5 ms·
Weirdly, optics have never mattered at all in small or startup companies. And they manage to do pretty well, ship a lot of product and become large companies.
by dclowd9901 2y ago
Weirdly, optics have never mattered at all in small or startup companies. And they manage to do pretty well, ship a lot of product and become large companies.
Maybe the problem isn’t the engineers, but the need for optics…
- tightbookkeeper 2y agoNo organization with more than 1 person is immune from the effects of optics. If you think so, you may be blind to it.
- tonyedgecombe 2y agoIt definitely gets worse as the organisation grows. There isn't much room to hide in a five person company whereas it's hard to be seen in a 5000 person organisation.
- conjectures 2y agoNah, I think optics can matter at startups too.
- tonyedgecombe 2y agoFor a lot of the ones that fail, yes.
- jimbokun 2y agoIn that case it's the optics with the customers that matter. Which can be more rewarding to satisfy than the optics of just management. But still needs to be managed appropriately.
- brundolf 2y agoIt's a matter of scale. "Optics" (as a separate concern) don't matter at orgs that are small enough that everyone can see everything (and/or has full trust in the people who do). Visibility and trust don't scale, hence the necessary evil of pageantry