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> If you're trying to make the software perfect, you're likely doing something very wrong. ...Tell that to the programmers writing robust, highly-tested system

> If you're trying to make the software perfect, you're likely doing something very wrong. ...Tell that to the programmers writing robust, highly-tested systems for aerospace/flight applications, which have to be designed to be as safe/'perfect' as that can be, since mistakes can not only cost millions, but be directly fatal to end users. I can accept the proposition that the general commercial end goal of software development is the product, rather than a _perfect_ product. But your claim that one's striving to achieve perfection in software is "very wrong" is a questionable statement, and ignorant of the 'engineering' aspect of software development.

hinkley 5y ago
I will say that as I've gotten older that I've noticed a bigger link between code others may think I'm obsessing over and job satisfaction. If I'm insisting on 'perfection' in a bit of code, coping mechanisms are definitely part of the mix. I think only twice has it come to the point of me saying "If you want it to work that way, you're going to need to find someone else to work on this," but I have definitely felt it more often than that. It feels foolish to say it but sometimes honesty is the most efficient form of communication. If you don't let your engineers take out some of their frustrations on the code, they will take it out on someone else. Some of your 'inefficiency' is bridge-building. Like any other relationship, sometimes you have to humor the other person with requests that seem unimportant to you. In fact most service businesses are built on that mismatch - you want something to happen but you hate doing it and it's worth $N an hour to get someone else to do it, while I hate it less and $N/2 an hour sounds like a pretty reasonable incentive to do it for you. But part of my complaint here is discovering a class of people who talk the talk about how they wish they could do something, but the moment the backlog empties out they sit around saying there's nothing to work on. The first time I encountered this, and started to wonder how many bullshitters there were at the current place, I was furious. Because for once in a blue moon integrity actually was on the schedule, and I discovered people who had none. And of course this could not be a unique situation I was in. How many other people had been saying pretty words they didn't mean my entire career? That was, all told, probably one of the worst days in my career. Being laid off is always the worst after it happens, but when you land in something better that starts to fade. Meanwhile this experience is just there. Some days it's worse, others it's better, but my life was easier when I thought everyone was just doing the best they could.

hinkley 5y ago

I will say that as I've gotten older that I've noticed a bigger link between code others may think I'm obsessing over and job satisfaction. If I'm insisting on 'perfection' in a bit of code, coping mechanisms are definitely part of the mix. I think only twice has it come to the point of me saying "If you want it to work that way, you're going to need to find someone else to work on this," but I have definitely felt it more often than that. It feels foolish to say it but sometimes honesty is the most efficient form of communication. If you don't let your engineers take out some of their frustrations on the code, they will take it out on someone else. Some of your 'inefficiency' is bridge-building. Like any other relationship, sometimes you have to humor the other person with requests that seem unimportant to you. In fact most service businesses are built on that mismatch - you want something to happen but you hate doing it and it's worth $N an hour to get someone else to do it, while I hate it less and $N/2 an hour sounds like a pretty reasonable incentive to do it for you. But part of my complaint here is discovering a class of people who talk the talk about how they wish they could do something, but the moment the backlog empties out they sit around saying there's nothing to work on. The first time I encountered this, and started to wonder how many bullshitters there were at the current place, I was furious. Because for once in a blue moon integrity actually was on the schedule, and I discovered people who had none. And of course this could not be a unique situation I was in. How many other people had been saying pretty words they didn't mean my entire career? That was, all told, probably one of the worst days in my career. Being laid off is always the worst after it happens, but when you land in something better that starts to fade. Meanwhile this experience is just there. Some days it's worse, others it's better, but my life was easier when I thought everyone was just doing the best they could.