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> Most engineers when "empowered" and left to their own devices without much accountability go off on their own side quests that often add no value to the busin

> Most engineers when "empowered" and left to their own devices without much accountability go off on their own side quests that often add no value to the business, but scratch that engineer's curiosity. These side quests also tend to not contribute to business aligned goals. The way FAANG fixes that is to make "impact" the first metric of their engineer evaluation process. Basically, you're quite autonomous to pursue your ideas, but need to be able to justify that you contributed the project in meaningful ways.

sirsinsalot 4y ago
That's interesting when there's wiggle room for that. I've led projects where there isn't (in defence). Specifications are prescribed exactly and in detail, deadlines are fixed and the ICs job is to implement and that's all. It was a sad state of affairs, but one caused by software being a small cog in a massive machine that isn't software driven. Outside FAANG and software centric businesses, the landscape of responsibility and the availability of autonomy can look very different IMHO Less like craftsmen making fine furniture and more like an assembly line for IKEA furniture. Processes like Scrum form that assembly line which ... like it or not as an IC ... is appropriate in some businesses and industries.
marcinzm 4y ago
>The way FAANG fixes that is to make "impact" the first metric of their engineer evaluation process. Basically, you're quite autonomous to pursue your ideas, but need to be able to justify that you contributed the project in meaningful ways. Isn't the joke that Google as a result makes and kills tons of half baked products without producing any actual business value overall? The product lives just long enough to get people's promotions approved.
- azemetre 4y ago
  Sounds like their heuristic for impact is wrong then.
  - marcinzm 4y ago
    There is no viable heuristic because everyone has an incentive to game the system. Even managers. "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure" The closest one is short term improvements tied to revenue and measured using ab testing. But even those get gamed.

sirsinsalot 4y ago

That's interesting when there's wiggle room for that. I've led projects where there isn't (in defence). Specifications are prescribed exactly and in detail, deadlines are fixed and the ICs job is to implement and that's all. It was a sad state of affairs, but one caused by software being a small cog in a massive machine that isn't software driven. Outside FAANG and software centric businesses, the landscape of responsibility and the availability of autonomy can look very different IMHO Less like craftsmen making fine furniture and more like an assembly line for IKEA furniture. Processes like Scrum form that assembly line which ... like it or not as an IC ... is appropriate in some businesses and industries.

marcinzm 4y ago

>The way FAANG fixes that is to make "impact" the first metric of their engineer evaluation process. Basically, you're quite autonomous to pursue your ideas, but need to be able to justify that you contributed the project in meaningful ways. Isn't the joke that Google as a result makes and kills tons of half baked products without producing any actual business value overall? The product lives just long enough to get people's promotions approved.

azemetre 4y ago
Sounds like their heuristic for impact is wrong then.
- marcinzm 4y ago
  There is no viable heuristic because everyone has an incentive to game the system. Even managers. "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure" The closest one is short term improvements tied to revenue and measured using ab testing. But even those get gamed.