[smurph]

I'm not saying that trying to innovate on a successful product team is bad. I am saying that when someone's motivation for innovating is to further their own career and not to solve the customer's problems, then their ideas are going to be bad most of the time. That's when they're an architecture astronaut. They care more about getting their ideas implemented so that they can so "look at that smart thing I did". Meanwhile other engineers are doing things like fixing bugs and implementing features that actual users have asked for.

[seanmcdirmid]

Sounds like a conspiracy theory. How do you begin to tell the difference between an innovator and a career whore? You mean, because their motivations are wrong, their ideas will be toxic if seductive also? Is it really so easy to judge?