I didn't come here for insight, I came here for entertainment. ;-) Of course that thread is running through the community. We're a community that (largely) wor

I didn't come here for insight, I came here for entertainment. ;-) Of course that thread is running through the community. We're a community that (largely) works by choice. We're privileged because we have skills you don't, and you need us. Isn't that basic supply and demand? The things that I take issue with in your original post is the attitude that this somehow breaks us or that there's a lack of innovation because of this. Here's a secret: this isn't new. Steve Jobs was saying Real Artists Ship in the early 1980s. People who call themselves writers have talked about the ideas buried in their heads for generations. Programming is a creative art, and generally speaking the people who are good at it can pick and choose the work they do. If you want good people to do work for you, it is your responsibility to make that work attractive. I also disagree with the assertion that it is somehow or societal obligation to do shit work. Yes, taken to the extreme there wouldn't be any janitors but point out a time when there has ever been a dearth of janitors? Taken to the extreme any generalized behaviour is counter productive for our society. Taking things to the extreme is only good for marketing to teenagers. It's not a one-way street. Listen to the common complaints from the community (not HN in specific, although it's there) though, because there's plenty about flaky business people who change requirements or who take advantage of the fact that there's a limited range of employment opportunities in some geographic regions. If you want practical advice, next time you look to work with someone, look at their history. Do they ship? What have they shipped? How late was it and how long did it take to get the first minor update released afterwards? Ask them when in the past have they busted through the boring slog and what it was that motivated them to do so. Or hey, do what most people with boring projects do: find someone who isn't (or doesn't know they are) great, and exploit them. They will stick with you through any shit you throw at them because they are rabidly afraid of losing their job. Pay the great people to design the solution and pay the mediocre people to do the mediocre work. The work will get done and the end result will be good enough.