3 ms·
This is gross. Not the fact that the conference call was a mess of technical difficulties, or that Ed's boss interrupted his workflow. That Ed sat back. That
by erdevs 15y ago
This is gross.
Not the fact that the conference call was a mess of technical difficulties, or that Ed's boss interrupted his workflow.
That Ed sat back. That the company's culture would even tolerate anything near this level of lackadaisical disengagement.
If you're a Hacker, you don't say things like "that's not what I'm paid to do." You don't even think things like that.
Your job is to help make your company, and those around you, successful.
If you're not in a company with a mission you believe in, where you are excited to help achieve the goals the whole team is working toward... then freaking leave. Can you not find a job programming at a company that you do believe in? Then you're not a Hacker. You should probably stop reading Hacker News.
The failure in management here isn't interrupting Ed. It's allowing such a lazy, selfish culture to exist in the first place. It's not inspiring Ed enough that he actually wants to help his co-workers be more efficient, because he realizes they are valuable components of the engine that is trying to accomplish a shared mission and set of goals too. It's not firing Ed's ass any of the number of occasions where he has doubtless sat back and watched teammates make mistakes without even trying to help.
This is really, really gross.
- sukuriant 15y agoI think you're being a bit too hard on Ed. A lot of things need to be answered. How many times has this happened that he's had to deal with? How many times has he tried to explain to his boss that things take a lot of time? How many times has he tried to help and only confused them more? How many times has he been reprimanded by his boss for trying to help with these tasks? Also, how is Ed lazy? The chance of needing to speak up at a given moment is so high he couldn't adequately do another task, especially a programming one, or any task that requires a high amount of focus.
- gaelen224 15y agoYou are right. It is a little too harsh toward Ed. I think the general point is correct, though. The management failure here is much deeper. The culture apparently tolerates interruption of important work. Firedrills over relatively trivial problems. Leaning back and watching teammates fumble. And just generally not solving problems in efficient ways, looking for and resolving root causes. It is clear that Ed is not happy or fired up. The company sounds lame. I'm sure this is not the first time something like this has happened. Otherwise, why complain about it? And rather than leaning back and watch the slow motion car wreck over and over, I think erdevs is right... this is pretty lazy and lame. The company sounds lame too. Seems like the Hacker Way would have Ed either leaving such a lame place, or intervening at this place to try to help level the company up as best he can.