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Maybe I am biased because I've attended spacecraft & sensor engineering design reviews for much of my career. But this does not look like engineering; looks mo

Maybe I am biased because I've attended spacecraft & sensor engineering design reviews for much of my career. But this does not look like engineering; looks more like statistic process control applied to software dev Not engineering!

lucasfcosta 4y ago
Thanks so much for this brilliant comment. Indeed, this is statistical process control. What I meant by “engineering” was that it applies to software engineering teams. I’ll consider adapting the title, but not sure whether folks would grasp my intent as quickly
- 8note 4y ago
  Swapping "engineering" to "software management" would be clearer. Velocity has a strong definition in engineering that has been borrowed and misused in software management. I expected the article to be about accelerometers and how the ill effects of vibration have been mitigated
  - archibaldJ 4y ago
    > has been borrowed and misused in software management. as a software engineer, I really apprecaite this. > about accelerometers and how the ill effects of vibration have been mitigated I really hope I can mitigate vibrations of mood, esp the procrastinatory kinds. But then I don't want to over-"engineer" my behaviours or it would start to become existential. Like sometimes I don't even know what is meaningful anymore (despite working on my dream job), or if I can truly humanly love myself. Being human is tough.
    - q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 4y ago
      An old mentor used to talk about "installing shock absorbers" (in the metaphorical sense) for this sort of thing. Hope you're doing okay, dude. Meaning doesn't mean much, but learning to love and be happy is (from what I can gather) far more important than the zeroes and ones we tinker with. I'm trying to figure it out myself and waiting for the good times to come around again, too.
      - archibaldJ 4y ago
        > Meaning doesn't mean much, but learning to love and be happy is (from what I can gather) far more important... Thanks. This hits me hard. I think I've been focusing too much on "meaning" (and trying to do the meaningful things, etc) and over-exhausted myself. I think I need to practise loving and being happy more. That turns out doesn't come automatically.
    - pgorczak 4y ago
      Maybe you don’t need to completely mitigate those vibrations and they’re just a part of moving through life as a human. A very related image that stuck with me is “run on the engine, not the pistons”.
  - nicwilson 4y ago
    I think velocity of development is more like velocity of money than velocity of a car.
FeistySkink 4y ago
Do you have any write ups about what those reviews are like? Sounds quite a bit more interesting than the usual agile stuff.
mandeepj 4y ago
> But this does not look like engineering; looks more like statistic process control applied to software dev Of course, it's not engineering; it's all about metrics, which are statistical
q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 4y ago
You are technically correct, which is (technically) the best kind of correct. For better or for worse, though, most of the modern software industry has converged on "software engineering" as the name for what they do, while terms like "web developer" usually invoke spooky prehistoric (20th-century) connotations of companies that treat software as "part of the IT department" and a "cost center."
- spiffytech 4y ago
  I enjoyed this series of interviews with engineers from other fields who switched to software development. Their broad conclusion is that software engineers are either already engineers, or are pretty close. https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/are-we-really-engineers/ https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/are-we-really-engineers/
  - maxbond 4y ago
    I'd lost this and was having trouble finding it again, thank you
- vsareto 4y ago
  Let's just go back to Webmaster, but we get have Appmaster (desktop/mobile) and Chipmaster (embedded) too
  - cratermoon 4y ago
    How about Lockmaster (authz/authn), too?
- tamrix 4y ago
  It's just title inflation. Previously, a system engineer used to work at Nasa, now they configure computer networks. Now everyone is a tech/dev advocate because they have 500+ linkedin connections and repost the same cloud news everyone has already read. I'm just going to coin the next stupid title now, 'cloud astronaut', they're so good they're beyond the cloud. That will fill the blank void that is your ego. You're welcome.
zanellato19 4y ago
Engineering uses statics process applied to something to understand it and better it all the time. It is engineering as I've studied and practiced
- mym1990 4y ago
  Therefore it must be the only kind of engineering out there?

lucasfcosta 4y ago

Thanks so much for this brilliant comment. Indeed, this is statistical process control. What I meant by “engineering” was that it applies to software engineering teams. I’ll consider adapting the title, but not sure whether folks would grasp my intent as quickly

8note 4y ago
Swapping "engineering" to "software management" would be clearer. Velocity has a strong definition in engineering that has been borrowed and misused in software management. I expected the article to be about accelerometers and how the ill effects of vibration have been mitigated
- archibaldJ 4y ago
  > has been borrowed and misused in software management. as a software engineer, I really apprecaite this. > about accelerometers and how the ill effects of vibration have been mitigated I really hope I can mitigate vibrations of mood, esp the procrastinatory kinds. But then I don't want to over-"engineer" my behaviours or it would start to become existential. Like sometimes I don't even know what is meaningful anymore (despite working on my dream job), or if I can truly humanly love myself. Being human is tough.
  - q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 4y ago
    An old mentor used to talk about "installing shock absorbers" (in the metaphorical sense) for this sort of thing. Hope you're doing okay, dude. Meaning doesn't mean much, but learning to love and be happy is (from what I can gather) far more important than the zeroes and ones we tinker with. I'm trying to figure it out myself and waiting for the good times to come around again, too.
    - archibaldJ 4y ago
      > Meaning doesn't mean much, but learning to love and be happy is (from what I can gather) far more important... Thanks. This hits me hard. I think I've been focusing too much on "meaning" (and trying to do the meaningful things, etc) and over-exhausted myself. I think I need to practise loving and being happy more. That turns out doesn't come automatically.
  - pgorczak 4y ago
    Maybe you don’t need to completely mitigate those vibrations and they’re just a part of moving through life as a human. A very related image that stuck with me is “run on the engine, not the pistons”.
- nicwilson 4y ago
  I think velocity of development is more like velocity of money than velocity of a car.

FeistySkink 4y ago

Do you have any write ups about what those reviews are like? Sounds quite a bit more interesting than the usual agile stuff.

mandeepj 4y ago

> But this does not look like engineering; looks more like statistic process control applied to software dev Of course, it's not engineering; it's all about metrics, which are statistical

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 4y ago

You are technically correct, which is (technically) the best kind of correct. For better or for worse, though, most of the modern software industry has converged on "software engineering" as the name for what they do, while terms like "web developer" usually invoke spooky prehistoric (20th-century) connotations of companies that treat software as "part of the IT department" and a "cost center."

spiffytech 4y ago
I enjoyed this series of interviews with engineers from other fields who switched to software development. Their broad conclusion is that software engineers are either already engineers, or are pretty close. https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/are-we-really-engineers/ https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/are-we-really-engineers/
- maxbond 4y ago
  I'd lost this and was having trouble finding it again, thank you
vsareto 4y ago
Let's just go back to Webmaster, but we get have Appmaster (desktop/mobile) and Chipmaster (embedded) too
- cratermoon 4y ago
  How about Lockmaster (authz/authn), too?
tamrix 4y ago
It's just title inflation. Previously, a system engineer used to work at Nasa, now they configure computer networks. Now everyone is a tech/dev advocate because they have 500+ linkedin connections and repost the same cloud news everyone has already read. I'm just going to coin the next stupid title now, 'cloud astronaut', they're so good they're beyond the cloud. That will fill the blank void that is your ego. You're welcome.

zanellato19 4y ago

Engineering uses statics process applied to something to understand it and better it all the time. It is engineering as I've studied and practiced

mym1990 4y ago
Therefore it must be the only kind of engineering out there?