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Rather they than just "they don't like to share", the BA types don't do this because in one of their other classes they have been taught about the downsides of
by WJW 4y ago
Rather they than just "they don't like to share", the BA types don't do this because in one of their other classes they have been taught about the downsides of such incentives, like:
- Corrosive effects on team cohesion, when separate ICs compete to see who can find cost savings first.
- The "cobra effect", where engineers will deliberately introduce cost inefficiencies so that they can fix their own bugs later.
- (Related to the previous point) Prevention of cost overruns is even cheaper than fixing leaks after the fact, but is very hard to properly incentivize.
Any class on principal-agent problems will hopefully include a chapter warning against asymmetric incentives and how they will be ruthlessly exploited by the agents. Engineers are not some exception here, in fact because of their training they are often extra good at spotting loopholes in the rules.
- marcinzm 4y agoThere's also always second order effects or externalities which this incentivizes engineers to hide or play ignorant about. To ensure group cohesion other engineers also have an implicit incentive to not bring them to light. So they get their bonus and in three months the cost savings is undone as those come to light.
- wil421 4y agoReducing cloud costs should be a one year exercise. There should be a department level incentive, meaning if the whole department/org meets its goal they get the incentive. There should also be a team level incentive to encourage individual teams to find cost savings. Commissions, metrics, and goals and heavily used by sales across many companies. I’m sure there is some abuse but it is still heavily used.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- willcipriano 4y agoYeah I mean imagine if you applied these sort of incentives to executives, they would do silly stuff like take out loans to buy up the company stock or cut corners and destroy customer loyalty for a few good quarters of metrics before they depart to another firm.
- hinkley 4y agoDoes the cobra effect happen because people are greedy and cynical, or does it happen because the people already have contempt for those offering the incentive?
- WJW 4y agoWhy not both? Or even better, why not a more noble third reason, like "people like their children to eat well and see this as an opportunity to make it happen"? Humans are complex and can have more than one motivation for any given action.