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After sharing this view for many years, I now realize how selfish it is. Now that I am a consultant working directly for entrepreneurs, it's clear that my job i

by hashkb 5y ago

After sharing this view for many years, I now realize how selfish it is. Now that I am a consultant working directly for entrepreneurs, it's clear that my job is to both deliver software AND to be as available as possible. You can build tools and strategies to get back to what you were doing. If you are that fragile, you've got some growing to do.

dent9876543 5y ago
Yep. Couldn’t agree more. There really is a time and efficiency cost to all the task switching g. But equally, and as another poster said already, software development really does require having meetings to get a good outcome. I think it’s missed by many people that see meetings as an inconvenience, but very very often I have found that a meeting has radically altered the goal, or the plan, or the context. Pushing back against the meeting would be a crazy thing to do.
- hashkb 5y ago
  Inevitably, the "no meetings, no interruptions" devs are the same people complaining they don't have a voice in the larger org and that business doesn't care about their opinions. But no, they can't do a weekly 30 minute standing meeting. Edit: and they'll happily point out the hypocrisy of the sales, marketing, and executive teams on coffee walks.
  - commandlinefan 5y ago
    > weekly 30 minute standing meeting. I've been doing 30 minute standing meetings pretty much every day since the XP folks coined the term "stand up", which was about 20 years ago. Every single one has consisted of the boss talking for 28 minutes (sometimes back and forth with one team member) while everybody else stands around, followed by, "ok, does anybody else have anything?" If anybody says yes, it's "we're almost out of time for this meeting, so let's take it offline". 20 years, five different employers, exact same experience every time, every day. Human psychology doesn't fit this structure the way you want it to.
    - hashkb 5y ago
      Sorry you had five bad bosses. I'm talking about standing strategy meetings, not stand-ups.
username90 5y ago
The people who pay you typically wants you to develop software though, so it is in their interest to try to make you as productive as possible. But of course it is in your interest to keep them happy so they keep giving you money, you don't care if you deliver good software or not as long as they are happy with you.
- hashkb 5y ago
  I care about both. And it's a tough balance sometimes, but I try to always be available and still get the work done.

by hashkb 5y ago

dent9876543 5y ago

Yep. Couldn’t agree more. There really is a time and efficiency cost to all the task switching g. But equally, and as another poster said already, software development really does require having meetings to get a good outcome. I think it’s missed by many people that see meetings as an inconvenience, but very very often I have found that a meeting has radically altered the goal, or the plan, or the context. Pushing back against the meeting would be a crazy thing to do.

hashkb 5y ago
Inevitably, the "no meetings, no interruptions" devs are the same people complaining they don't have a voice in the larger org and that business doesn't care about their opinions. But no, they can't do a weekly 30 minute standing meeting. Edit: and they'll happily point out the hypocrisy of the sales, marketing, and executive teams on coffee walks.
- commandlinefan 5y ago
  > weekly 30 minute standing meeting. I've been doing 30 minute standing meetings pretty much every day since the XP folks coined the term "stand up", which was about 20 years ago. Every single one has consisted of the boss talking for 28 minutes (sometimes back and forth with one team member) while everybody else stands around, followed by, "ok, does anybody else have anything?" If anybody says yes, it's "we're almost out of time for this meeting, so let's take it offline". 20 years, five different employers, exact same experience every time, every day. Human psychology doesn't fit this structure the way you want it to.
  - hashkb 5y ago
    Sorry you had five bad bosses. I'm talking about standing strategy meetings, not stand-ups.

username90 5y ago

The people who pay you typically wants you to develop software though, so it is in their interest to try to make you as productive as possible. But of course it is in your interest to keep them happy so they keep giving you money, you don't care if you deliver good software or not as long as they are happy with you.

hashkb 5y ago
I care about both. And it's a tough balance sometimes, but I try to always be available and still get the work done.