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> "stuck in problem solving"? Hell, that's like half the reason I chose a career in computer related stuff. I highly doubt you are referring to the same thing.

> "stuck in problem solving"? Hell, that's like half the reason I chose a career in computer related stuff. I highly doubt you are referring to the same thing. One thing is being challenged to present a solution. Another entirely different thing is being stuck with an impossibility when you are reaching a deadline and all your managers and peers look at you as if you're hopeless when in reality you're just working a workfront that is not practically solvable. I've been in a project where I was assigned a task that was severely underscoped and was riddled with emergent blockers. The quick description of the task sounded like a trivial thing that could be done in a couple of days, but in the end it turned into a months-long, multi-team effort. I was a few weeks into the project when another engineer was tasked to help me out, in the spirit of "let's pull this idiot out of the mud because this is getting embarrassing". It took a week or so for that engineer's mood to change from "here I am to save the day" to "please someone, anyone help me". Does this sort of scenario fit your "problem solving" ideal, where everyone just loves the whole experience? I highly doubt it. One of the key factors in happiness and fulfilment is the sense of mastery and performance. Sometimes we need to shift to a lower gear to move over bumps in the road. Sometimes we find ourselves in the depth of a gorge with no possible way out. The latter leaves everyone miserable.

throwaway98797 4y ago
sounds either like a communication failure on your part or the inability of the organization to listen why judge yourself for others incompetency?
- arinlen 4y ago
  The example I gave had absolutely nothing to do with incompetency. It just so happened that the problem manifested as a sequence of time-consuming blockers which could only emerge once the previous one was unblocked. Regardless of the example,the point is that it's naive and very ignorant to portray all blockers as feel-good "I overcame a challenge" opportunities. Sometimes you feel good because you managed to jump a hurdle, sometimes you feel bad because you're stuck in the middle of a ravine with your arm crushed by a huge rock and the only tool you have is a pocket knife. Sure, you exercised your problem-solving skills on both scenarios, but they are hardly on the same level in terms of personal fulfilment and happiness.
comfypotato 4y ago
It seems like the “problem solving” issue in your particular case and the paper in general is really an obvious thing. It’s ultimately the value generation of the engineer. It makes sense that the actual work would be the worst part! You simply gave an example where the core value generation has some spicy additions (“time pressure”, “unclear problem”, etc.).
gravypod 4y ago
> Does this sort of scenario fit your "problem solving" ideal, where everyone just loves the whole experience? I highly doubt it. For me, yes. IF you remove the manager constantly asking "is it done yet" and "why isn't this done". I like having and solving large, unscoped, deeply technical, problems as long as the nagging doesn't happen. My last launch (this month) was a 6 month long 3 team project that no one but me understood. It's now a documented feature, with unit tests, and it is extremely simple. In fact, one of my CLs which took ~2 weeks to make was adding 1 `if (X) { continue; }` and I sent that to my manager as "look at this amazing milestone we crossed" and him not getting it :)

throwaway98797 4y ago

sounds either like a communication failure on your part or the inability of the organization to listen why judge yourself for others incompetency?

arinlen 4y ago
The example I gave had absolutely nothing to do with incompetency. It just so happened that the problem manifested as a sequence of time-consuming blockers which could only emerge once the previous one was unblocked. Regardless of the example,the point is that it's naive and very ignorant to portray all blockers as feel-good "I overcame a challenge" opportunities. Sometimes you feel good because you managed to jump a hurdle, sometimes you feel bad because you're stuck in the middle of a ravine with your arm crushed by a huge rock and the only tool you have is a pocket knife. Sure, you exercised your problem-solving skills on both scenarios, but they are hardly on the same level in terms of personal fulfilment and happiness.

comfypotato 4y ago

It seems like the “problem solving” issue in your particular case and the paper in general is really an obvious thing. It’s ultimately the value generation of the engineer. It makes sense that the actual work would be the worst part! You simply gave an example where the core value generation has some spicy additions (“time pressure”, “unclear problem”, etc.).

gravypod 4y ago

> Does this sort of scenario fit your "problem solving" ideal, where everyone just loves the whole experience? I highly doubt it. For me, yes. IF you remove the manager constantly asking "is it done yet" and "why isn't this done". I like having and solving large, unscoped, deeply technical, problems as long as the nagging doesn't happen. My last launch (this month) was a 6 month long 3 team project that no one but me understood. It's now a documented feature, with unit tests, and it is extremely simple. In fact, one of my CLs which took ~2 weeks to make was adding 1 `if (X) { continue; }` and I sent that to my manager as "look at this amazing milestone we crossed" and him not getting it :)