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> it's short term vs long term productivity You should pick short term. Pretty much every time. The tradeoffs just don't make sense the other way. There's a 9

by Kamq 4y ago

> it's short term vs long term productivity You should pick short term. Pretty much every time. The tradeoffs just don't make sense the other way. There's a 9/10 chance the thing you're working on will fail or not achieve any sort of scale. Opting for short term productivity will let you find this out faster, and save you millions of dollars and years of time over your career. When you hit that 1/10 product, you will experience some pain. But you now have enough information to justify dumping the resources (including political capital) into a proper long term solution.

bob1029 4y ago
> When you hit that 1/10 product, you will experience some pain. There is a neat little trick I learned. Wait until leadership is under fire from customers and/or investors regarding the thing you thought might become an issue, and then present your solutions. Once you have proper buy-in, you can likely move way faster than by trying to constantly side-channel things through existing processes. Spinning hypothetical tales of doom in order to be granted permission to build something shiny is probably the #1 thing that slowed me down in my career.
- Kamq 4y ago
  > Once you have proper buy-in, you can likely move way faster than by trying to constantly side-channel things through existing processes. I've noticed this as well. It's amazing how many road blocks an executive trying to save their reputation can clear for you.
  - bob1029 4y ago
    > It's amazing how many road blocks an executive trying to save their reputation can clear for you. Precisely. The grandmaster software engineer learns to manipulate organizational inertia, fear and egos in order to achieve their goals. Simply detecting when someone has their heels dug in on something will take you about 80% of the way there. Showing up to the 5 alarm fire with a perfect solution that can be deployed within 48 hours will make you look infinitely better than if you engage a months-long headbutt session with your managers about potential fires. Prepare your magic in secret and reserve your hope. If you are right, it will pay out. Be patient.

by Kamq 4y ago

bob1029 4y ago

> When you hit that 1/10 product, you will experience some pain. There is a neat little trick I learned. Wait until leadership is under fire from customers and/or investors regarding the thing you thought might become an issue, and then present your solutions. Once you have proper buy-in, you can likely move way faster than by trying to constantly side-channel things through existing processes. Spinning hypothetical tales of doom in order to be granted permission to build something shiny is probably the #1 thing that slowed me down in my career.

Kamq 4y ago
> Once you have proper buy-in, you can likely move way faster than by trying to constantly side-channel things through existing processes. I've noticed this as well. It's amazing how many road blocks an executive trying to save their reputation can clear for you.
- bob1029 4y ago
  > It's amazing how many road blocks an executive trying to save their reputation can clear for you. Precisely. The grandmaster software engineer learns to manipulate organizational inertia, fear and egos in order to achieve their goals. Simply detecting when someone has their heels dug in on something will take you about 80% of the way there. Showing up to the 5 alarm fire with a perfect solution that can be deployed within 48 hours will make you look infinitely better than if you engage a months-long headbutt session with your managers about potential fires. Prepare your magic in secret and reserve your hope. If you are right, it will pay out. Be patient.