4 ms·

On point, but I'd like to add that business people also tend not to know what is hard (for you to do) and what is easy, so they will NOT ask you to do things wh

On point, but I'd like to add that business people also tend not to know what is hard (for you to do) and what is easy, so they will NOT ask you to do things which would be useful for them and easy for you, and instead ask for things which are the opposite of that. This means you have a harder time creating value for them. The better you understand their work, the more likely you can say "I could automate that, it would be pretty easy", when they have no idea that it is the case.

that_guy_iain 6y ago
I can also echo this point. One of my favourite bits is telling business how much work each thing they need is and then letting them pick what they want next. I've been surprised when they picked things that didn't seem important but they could get it by the end of the week.
- gitowiec 6y ago
  Exactly this is the way my colleague lead dev asks our business guys. "This takes 3 days of work and that is like a week, you know what is more important so you choose"
numpad0 6y ago
My dark take on that is it’s business people’s fault that they focus on party activities and asking me to mainly play those, while pretending with useless tasks as a side, especially if what engineers view as barbecue activities actually bring home the bacon using acidic-narconian logics from Gamma quadrant. If you think you have better understanding for the challenges and know better than the party people at materializing it or cash it out for a larger sum, just downright steal that idea and start your own company. They’ll get mad if it works, that’s hypothetical. If you don’t, just start gliding from day one and don’t feel guilty for it. Your responsibility extends absolutely no further than your paycheck goes, not a thousandths inch more. Don’t care where the money came from. There could be micro-guilts on you for micro-not being able to meet micro-expectations, but in return you’re not paid or given equities that your achievements would be worth in the term anyway, so it’s a fair game, a fair and stupid game.

that_guy_iain 6y ago

I can also echo this point. One of my favourite bits is telling business how much work each thing they need is and then letting them pick what they want next. I've been surprised when they picked things that didn't seem important but they could get it by the end of the week.

gitowiec 6y ago
Exactly this is the way my colleague lead dev asks our business guys. "This takes 3 days of work and that is like a week, you know what is more important so you choose"

numpad0 6y ago

My dark take on that is it’s business people’s fault that they focus on party activities and asking me to mainly play those, while pretending with useless tasks as a side, especially if what engineers view as barbecue activities actually bring home the bacon using acidic-narconian logics from Gamma quadrant. If you think you have better understanding for the challenges and know better than the party people at materializing it or cash it out for a larger sum, just downright steal that idea and start your own company. They’ll get mad if it works, that’s hypothetical. If you don’t, just start gliding from day one and don’t feel guilty for it. Your responsibility extends absolutely no further than your paycheck goes, not a thousandths inch more. Don’t care where the money came from. There could be micro-guilts on you for micro-not being able to meet micro-expectations, but in return you’re not paid or given equities that your achievements would be worth in the term anyway, so it’s a fair game, a fair and stupid game.