[b3lvedere]

In the past recent months i've been dealing with a lot of strange digital responses at various related things. It caused a lot of frustration and i couldn't exactly pinpoint what i was doing wrong. Then i read this sentence in the article:

"But to save money, Microsoft fired the skilled people, leaving flowchart followers."

Flowchart followers.. Now those are nice words to remember. It says it all. Not paid to think, but to follow pre-paved processes. My guess is that in the near future one will have to deal with a lot more flowchart followers, wether they be digital or actual human beings.

[irusensei]

Most companies providing corporate security consulting I had to deal in the past are operating on a checklist.

[throwburn202605]

A lot of blue collar trades - mechanic/electrician/builder etc following the `flowchart` is the `law` of the land and process is written in blood and liability

Whereas IT/Ops/developers see themselves as artisinal, free thinking, intellectual beings. Where skill is related to shortcuts, hacks, and thinking outside the box compared to following process

[1718627440]

These get trained to be able to reason about why the flowchart is the way it is or outright to construct it. If you can't create a flowchart yourself, you shouldn't direct work following it. Following the flowchart is, so that you don't make mistakes on execution, because there will eventually be mistakes, it's not intended that it saves you from knowing what you do in the first place. In other words: you follow a flowchart to prevent accidental deviations from the process. Once you question, what you actually should do, the flowchart is useless as guidance.

[pjc50]

And in other blue collar union environments, following the book is known as "work to rule" and considered a mild form of sabotage/industrial action.

[radishingr]

It depends, flowcharts are great for defined processes, but troubleshooting (which vulnerability research mirrors) is not a flowchart or checklist or task list.

[stephen_g]

It depends what your skill set is - professional engineers are qualified to make the flowcharts and sign off on designs. So it’s not about how you see yourself, it’s whether you have the experience and training to be able to follow actual engineering methodology.

[b3lvedere]

I am all in favor for extensive logging, documentation and following the processes, especially regarding safety. But there will always be miscommunication and cases where some thinking or adaptation of those processes are required. Stopping that for cost reduction will eventually lead to enshittification.