4 ms·

Before you go hiring all those "happy developers" I would suggest searching for "grumpy employee productivity". You can cross reference it with estimates of th

by lostnet 14y ago

Before you go hiring all those "happy developers" I would suggest searching for "grumpy employee productivity". You can cross reference it with estimates of the GDP affect of various fields. Your grumpy developers are in the state where they identify the most problems and introduce the least bugs. They also might not be grumpy when not concentrating on your train wrecks. But not to worry, giving bad management advice is a great way to make us more productive.

codegeek 14y ago
You are taking the word "grumpy" literally. In my opinion, the author is talking about a broader issue where you don't add value to a team/project when your attitude (grumpiness or whatever) is not in line with the rest of the team. Sure developers who identify most problems and introduce least bugs are great. But if they do that by constantly putting down others is being "bad grumpy".
- lucisferre 14y ago
  Is he? I don't see what else could the author be referring to. Sure some people are definitely just assholes, bad seeds and whatnot, but this are rare enough and it's hardly worth stating the obvious about what to do with them. So we must be talking about the broader issue of simply disgruntled team members, who, as stated, probably have valid reasons these managers and businesses are just plain ignoring. Mediocre, complacent and just plain bad employees are easy to keep happy and retain. It's the real talent you have to work hard if you want to earn their respect and trust. That all said, the article isn't even remotely clear on the problem it's talking about, and realistically it really probably is just a "stating the obvious" post about a non-problem. The discussion on HN on the other hand has much more substance and I feel the grandparent comment is relevant in that context.

4 ms·

Before you go hiring all those "happy developers" I would suggest searching for "grumpy employee productivity". You can cross reference it with estimates of th

by lostnet 14y ago

codegeek 14y ago
You are taking the word "grumpy" literally. In my opinion, the author is talking about a broader issue where you don't add value to a team/project when your attitude (grumpiness or whatever) is not in line with the rest of the team. Sure developers who identify most problems and introduce least bugs are great. But if they do that by constantly putting down others is being "bad grumpy".
- lucisferre 14y ago
  Is he? I don't see what else could the author be referring to. Sure some people are definitely just assholes, bad seeds and whatnot, but this are rare enough and it's hardly worth stating the obvious about what to do with them. So we must be talking about the broader issue of simply disgruntled team members, who, as stated, probably have valid reasons these managers and businesses are just plain ignoring. Mediocre, complacent and just plain bad employees are easy to keep happy and retain. It's the real talent you have to work hard if you want to earn their respect and trust. That all said, the article isn't even remotely clear on the problem it's talking about, and realistically it really probably is just a "stating the obvious" post about a non-problem. The discussion on HN on the other hand has much more substance and I feel the grandparent comment is relevant in that context.