4 ms·

I've been thinking about this idea a lot recently. I'm decently new to the big-tech-co space, but it does seem like a huge amount of resourcing goes into design

I've been thinking about this idea a lot recently. I'm decently new to the big-tech-co space, but it does seem like a huge amount of resourcing goes into design and defense of projects. I wonder what y'all think about someone doing a timeboxed MVP (a sprint or less?) as a way of susing out design, and THEN getting reviewers/etc? Obviously you have to take security into large consideration when doing things like this - but this is what qa/sandbox environments are for.

cyberge99 5y ago
A pot of big corps have Hackathon weeks for doing just this. A free-for-all to build something you want and that you think will be helpful to the org from your perspective.
- rco8786 5y ago
  And as soon as those weeks are over everyone goes right back to their previously scheduled work.
noduerme 5y ago
Hell, wait till you find out how much time is wasted in Dev/Ops just changing the tooling every year or two, literally tearing down and rebuilding everything you already have in the name of staving off another couple years of technical debt. It's silly. I'm a bit of a rarity in the modern world (and here in the corporate space that is HN), in that I'm the sole programmer on a bunch of large software projects in production that I also maintain and sysadmin 24/7. The only meetings needed are to understand what the clients want and bitch at them that what they want makes no sense, until they start making sense, and then trust me to build it. If something comes up from a design perspective that I think could go one of several ways, I usually have that thought in the shower and mumble to myself for awhile before framing it in terms they would understand as a series of yes/no choices. This is generally way more efficient than hiring a team, and I know, because I've tried to hire teams to do it. There's a limit to what one coder like me can do, but it's a lot higher than what 4 people bickering can do. I'd say it's around what 8 bickering people can do. Design and defense of design, though, is not just about ego. Not if it's done properly. The best design/code people will come to you and say this is why this is the only way to do X and lay out the chain of logic that led them to that conclusion. That's not because they'll be personally hurt if you don't go that direction; it's that they're annoyed they'll have to do extra work to make an inferior product if you don't take their advice. Promote those people.
- wing-_-nuts 5y ago
  What happens if you get hit by a bus or just want to take a vacation? I think this is more about your inability to work with other people than it is about you truly being a 4-8x coder.
  - noduerme 5y ago
    Well, thanks for the confidence; you did hit the nail on the head. I haven't taken a real vacation in 20 years, although I did live in vans and hostels for 10 of those years. For peace of mind, I maintain a set of PGP files signed and keyed to each of my clients which I flippantly tell them to open "if I get hit by a bus", that contain all the SSH keys and details needed to get to their source files / DBs / webservers, extra code hints and lots of juicy advice for whatever unfortunate developer takes over after my demise. (Including shit like, this software is way too old, rewrite it). If you saw what I write you'd say I was a 20x coder, but that's just from a youngin's perspective. I've been writing code since 1988. The basic value proposition for my clients is that they know I'll die at some point, but it's way cheaper and more efficient to pay one guy they know will get it done, and take the risk they'll have to scramble for someone else in less than 10 years (at which point they'll likely have to rewrite anyway). Also, the shit I write mostly maintains itself. I'm proud to say that my software in 24/7 production has had no actual crashes in years other than the occasional forced server upgrade. If I died, it would take awhile to notice if they didn't keep asking me for new features.
- rco8786 5y ago
  > I'm a bit of a rarity in the modern world I'll say. It does not sound like you'd be very fun to work with, as a teammate or a stakeholder.

cyberge99 5y ago

A pot of big corps have Hackathon weeks for doing just this. A free-for-all to build something you want and that you think will be helpful to the org from your perspective.

rco8786 5y ago
And as soon as those weeks are over everyone goes right back to their previously scheduled work.

noduerme 5y ago

Hell, wait till you find out how much time is wasted in Dev/Ops just changing the tooling every year or two, literally tearing down and rebuilding everything you already have in the name of staving off another couple years of technical debt. It's silly. I'm a bit of a rarity in the modern world (and here in the corporate space that is HN), in that I'm the sole programmer on a bunch of large software projects in production that I also maintain and sysadmin 24/7. The only meetings needed are to understand what the clients want and bitch at them that what they want makes no sense, until they start making sense, and then trust me to build it. If something comes up from a design perspective that I think could go one of several ways, I usually have that thought in the shower and mumble to myself for awhile before framing it in terms they would understand as a series of yes/no choices. This is generally way more efficient than hiring a team, and I know, because I've tried to hire teams to do it. There's a limit to what one coder like me can do, but it's a lot higher than what 4 people bickering can do. I'd say it's around what 8 bickering people can do. Design and defense of design, though, is not just about ego. Not if it's done properly. The best design/code people will come to you and say this is why this is the only way to do X and lay out the chain of logic that led them to that conclusion. That's not because they'll be personally hurt if you don't go that direction; it's that they're annoyed they'll have to do extra work to make an inferior product if you don't take their advice. Promote those people.

wing-_-nuts 5y ago
What happens if you get hit by a bus or just want to take a vacation? I think this is more about your inability to work with other people than it is about you truly being a 4-8x coder.
- noduerme 5y ago
  Well, thanks for the confidence; you did hit the nail on the head. I haven't taken a real vacation in 20 years, although I did live in vans and hostels for 10 of those years. For peace of mind, I maintain a set of PGP files signed and keyed to each of my clients which I flippantly tell them to open "if I get hit by a bus", that contain all the SSH keys and details needed to get to their source files / DBs / webservers, extra code hints and lots of juicy advice for whatever unfortunate developer takes over after my demise. (Including shit like, this software is way too old, rewrite it). If you saw what I write you'd say I was a 20x coder, but that's just from a youngin's perspective. I've been writing code since 1988. The basic value proposition for my clients is that they know I'll die at some point, but it's way cheaper and more efficient to pay one guy they know will get it done, and take the risk they'll have to scramble for someone else in less than 10 years (at which point they'll likely have to rewrite anyway). Also, the shit I write mostly maintains itself. I'm proud to say that my software in 24/7 production has had no actual crashes in years other than the occasional forced server upgrade. If I died, it would take awhile to notice if they didn't keep asking me for new features.
rco8786 5y ago
> I'm a bit of a rarity in the modern world I'll say. It does not sound like you'd be very fun to work with, as a teammate or a stakeholder.