3 ms·
I was ready to hate this article based on the title - I presumed it was a typical "PMs are dumb, all your company needs is smart engineers who rule the world" p
by nlh 3y ago
I was ready to hate this article based on the title - I presumed it was a typical "PMs are dumb, all your company needs is smart engineers who rule the world" piece. But it wasn't that, and the author nails the problem pretty much perfectly.
But: The author hand-waves the solution into oblivion:
"There’s an alternative model that works. You hire everyday great people. Each one needs to be great at something, obsessed by their craft, and driven by quality. You then put them together in a team, without individual responsibilities, ensuring that there’s minimal overlap in areas of greatness. And you pay them to have fun doing what they love doing, in exchange for putting their time and skills at the service of your company."
I mean, come on. That sounds lovely but can anyone point to a successful company larger than 100 people where that actually works in practice? (HOW could it work in practice?)
- throwaway_08932 3y agoThe "solution" doesn't even universally work in companies < 10 people.
- skrebbel 3y ago, that you know of
- throwaway_08932 3y agoEdited to say "universally work."
- skrebbel 3y agoWe do it but we’re 15 people so it doesnt count. Valve seems to do (or at least, have done) something very similar. Their employee handbook[0] used to be a staple on HN but I haven’t seen it flying around much lately. I wonder if it’s working out of them. [0] https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployeeHandbook.pdf https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployee...
- flappyeagle 3y agoValve doesn’t ship
- skrebbel 3y agoWoa! I mean I stopped gaming when Half-Life was new but that’s quite an indictment for their model huh.