5 ms·
> I later learned that the execs at most of the tech companies were similarly clueless on what made software possible, and basic stuff like trading off time for
by munchler 2y ago
> I later learned that the execs at most of the tech companies were similarly clueless on what made software possible, and basic stuff like trading off time for space and vice versa.
Why would an exec ever need to know about time/space tradeoffs? That's an engineering detail that is almost never relevant at the executive level. If you're pitching a business idea at this level, you're going to have a rough time.
- malfist 2y agoThat stood out to me too. If your customers won't care about it I wouldn't expect your execs to have deep understanding of it.
- bruce511 2y agoI concur. The following stood out to me; >> was thinking about making a product, they’d invite this person to hear the pitch and if they didn’t like or understand it, they wouldn’t make it. He says this like it's a bad thing. When really the company is just trying to find out if the thing being pitched can be sold to a not-engineer. Too often engineers love an idea because it "can be done". They can list features all day long, but lack the skills to understand (or articulate) the benefits to the prospective customer.
- onion2k 2y agoPrioritizing time makes a product fast. Prioritizing space makes it cheap. Customers often do care about the outcome of a tech decision even if they don't care about the decision itself. Therefore the leaders at a company should care too, or should at least empower people below them to make good decisions.
- malfist 2y agoI doubt consumers at the checkout line buying software are thinking about how fast or slow the software will run on their hardware compared to the competitor software
- atoav 2y agoIs it tho? Twitter traded space (initially 140 characters) for time (you read it fast). That turned out to be a pretty substential decisions, also for consumers. This is how I read the notions of space and time in that post.
- setopt 2y agoIs it a space-time trade-off if you end up with little space and little time? Twitter chose to minimize both by storing less, that’s not really a “trade”. I usually understand the term to mean that using more space lets you use less time and vice versa.
- Mordisquitos 2y agoThat description of time/space trade-off is completely orthogonal to the concept of software. If that was the author's intent it would be applicable to all consumer-facing industries.
- DarkNova6 2y agoYou could also argue that it traded depth and content for accessibility and shallowness.
- harry8 2y agoIt didn't. It was the best place to find the best news stories, blog posts, journal papers and all the rest on any subject that interested. Someone who you think is smart,informed and honest says "Mary, who I know, is smart and works in this field wrote about this issue here: link" Could take you to fantastic info you don't see otherwise. Obviously critical thinking and possibly verification required. Now you don't need that because links are all de-amplified and many of the most thoughtful and interesting have left. This is the real shame of it all.
- hmcq6 2y agoWhy should execs have to know anything? Why not rewrite the twitter stack from scratch? Why shouldn't a CEO be able to sell the idea that P=NP. We can have the engineers work out the details later.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Juliate 2y agoAn exec that does not understand core tenets (and challenges) of the industry his company operates on is an exec that will drive said company out of relevance. Whatever the size of the company. Boeing is one but a glaring recent example of that.