4 ms·

It's a positive for a nameless middle manager somewhere who can show their boss a graph with a line moving to the right and up with a title like "AI Adoption Ac

by MrMember 10mo ago

It's a positive for a nameless middle manager somewhere who can show their boss a graph with a line moving to the right and up with a title like "AI Adoption Across Platforms" and hit their bonus target.

rolph 10mo ago
if you work in a restauraunt, and decide salt is cheaper than sugar, and fill the bowls like that, someone will find out, like your manager. telling your boss we are selling sugar, when its actually salt, is a good recipe for footgunning.
- readthenotes1 10mo ago
  Accountability and responsibility are not so clear and large, insanely profitable, behemoths like Microsoft.
  - themafia 10mo ago
    Yea, and that's the reason we pay taxes and tolerate a government, they're supposed to provide a counter force to this apparent corruption.
- weikju 10mo ago
  No, the boss is asking for more salt. Employees are then replacing sugar with salt and getting bonuses, no matter what the customer reactions are.
  - colejohnson66 10mo ago
    And then word gets around that you put salt in coffee instead of sugar, and people stop going to you. Unless you’re the only deli in town.
    - baby_souffle 10mo ago
      > And then word gets around that you put salt in coffee instead of sugar, and people stop going to you. Right, but that's somebody elses problem a few quarters from now.
      - malfist 10mo ago
        I got my promo for increasing salt adoption, what do I care? I'm jumping ship next week
    - deleted 10mo ago
      [deleted]
    - weikju 10mo ago
      But all the other delis are doing it as well. So is your supermarket. So is your farmer (somehow they figured out how to add salt to the veggies they sell at the farmer's market!)... Whaddya gonna do? Grow your own? THE SEEDS SHALL HAVE SALT TOO, has been decreed...
    - reactordev 10mo ago
      “We’d like to introduce you to Copilot Enterprise”… Yes, the only deli in town. Office, Server, Desktop, now your TV, pretty soon your car.
    - lamontcg 10mo ago
      > Unless you’re the only deli in town. pretty much. back in the before times, we broke up AT&T, but we don't do that anymore.
    - xgkickt 10mo ago
      Then your social media & newsfeeds are buzzing about salted coffee, and your work has mandated salt in the coffee, insisting that it increases productivity, and if you’re not partaking you might fail your next performance review.
      - colejohnson66 10mo ago
- hiddencost 10mo ago
  You've clearly never worked at a large tech company
  - shermantanktop 10mo ago
    “In Q2 our P0 goal is to deliver Project Footgun. Your focus on delivering this important goal will put us in a good position to finally fund your favorite tech debt projects.”
    - malfist 10mo ago
      Its now Q2, you worked your ass off on delivering Project Footgun, excitedly signing in the next morning to work on that tech debt to a message from your manager that the PMs didn't see value in the P1's and were transitioning to Project Footgun 2.0 The Shotgun
DeepYogurt 10mo ago
This is 100% the why.
- Uehreka 10mo ago
  Whenever I see this much vehement agreement about something on HN, it sets off serious groupthink alarm bells. Idk what the answer is, but it is not 100% this. It’s too simple and satisfying of an answer to be true.
  - dijit 10mo ago
    I understand what you mean, but it does match MBA/mckinsey thinking very closely. Make a metric a goal, work tirelessly towards that new metric. Does it make the product better? Well, the product is already made- so it doesn’t make a difference. It’s only software developers who think a product is never “done”- normal MBA thinking is “we have invested in R&D, now there is a product, how do we get as many users of our product as possible”.
  - dax_ 10mo ago
    Normally I would agree, but I've seen this happen too often. Common sense be damned, just make the number look good.
  - array_key_first 10mo ago
    You don't think the reason we have seemingly broken optimization is because poorly thought out metrics are being gamed? That's all its been for the last few decades. Everyone is now "data driven" and "metrics oriented". That's a footgun - if people can game it, they will, and numbers don't say what people think they say.
nticompass 10mo ago
3 Billion Devices run Java, I mean Copilot.

rolph 10mo ago

if you work in a restauraunt, and decide salt is cheaper than sugar, and fill the bowls like that, someone will find out, like your manager. telling your boss we are selling sugar, when its actually salt, is a good recipe for footgunning.

readthenotes1 10mo ago
Accountability and responsibility are not so clear and large, insanely profitable, behemoths like Microsoft.
- themafia 10mo ago
  Yea, and that's the reason we pay taxes and tolerate a government, they're supposed to provide a counter force to this apparent corruption.
weikju 10mo ago
No, the boss is asking for more salt. Employees are then replacing sugar with salt and getting bonuses, no matter what the customer reactions are.
- colejohnson66 10mo ago
  And then word gets around that you put salt in coffee instead of sugar, and people stop going to you. Unless you’re the only deli in town.
  - baby_souffle 10mo ago
    > And then word gets around that you put salt in coffee instead of sugar, and people stop going to you. Right, but that's somebody elses problem a few quarters from now.
    - malfist 10mo ago
      I got my promo for increasing salt adoption, what do I care? I'm jumping ship next week
  - deleted 10mo ago
    [deleted]
  - weikju 10mo ago
    But all the other delis are doing it as well. So is your supermarket. So is your farmer (somehow they figured out how to add salt to the veggies they sell at the farmer's market!)... Whaddya gonna do? Grow your own? THE SEEDS SHALL HAVE SALT TOO, has been decreed...
  - reactordev 10mo ago
    “We’d like to introduce you to Copilot Enterprise”… Yes, the only deli in town. Office, Server, Desktop, now your TV, pretty soon your car.
  - lamontcg 10mo ago
    > Unless you’re the only deli in town. pretty much. back in the before times, we broke up AT&T, but we don't do that anymore.
  - xgkickt 10mo ago
    Then your social media & newsfeeds are buzzing about salted coffee, and your work has mandated salt in the coffee, insisting that it increases productivity, and if you’re not partaking you might fail your next performance review.
    - colejohnson66 10mo ago
hiddencost 10mo ago
You've clearly never worked at a large tech company
- shermantanktop 10mo ago
  “In Q2 our P0 goal is to deliver Project Footgun. Your focus on delivering this important goal will put us in a good position to finally fund your favorite tech debt projects.”
  - malfist 10mo ago
    Its now Q2, you worked your ass off on delivering Project Footgun, excitedly signing in the next morning to work on that tech debt to a message from your manager that the PMs didn't see value in the P1's and were transitioning to Project Footgun 2.0 The Shotgun

DeepYogurt 10mo ago

This is 100% the why.

Uehreka 10mo ago
Whenever I see this much vehement agreement about something on HN, it sets off serious groupthink alarm bells. Idk what the answer is, but it is not 100% this. It’s too simple and satisfying of an answer to be true.
- dijit 10mo ago
  I understand what you mean, but it does match MBA/mckinsey thinking very closely. Make a metric a goal, work tirelessly towards that new metric. Does it make the product better? Well, the product is already made- so it doesn’t make a difference. It’s only software developers who think a product is never “done”- normal MBA thinking is “we have invested in R&D, now there is a product, how do we get as many users of our product as possible”.
- dax_ 10mo ago
  Normally I would agree, but I've seen this happen too often. Common sense be damned, just make the number look good.
- array_key_first 10mo ago
  You don't think the reason we have seemingly broken optimization is because poorly thought out metrics are being gamed? That's all its been for the last few decades. Everyone is now "data driven" and "metrics oriented". That's a footgun - if people can game it, they will, and numbers don't say what people think they say.

nticompass 10mo ago

3 Billion Devices run Java, I mean Copilot.