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> To me this is insanely disrespectful of the team The team is probably underperforming relative to the expectations. This is what it feels like to be question

by yobbo 4y ago

> To me this is insanely disrespectful of the team The team is probably underperforming relative to the expectations. This is what it feels like to be questioned and put under pressure. It is technically disrespect. To what standard should the team perform, and how can it be determined if it is? Maybe make some sort of benchmarks visible that establish the competence and prestige of the team.

WastingMyTime89 4y ago
You are right that it’s often a problem of a mismatch between your client expectations and what you are delivering but that’s not disrespectful and will probably not be sorted out with a benchmark. From my experience, 90% of the time these mismatches come from a lack of or a flawed communication. The solution is to sit down with your customers, ask questions to understand why they feel what they feel and specifically address that. I think that in general people working in software rarely spend enough time talking with their clients. It’s the same with managers actually. If there is a persistent mismatch between what you think you should be doing and what your manager thinks you should be doing you are not talking with your manager enough.
- yobbo 4y ago
  > ... 90% of the time these mismatches come from a lack of or a flawed communication. It's important to think about how the communication is failing. The customer/manager might be comparing your performance with others who are faster or cheaper. Some might have more technical experience than you; and are in effect asking you to explain and justify your solutions. Or, they might not understand or care, while still being convinced that you are underperforming ("being incompetent").
mactavish88 4y ago
Part of the problem I pick up here is that, in general, engineers who haven't done the hard work of the actual scoping themselves tend to be wildly optimistic in their estimates. I'm not sure if this applies to more seasoned engineer-customers though. The more experienced engineer-customers (people who've been working for 10+ years) tend to be far more understanding here.

by yobbo 4y ago

WastingMyTime89 4y ago

You are right that it’s often a problem of a mismatch between your client expectations and what you are delivering but that’s not disrespectful and will probably not be sorted out with a benchmark. From my experience, 90% of the time these mismatches come from a lack of or a flawed communication. The solution is to sit down with your customers, ask questions to understand why they feel what they feel and specifically address that. I think that in general people working in software rarely spend enough time talking with their clients. It’s the same with managers actually. If there is a persistent mismatch between what you think you should be doing and what your manager thinks you should be doing you are not talking with your manager enough.

yobbo 4y ago
> ... 90% of the time these mismatches come from a lack of or a flawed communication. It's important to think about how the communication is failing. The customer/manager might be comparing your performance with others who are faster or cheaper. Some might have more technical experience than you; and are in effect asking you to explain and justify your solutions. Or, they might not understand or care, while still being convinced that you are underperforming ("being incompetent").

mactavish88 4y ago

Part of the problem I pick up here is that, in general, engineers who haven't done the hard work of the actual scoping themselves tend to be wildly optimistic in their estimates. I'm not sure if this applies to more seasoned engineer-customers though. The more experienced engineer-customers (people who've been working for 10+ years) tend to be far more understanding here.