes it can take some skill to express it well without getting yourself in trouble.
- wizzwizz4 6y ago
  That's simply not true. Sure, a place where you can't isn't going to be around for long, but if it's part of a larger, fairly-sane company then it might struggle along for a while before the entire company finally folds.
- rstuart4133 6y ago
  Yeah, but your perspective can be just ignored. A story: I was asked to write an invoicing system. I know a _lot_ about invoicing systems. The owners who employ me were very explicit: all figures this invoicing system displays must exclude gst/vat. That made sense to them, because gst/vat just confuses their profit figures. However, the whole point point of an invoice is to communicate to the customer what they will be paying and why. The customers in this case are retail. They are interested in only one figure: what comes out of their bank account. That figure includes gst/vat of course. As part of this I asked to see what they were doing now. The old system they were using did adhere to their edict: everything was ex gst/vat. As a consequence every person who customer facing (ie, the the vast majority of the employees) carried a calculator to convert the figures to what the customer wanted as they spoke with them. It looked difficult to me, but evidently madly stabbing calculator buttons while maintaining a smooth flow of conversation must be a skill most people can acquire. This was insanity of course: we could save the bulk of the organisation time and considerable fustraton by just giving these people the figures they needed. So I very explicitly ignored their direct instructions. Note: I had to ignore it, as I had already lost the argument. In due course it was rolled out for testing. I went down a month or two later. The calculators were gone, people were expressing their gratitude. Not a word was said by my managers, and I duly been rewarded every year with raises. I am an professional. I am hired very explicitly because I know far more about computer systems than the people who hire me. Like a doctor who refuses to prescribe opioid's, I view as my duty to steer them them in the right direction even when they don't want to be steered. If that requires putting my balls on the line and refusing to budge, so be it. They can always fire me if I've made a grave error.
  - darkerside 6y ago
    What I think gets missed here is that there could be a hidden requirement you don't know about. Were the owners using this invoicing system for internal accounting as well? Making that clear could have helped even more people do their jobs well. Typically I find the cure for misinformation is more information.

darkerside 6y ago

Passive aggressive would be not saying anything about it. That's not mutually exclusive with this. You can tell the PM, I disagree with you for these reasons, I'm going to build it the way I think is right, and if you need something different, go find someone else to build it. What else would you do if your PM wants you to build backdoors into your encryption, for example?

heyoni 6y ago
It sounds like they’re suggesting they bumps it their way and wait until people figure it out.