Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Domenic_S 4496 days ago
I agree with both of you, and I wish there was a better word than "ownership". That term has implications that are inappropriate for a single feature. You don't own the autocomplete widget -- you're responsible for it but you don't own it, the company owns it.
5 comments

You both own(1) the widget and do not own(2) the widget.

This is English. Multiple definitions for a word are common. Cases where only some definitions apply and not others are common. They happen in almost every sentence. Try to avoid letting that pollute your thought. (It is a challenge. No sarcasm.)

Amazon.com's second leadership principle:

Ownership Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job."

Unfortunately, we no longer live in a society where the employer-employee relationship is one of trust. The definition Amazon.com seems to be using is that owners do shit work and so should you, but maybe I'm misreading.

"Stewardship" might be the word we're looking for: it has some connotations of personally invested care, but it's also clear that it's done on behalf of someone else and there's no ownership.

Of course, it also has a history of association with servants of landed gentry, which might make people uncomfortable (for good reasons, to the extent the analogy holds up).

The word is "stewardship".
I think you could also say you manage instead of own and it would still make sense.