4 ms·

This is a double edged sword unless you plan to allow them room to experiment. If all the work is in older technologies with no short term or middle term plan

This is a double edged sword unless you plan to allow them room to experiment. If all the work is in older technologies with no short term or middle term plan to upgrade, you will be hiring people who aren't going to be satisfied with the day to day duties and looking to change teams to a team who is using new things or leave. I think teams being honest and self critical about what their actual needs and day to day operations include is an important part of figuring out what skill sets should be on the team. Too much optimism leads to constant turn over.

bob1029 3y ago
> you will be hiring people who aren't going to be satisfied with the day to day duties and looking to change teams to a team who is using new things or leave I don't know about this. I've been able to convince several developers to put down their shiny in favor of trying out some classic options. They seem to enjoy their newly-discovered traction. Progress feels good regardless of how you're achieving it after a while. I did have to provide starting points & patterns, but it didn't seem to take much. I think they key is proving the value around why the old tools are (likely) better. Just lecturing a young person verbally about this and that is almost certain to send them even deeper into their rabbit hole. If the mission is vague with uncertain upside associated with completion, you will absolutely find everyone fucking off in different directions as convenient. If you somehow frame the mission more like "ship by Christmas and everyone gets a 50k bonus", you can usually convince even the biggest 'not my job' assholes to adapt to changing realities. Leadership is at the heart of why some companies are simple and others are running a technological clown show.
yakshaving_jgt 3y ago
> you will be hiring people who aren't going to be satisfied with the day to day duties and looking to change teams to a team who is using new things or leave Awesome. There are plenty of programmers who aren’t magpies distracted by shiny trinkets. I hope they get jobs. They can take the seats of those people who can’t bear not wasting time on the next new fad.

bob1029 3y ago

> you will be hiring people who aren't going to be satisfied with the day to day duties and looking to change teams to a team who is using new things or leave I don't know about this. I've been able to convince several developers to put down their shiny in favor of trying out some classic options. They seem to enjoy their newly-discovered traction. Progress feels good regardless of how you're achieving it after a while. I did have to provide starting points & patterns, but it didn't seem to take much. I think they key is proving the value around why the old tools are (likely) better. Just lecturing a young person verbally about this and that is almost certain to send them even deeper into their rabbit hole. If the mission is vague with uncertain upside associated with completion, you will absolutely find everyone fucking off in different directions as convenient. If you somehow frame the mission more like "ship by Christmas and everyone gets a 50k bonus", you can usually convince even the biggest 'not my job' assholes to adapt to changing realities. Leadership is at the heart of why some companies are simple and others are running a technological clown show.

yakshaving_jgt 3y ago

> you will be hiring people who aren't going to be satisfied with the day to day duties and looking to change teams to a team who is using new things or leave Awesome. There are plenty of programmers who aren’t magpies distracted by shiny trinkets. I hope they get jobs. They can take the seats of those people who can’t bear not wasting time on the next new fad.