Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by theideaofcoffee 860 days ago
If it takes corralling people into a meeting and interrupting their day to 'hash out' some aspect of a project, then it's a management failure where the importance of this particular thing wasn't communicated or emphasized before and how the individuals' inputs matter. If everyone understands how this project, regardless of the parties' full ownership or not, or whatever contributes to success because there was clear communication to that fact then people might be more inclined to resolve the issue sooner, even if comms are async.

I see it like this: people are going back and forth over email and waffling then it's probably not that important, why should it be any different in person aside from the fact they're performing for management.
1 comments
RajT88 860 days ago
> then it's a management failure where the importance of this particular thing wasn't communicated or emphasized before and how the individuals' inputs matter.

Yes. And you can't fix those as an IC, so you just have to work around them. This is like complaining about the direction of the company and advising to fix the root cause of whatever corporate drama - not wrong, just not helpful or practical advice.

> why should it be any different in person aside from the fact they're performing for management.

There's many reasons why in-person is more effective:

- Fewer distractions

- More emotional investment in the discussion (the same dynamic where people are more polite in person, but less so on internet forums)

- More "skin in the game" by making more of an effort to show up

link
theideaofcoffee 860 days ago
> Yes. And you can't fix those as an IC, so you just have to work around them.

Sure you can and no you don't have to, you can say so publically, which may give others the courage to do the same, at which point 'management' may see one of two things: there's a critical mass of people that disagree with how we are doing things and move to correct course, or the rabble-rousers are fired. I have personally taken the personal risk to raise issues like that, and have suffered the wrath of thin-skinned managers which placed me into the latter camp, so I'm not suggesting things to just suggest them.

The more I experience insanity like this the more I see that collective action in this manner is the only way developers and other non-managerial folk hope to regain some control and some semblance of normality.

> Fewer distractions

You sure? I sure can definitely zone out and I may do out of spite if we're convened for a meeting that could have been an email chain.

> More emotional investment in the discussion

Because it's now become a performance.

> More "skin in the game"

Again, because it's become a performance for the sake of performance, especially if 'senior leadership' are now involved.

link
RajT88 860 days ago
> Because it's now become a performance.

Being accountable is arguably a performance.

Job performance.

> You sure?

Yes.

link