Post #407,083
12/20/15 6:17:03 PM
12/20/15 8:26:32 PM
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There is a connection, though
An overabundance of confidence leads to productivity, and to being an asshole. Most of the managers I've worked with prefer "decisive and frequently right" to "methodical and rarely wrong".
I'd like to say that's the wrong choice, but how do I know I'm not just favoring my own personality?
[edit: tyop]
Edited by drook
Dec. 20, 2015, 08:26:32 PM EST
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Post #407,084
12/20/15 6:20:02 PM
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team the two tegether, that gets all of the I's dotted and leaps of faith dissected
always look out for number one and don't step in number two
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Post #407,086
12/20/15 9:51:39 PM
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I know more highly productive people who aren't toxic, however.
I've just worked with the one, but he was enough to give me PTSD for years afterward.
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #407,092
12/21/15 1:13:22 AM
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Think about it from management's side
They only deal with developers at the beginning and end of a project. In the beginning one guy sounds confident and decisive, the other keeps talking about problems and challenges. Some time later the first guy says it's ready for pilot and the second guy says he still has questions about requirements.
I really don't need to flesh this out any more to make the point, do I?
What I can't decide is whether the first guy might be right. Fail faster ... Release early, release often ... Minimum viable product ...
We talk about doing the smallest thing that could possibly work, but when someone tries to go faster than we're comfortable with, they're reckless and overconfident.
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Post #407,096
12/21/15 9:18:18 AM
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Different situation with this guy
He wouldn't work with anyone unless they did exactly what he told them to, started major projects completely by himself without the Chief Software Architect (me) even knowing about them, and so on.
Fail faster at this place meant hours of downtime on a Monday where each hour had at least 7 digits attached to it.
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #407,099
12/21/15 11:54:58 AM
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But what about small teams?
Remember I started this from Joel's post about getting the best developers at a very small company, where each person might be working on a project solo. In those cases maybe you don't care so much about personality and teamwork.
As for always doing things his way, which is better: a half-dozen people spending several days trying to reach a compromise on the best direction, or that same group all going in a reasonable direction set down by the most forceful personality?
Obviously someone should see those expensive Mondays you describe and do something about it. But with enough prior reputation someone could survive one or two of those as the cost of being aggressive.
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Post #407,100
12/21/15 12:01:35 PM
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You do care about it.
Because small companies become (hopefully) big companies, and by that time the asshole is too deeply ingrained to get rid of. And now that the company is big, his asshattery is causing bigger, more expensive problems, and he isn't (supposed to be) working on solo projects any more.
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #407,101
12/21/15 12:45:02 PM
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One could argue that you should care *more* in small company cases.
While the potential damage may be greater in a larger company, in that case you have the potential to "route around the damage" by, say, getting other managers involved. When the company is small, each piece has relatively more of the company resting on it.
Cheers, Scott.
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