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I have read so many stories of tough personalities like this who chew out their people publicly, yet in the process achieve greatness for themselves, their team

I have read so many stories of tough personalities like this who chew out their people publicly, yet in the process achieve greatness for themselves, their teams, and their products. I supposed I would have accepted this if I were working for Steve Jobs or Elon Musk or Steve Ballmer, so I keep wondering if I should just suck it up and grind on. But coding-to-vision rather than coding-to-design/spec seems so inefficient. Is this common?

greenyoda 11y ago
"I have read so many stories of tough personalities like this who chew out their people publicly, yet in the process achieve greatness for themselves, their teams, and their products." Honestly, this doesn't sound like that kind of guy. From what you described, he's "all hat and no cattle" (as they say in Texas).
- rosenthyme 11y ago
  thank you for your thoughts on this. -going crazy
nona 11y ago
I'd agree with parent, don't put up with humiliation; however, I don't necessarily consider harsh criticism humiliation: it depends. That said, about your coding-to-vision thing: it sounds like he's just unable to dedicate the time to define the UX in detail. That's understandable, as a manager it's essential to delegate. However, defining the product (scope, features, UX, …) is a core part of the business, and needs involvement from management (business strategy), customers/salespeople (market fit: have you talked to your customers yet?), designers and coders. So, maybe do as much as you can for him (on paper or whatever), and when you're ready present the screens to him in a quick 10 minutes briefing. If he still feels like you're wasting everybody's time, make him a business case based on past experience; ie. "Defining the UI would've cost us _this_ much in time, charging ahead has cost us _this_ much in time: we're losing money and wasting time." If he still won't see the light, it's pretty much doomed.
brudgers 11y ago
Most assholes are just ordinary average assholes. Great assholes are the exception and occur at no greater frequency than great non-assholes in the general population.
mkaziz 11y ago
How successful were the developers that got chewed out? :)

greenyoda 11y ago

"I have read so many stories of tough personalities like this who chew out their people publicly, yet in the process achieve greatness for themselves, their teams, and their products." Honestly, this doesn't sound like that kind of guy. From what you described, he's "all hat and no cattle" (as they say in Texas).

rosenthyme 11y ago
thank you for your thoughts on this. -going crazy

nona 11y ago

I'd agree with parent, don't put up with humiliation; however, I don't necessarily consider harsh criticism humiliation: it depends. That said, about your coding-to-vision thing: it sounds like he's just unable to dedicate the time to define the UX in detail. That's understandable, as a manager it's essential to delegate. However, defining the product (scope, features, UX, …) is a core part of the business, and needs involvement from management (business strategy), customers/salespeople (market fit: have you talked to your customers yet?), designers and coders. So, maybe do as much as you can for him (on paper or whatever), and when you're ready present the screens to him in a quick 10 minutes briefing. If he still feels like you're wasting everybody's time, make him a business case based on past experience; ie. "Defining the UI would've cost us _this_ much in time, charging ahead has cost us _this_ much in time: we're losing money and wasting time." If he still won't see the light, it's pretty much doomed.

brudgers 11y ago

Most assholes are just ordinary average assholes. Great assholes are the exception and occur at no greater frequency than great non-assholes in the general population.

mkaziz 11y ago

How successful were the developers that got chewed out? :)