HN user
I’ve probably listened to this band more than any other. I was born and raised in Los Angeles and grew up on it along with similar bands. I actually ran into Fat Mike totally randomly out in public this past year. I introduced myself, he’s a nice guy and exactly what you’d expect.
I study for an hour every morning on a subject I enjoy right after I finish my first cup of coffee - right now I’m learning Japanese but I’ve done other things like building apps or reading history books. Main thing is always making sure it’s something I’m personally interested in, and I don’t multithread. Interestingly time bounding myself makes it more fun because I look forward to coming back to it vs getting tired of it
It matters at a certain level that most don’t reach.
I used to play pool a long time ago and there was one player that was far and away the best in the billiard hall. He would always say, “It’s the Indian not the Arrow” when people would come in with their fancy personal pool cues. To make his point he would grab the most warped pool cue off the wall and generally beat anyone he went up against.
The saying isn’t PC these days but the lesson did stick with me.
“An inside look at the dizzying rollercoaster ridden over recent years by prodigy Iddo Gino and his unicorn Rapid, which he founded at the tender age of 17.”
The inconvenient truth is that the business exists not to provide engineers with work they’re happy with or proud of but to make investors money. The good news is developer happiness is associated with increased productivity and reduced attrition which usually factors into the business calculus in a much bigger way.
I work in one of those environments and we do have those people (lawyers). The next question is how should we prioritize solving for potential legal risk vs reliability risk vs new feature work. You’d expect it’s black and white, I promise you it’s not. The PM has to figure that out.
I agree with the point you’re making. I wonder if there’s a disconnect here based on the size and complexity of some of the businesses different commenters are working in.
I wonder what the author might suggest as an appropriate ratio of PMs to engineers might be. I generally like 1 per 10 person team. I also like the idea of not having a separate product tool but have yet to see a good tool that can satisfy software project management (eg Jira, Linear) and product ops (product board, Airtable).
There’s no doubt that smart watches offer way more functionality than a mechanical watch which is appealing to most consumers. However, what you’re buying with mechanical watches is more a form of art these days, and, for certain watches (eg Rolex) a status symbol. As someone who has always been drawn to watches (of all kinds), I really enjoyed this article. I even took off my watch (Omega Planet Ocean) and peered through the exhibition case back to take a look at the balance wheel and double barrels. Thanks for sharing!
Confusing article. “We should get rid of the PM role” but also “We still need people dedicated to do PM things… but don’t call them PMs, they’re just everyday great people.” I feel like the author had a bad experience working with a PM (the MBA comment is telling) and now wants to throw the baby out with the bath water. Business scale creates + requires role specialization. Sure, there are shitty PMs, and it’s a hard job, but I’d be super disappointed to lose my team’s PM.
This is the essence of it. It would be interesting if someone smarter than me put this through ChatGPT. I wonder how it might message it better.
i get the joke but reminds me of a good talk where some googlers got a little upset when gary taubes started going into the problems with CICO thinking.
Models are just applied statistics?
I agree that's not what is meant by 'data' in the industry and I'm challenging that a little bit. However, even if we use the industry definition, what you're saying is hyperbole. Every company uses both data and experience to varying degrees. People get hung up when they think the balance isn't appropriate - not surprisingly, that happens when one or the other doesn't support their opinion. I'd rather be in a position of defending my opinion with data. It's already been quoted but... "If we have data, let's look at data. If all we have are opinions, let's go with mine."
I won’t belabor the point because others have already made it: this article assumes there is some way to sort through good and bad arguments in the absence of data - a pretty big leap. The reality is all of our arguments are appealing to some sort of data (eg previous experience), it’s just that it doesn’t always fit in a neat definition of data.
Obligatory: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_models_are_wrong
Originally owned by a “core” surfer, Bob Hurley, but was later sold to Nike. They still got a pass with some surfers because they made decent wetsuits and sponsored top surfers. Nike sold off the brand very recently and started cutting staff and sponsorships. The rumor is they’ll now start schilling their stuff in low budget retailers. Surfers have quickly jumped ship now that any semblance of being a “real” surf brand is gone.
For the record, O’Neill still makes great wetsuits.
i started just a few years ago in my mid-30s. i'm proficient: i can paddle and catch my own waves, go up and down "the line", i can stay out of the way (very important :) do turns, etc. i moved to the beach though once i knew i was hooked. i go several times a week, sometimes twice a day. there are guys/gals out there that have been doing it their whole life who i would say... very humbly, that ive surpassed. once i moved to the beach i started progressing super fast. i grew up skateboarding a lot, so i think that has something to do w/ it.
however! i once heard an old surfer describe surfing proficiency vs being good w/ an analogy: "you're fluent in the language, but when you talk, we hear the accent." and, like i said, i skateboarded a lot and that immediately makes sense to me. when i see folks skateboard that learned later in life i can immediately recognize it just by the way they push the board, let alone ride it. i'm ok w/ having an accent.
yeah, that could be it. i've been surfing for just a few years but surf a few times a week. if anyone is actually curious about mechanically how to surf, youtube took me here, it's a good video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBmijBB57Go
best place place to learn IMHO is waikiki w/ one of the "beach boys," they've probably seen more beginners than any other place, teach you the unwritten rules, and can get you going fast.
after that, just gotta put in time.
i dont understand how he's surfed for so long and can still be so early in learning the fundamentals. the biggest variable is time in the water. w/ 20+ years he should be... better. the only thing i can think of is they go out very infrequently.
Would be curious to know what the wealth level is at for the different percentiles mentioned. e.g. 50% 90% 99% 99.9%. I can't find anything recent.
i wonder how much of the feeling is being outside vs just getting exercise.
Would be cool if they could quantity the gains in productivity - eg before we put in the static analysis we had x level of software defects, following these improvements we saw a drop to level y. Trying to introduce similar improvements at my current place but it’s a hard sell without data
it is, but what's that got to do with the price of potatoes?
The difficulty is of course that, ultimately, design sensibility is subjective. However, my experience working with folks that have actually studied design or otherwise specialized in user experience have a marked improvement (as measured with A/B testing) over the designs that are developed by "easy to find front-end developers with design sensibility." YMMV.
It's nice to hear of developers that enjoy design, even greater to find ones that are legitimately good at it, but frequently dealing w/ engineers that fancy themselves good at design can be... difficult. And, I'm not a designer.
I agree with the general idea that the most important skill is managing people, not technical, with engineering management. However, my advice is to never go full manager. If you can, jump in from time to time and help dig the ditches.
I like the idea of playing a supporting role on the team. You're there to help the team get done what needs to get done. Most of the time that's going to broader organization meetings, planning, providing growth opportunities etc. However, when there is technical work that needs to be done, I'll gladly jump in and help out as much as my technical skills allow me to. By the same token, if I'm overbooked, out of the office, etc, I'll ask my team to help out with organization meetings, planning and similar activities. I want folks to know that we all play a role and have skills that allow us to participate in some activities more effectively than others, but at the end of the day our greater success comes with our ability to execute as a team, not as individuals.
Exactly. It's a cultural thing.
Your explanation of it relating to emotional maturity doesn't really resonate with me.
I prefer direct, but polite, communication. I've not taken any sort of test to measure my "emotional maturity" but if my career has been any sort of measure I'm reasonably emotionally mature (more years spent in leadership than not, plenty of folks following me from one organization to the next).
My take: I think a lot of this is a cultural thing, particularly relating to showing respect. You either grow up in that sort of culture, or you don't. Or otherwise, you lack the emotional EQ to pick-up up the commonly accepted cultural mores. How do I know this? Share some of your exciting exchanges with friends and family and see how they react.
When I share what I consider to be some of the more abrasive experiences with folks that I grew up (or are otherwise friends outside of the industry) they're always curious how it doesn't come to fisticuffs. We just never talked to one another that way. Where I grew up, it's fucking rude to talk to one another the way Linus and others like him do. Give respect, get respect.
You're right, you could be forced to move. However, there are plenty of rentals that will remain rentals for very long periods of time, effectively forever. I've been on both sides, i.e. Having to move out sooner than I wanted but alternatively being in a rental home that's been so for decades. The main thing is having a conversation with the landlord or property manager and sussing out their longer term goals for the property.
By saving on renting I'm in a much better position financially than I otherwise would've been owning a home. My savings rate is high enough where if push came to shove I could buy the property I'm renting.
I, for one, enjoy reading alternative explanations of difficult subjects. Calculus is not basic knowledge in my book. Ironically, my dad teaches high school calculus, in the US for whatever it's worth.