Hacker Read

seattle_spring · 2022-05-14 23:51:16

None of this is in the control of the average engineering manager. Seriously, 0%.

closeparen | karma 19960 | avg karma 2.77 · | 2018-11-20 20:38:33

It’s pretty transparent at my company that no one in the engineering hierarchy has any authority over the physical plant, not even the CTO.

MattGaiser | karma 17770 | avg karma 3.3 · | 2022-01-17 09:06:55

Engineers have very little say in what to build.

jacquesm | karma 227883 | avg karma 3.76 · | 2023-11-02 21:02:43

Engineers don't set policy.

mienski | karma 73 | avg karma 4.87 · | 2020-07-12 01:34:06

Ah yes the engineering nirvana where no-one is a manager and targets don't exist..

jschveibinz | karma 1579 | avg karma 1.36 · | 2022-09-15 10:42:19

The engineers are definitely not in charge.

mihaaly | karma 2048 | avg karma 2.49 · | 2023-07-26 05:50:10

The management is completely innocent! They only mandate the engineers what to do. ; )

Cofike | karma 200 | avg karma 2.63 · | 2018-07-27 15:41:28+00:00

I’m sure it’s the engineers deciding to do that and not management and leadership.

tristanstcyr | karma 90 | avg karma 4.09 · | 2019-04-18 20:24:09

I find that engineering vs management is not a very useful discussion point. Management is composed of engineers too and engineers are responsible for the output of their work. Production of something that doesn't work is an engineering failure.

It's depressing that everyone went along with this. Clearly there's a lack of impartial checks and balances in the process.

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sydthrowaway | karma 748 | avg karma 1.01 · | 2022-05-01 12:34:41

Are you sure? Engineers have no control over the isolated designers

flukus | karma 10283 | avg karma 1.36 · | 2017-06-28 01:40:46+00:00

A lack of professionalism owns this. In other industries engineers can overrule management and have legal protection when doing so.

bigiain | karma 20773 | avg karma 3.34 · | 2022-10-17 18:59:49

And none of us here have ever worked under incompetent management or engineering leadership...

(Hell, I've _been_ that incompetent management and engineering leadership at various times over the last few decades...)

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nyolfen | karma 5410 | avg karma 2.9 · | 2015-02-02 22:52:54

engineers don't set policy

fnordfnordfnord | karma 8629 | avg karma 2.33 · | 2014-02-09 04:33:30+00:00

The engineers hadn't factored in management's contribution.

nobodyandproud | karma 1868 | avg karma 1.52 · | 2019-06-29 01:09:27+00:00

Which means they have no business managing. It’s to tiresome to repeat because it should be obvious , but engineering is not a commodity.

The end product may be, but not the design problem process nor the manufacturing process.

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satyap | karma 5 | avg karma 0.2 · | 2018-08-22 19:09:11+00:00

Stop blaming engineers for stupid policies. Engineers usually have no say, this is almost always thought up by some manager or PM somewhere.

dreamfactory | karma 338 | avg karma 1.13 · | 2013-12-14 02:34:03+00:00

Indeed, the post is about crappy management and little else. This is the real story - we talk about scarcity of engineers but it's as nothing compared to the scarcity of effective technical management, which is an industry scandal IMO.

sopooneo | karma 2549 | avg karma 2.2 · | 2023-05-05 21:14:06

I have many times seen management hire what they thought were "the best engineers" and let them completely loose for months or years straight to eventually deliver... nothing.

Literally nothing. Or at least nothing that actually works in any way.

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free_bip | karma 223 | avg karma 2.3 · | 2024-02-20 15:36:09

That would require that engineering management actually be competent technically. A shockingly large number aren't.

empath75 | karma 15699 | avg karma 2.9 · | 2019-03-28 12:47:15+00:00

So having an absurdly incompetent engineer implementing this fix isn't a management problem?