> the belief that someone can truly produce a magnum opus [...] within [...] a project that driven by a negative taskmaster, is completely ludicrous There's a

> the belief that someone can truly produce a magnum opus [...] within [...] a project that driven by a negative taskmaster, is completely ludicrous There's a difference between a stressful and an honest environment. If you read some of the classics of engineering literature ("Skunk Works", "Dealers of Lightning" etc.), some of the greatest engineering projects ever created were built with managers who were not afraid to tell people they sucked and could do better. I think, in general, to produce a magnum opus most of us do need an external, unbiased mirror of our performance. It's easy to err on the negative side and discourage people; but erring on the positive side (which is far more common these days) is also a betrayal of that person's true potential.