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> engineer arrogance And this is the twilight-zone reality that software developers are forever stuck in: Manager: "I need you to integrate the TPS reports wi

> engineer arrogance And this is the twilight-zone reality that software developers are forever stuck in: Manager: "I need you to integrate the TPS reports with JIRA for a client" Developer: "Ok, I can look into that" Manager: "How long is that going to take? Put some story points on the JIRA task." Developer: "Well, I've never done that before, so I'll have to do some research and I can't really say for sure-" Manager: "I need you to say for sure. Knock it off with your engineer arrogance and suck it up and help your colleagues. I'm so sorry that I pulled you out of your 'deep flow' state but we're trying to reach our goals here" Developer: (heavy sigh) "Well, a week maybe? If I can focus on just this and not all the other things I'm currently tasked with-" Manager: "No, subtask it out to individual tasks of no more than four hours each. And you'll need to spend an hour every day in a status meeting so you can spend five minutes updating the status of your subtasks and listening to everybody else's unrelated statuses".

xmprt 6y ago
I've never seen a manager operate like that and if yours does then you should look into moving.
- commandlinefan 6y ago
  Maybe I've had a 30-year string of bad luck.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - phendrenad2 6y ago
    Considering the litte morality play you typed out includes the exact "developer arrogance" and "flow state" quotes from the OP, I'm guessing this is an exaggeration in anger and it's impossible to argue with until you provide a non-exaggerated example of your 30-year work environment.
- albertvila 6y ago
  I've been in something like this recently. It's real.
vosper 6y ago
I believe that this kind of work environment must exist, because it's such a strong trope, but honestly I've never really worked in a place like this. I'm sorry for people who do, and who feel stuck there. Not all software engineering is like this. But if I had a work environment like this, I would be blaming management, and not Jira. And I should have been clear: not many engineers are actually "how dare you interrupt me, I'm an ENGINEER" types, in my experience. But I guess I've seen enough blog posts that are so precious about being a software engineer, and so (perhaps unintentionally) dismissive of other people in the org who are also trying to do their jobs, that I probably got triggered a little.
outworlder 6y ago
> and listening to everybody else's unrelated statuses This so much. Status meetings tend to follow the org's structure, which is not necessarily logical. Yes, it is occasionally helpful to listen to something completely unrelated if you have a better perspective. But every day? Waste of time.

xmprt 6y ago

I've never seen a manager operate like that and if yours does then you should look into moving.

commandlinefan 6y ago
Maybe I've had a 30-year string of bad luck.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- phendrenad2 6y ago
  Considering the litte morality play you typed out includes the exact "developer arrogance" and "flow state" quotes from the OP, I'm guessing this is an exaggeration in anger and it's impossible to argue with until you provide a non-exaggerated example of your 30-year work environment.
albertvila 6y ago
I've been in something like this recently. It's real.

vosper 6y ago

I believe that this kind of work environment must exist, because it's such a strong trope, but honestly I've never really worked in a place like this. I'm sorry for people who do, and who feel stuck there. Not all software engineering is like this. But if I had a work environment like this, I would be blaming management, and not Jira. And I should have been clear: not many engineers are actually "how dare you interrupt me, I'm an ENGINEER" types, in my experience. But I guess I've seen enough blog posts that are so precious about being a software engineer, and so (perhaps unintentionally) dismissive of other people in the org who are also trying to do their jobs, that I probably got triggered a little.

outworlder 6y ago

> and listening to everybody else's unrelated statuses This so much. Status meetings tend to follow the org's structure, which is not necessarily logical. Yes, it is occasionally helpful to listen to something completely unrelated if you have a better perspective. But every day? Waste of time.