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Stubbornness is the killer. The young just don’t have anything to be stubborn about, but for a manager one greybeard who knows how to cause problems by digging

Stubbornness is the killer. The young just don’t have anything to be stubborn about, but for a manager one greybeard who knows how to cause problems by digging their heels in will make your life hell. The fact that they are probably right just adds to the pain.

toyg 6y ago
> The young just don’t have anything to be stubborn about ... except that "things should be done RIGHT", "my professor would hate these hacks", "why are you using boring-tech when everyone else on the intertubes is using OMGTEKK", etc etc. I think the "stubborn" label on older men is very similar to the "bitch" label on women: whenever one meets a person who can actually fight his/her corner with calm and rationality in a way that is not easily assailable by "common feelings", it is rationalised as s/he being fundamentally unreasonable, not as my arguments being weak.
gedy 6y ago
> The young just don’t have anything to be stubborn about Haha, that never stops the ones I work with. They just dig in on the exciting idea they had.
- danieltillett 6y ago
  The young have lots of passion, but they can be distracted by the next shiny thing. Managing passion is easy compared to managing the stubbornness gained from experience.
peruvian 6y ago
The young have plenty of stuff to be stubborn about. At my company we've wasted so much time because people are stubborn about using some new tech or library.
- cmrdporcupine 6y ago
  Hammer/nail syndrome. And often people early in their careers who have managed to get some modicum of fame/motivation/movement around a particular hammer run around finding nails everywhere. And there are some who are particularly effective at shoving whole organizations in their preferred direction. Not to say people at my stage in their career don't do this, too, but it does tend to happen among the young and... motivated.
swalsh 6y ago
"The fact that they are probably right just adds to the pain." 100% true. It's the dichotomy of leadership. Typically in engineering environments, the debate will be to take a risk or not. Risks can have rewards, but they can also have costs. The old guy knows the costs, but the rewards are less certain. The young guy only has a fuzzy idea on the rewards and the risks. As a leader, you have to look at both sides and assess if the reward is worth the risk. Sometimes that means telling the old guy, you're right... but I want to try anyways.

toyg 6y ago

> The young just don’t have anything to be stubborn about ... except that "things should be done RIGHT", "my professor would hate these hacks", "why are you using boring-tech when everyone else on the intertubes is using OMGTEKK", etc etc. I think the "stubborn" label on older men is very similar to the "bitch" label on women: whenever one meets a person who can actually fight his/her corner with calm and rationality in a way that is not easily assailable by "common feelings", it is rationalised as s/he being fundamentally unreasonable, not as my arguments being weak.

gedy 6y ago

> The young just don’t have anything to be stubborn about Haha, that never stops the ones I work with. They just dig in on the exciting idea they had.

danieltillett 6y ago
The young have lots of passion, but they can be distracted by the next shiny thing. Managing passion is easy compared to managing the stubbornness gained from experience.

peruvian 6y ago

The young have plenty of stuff to be stubborn about. At my company we've wasted so much time because people are stubborn about using some new tech or library.

cmrdporcupine 6y ago
Hammer/nail syndrome. And often people early in their careers who have managed to get some modicum of fame/motivation/movement around a particular hammer run around finding nails everywhere. And there are some who are particularly effective at shoving whole organizations in their preferred direction. Not to say people at my stage in their career don't do this, too, but it does tend to happen among the young and... motivated.

swalsh 6y ago

"The fact that they are probably right just adds to the pain." 100% true. It's the dichotomy of leadership. Typically in engineering environments, the debate will be to take a risk or not. Risks can have rewards, but they can also have costs. The old guy knows the costs, but the rewards are less certain. The young guy only has a fuzzy idea on the rewards and the risks. As a leader, you have to look at both sides and assess if the reward is worth the risk. Sometimes that means telling the old guy, you're right... but I want to try anyways.