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by gymbeaux
1094 days ago
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The status quo as you describe it has persisted, it seems, for about as long as the role of “software engineer” has existed. I’ve often said that management treats software engineering as an assembly line and software engineers as assembly line workers- for example, most seem to expect us to be typing, and not typing == not working. Working remote helps this, but we only have these companies being full-remote because a global event literally forced them to give it a try. It wasn’t all the studies that proved the fruitful outcome of remote work that had any of them consider or adopt it, it was a pandemic. So of course now the same issue lies with the 4-day workweek. They won’t do it unless they’re somehow forced to, either by law (unlikely) or something that’s even outside of lawmakers’ control (strikes?). Anyway, for this reason, I pose that the 4-day workweek is even less likely to gain mass adoption than remote work. To be brash, today’s American workers are pussies, ever-placated by material things and the conveniences of modern society so as to never be too upset with the “arrangement” with Bossman to do something as bold as strike or attempt to form a union. So I guess my point is that many seem to focus discussion on remote work, when really we should be aiming higher. Working remote is the shit, doing laundry during the day is nice, but we all know we can’t go yellow on Teams or lose our green bubble on Slack lest there be hell to pay. |
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If you ask most high-ups in your software company whether they would rather a 100% guaranteed release date of Sept. 1, 2023 or a 75% confidence sometime between July and October, if they are honest with themselves, they will admit they would rather have the 100% date. So much other stuff needs to happen on fixed dates. Marketing campaigns need to ramp up, sales teams need to get started, maybe your project is part of a bigger product which has a known release date, maybe your project gets flashed onto hardware that goes on a boat on some fixed date.
It would be so much easier for software companies if making software was like making a bolt or a screw: Raw material go in -> machines do their machining -> product come out a known time later, at a known rate, with a known yield.