The Bosses Do Everything Better (or So They Think) 469
theodp writes "Some people, writes Dave Winer, make the mistake of thinking that if the result of someone's work is easy to use, the work itself must be easy. Like the boss — or boss's boss's boss — who asks for your code so he can show you how to implement the features he wants instead of having to bother to explain things. Give the code to him, advises Winer. If he pulls it off, even poorly, at least you'll know what he was asking for. And if he fails, well, he might be more patient about explaining what exactly he wants, and perhaps even appreciate how hard your work is. Or — more likely — you may simply never hear from him again. Win-win-win. So, how do you handle an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better boss?"
Human Resource Management Perspective (Score:5, Funny)
As a Human Resource Manager I will tell you that this whole article merely displays the anti-authority attitude that many people in the IT field have. The author self-validates his own beliefs and cognitive biases by not only ignoring and fighting against his superiors, but by setting them up to fail. If the code (referred to in the article) were well written and commented, then the executive who took a programming course should have had no problem completing the task. Well written and structured code should be easy to modify and improve.
I personally always find resistance from IT people when trying to get them to do something. Usually they are just too lazy and stubborn to complete tasks in a time efficient manner. When I remotely monitor their computer screens, for example, I often see 1 or 2 minutes at a time when code is not being typed into the terminal. There is no excuse for such laziness. And many of them want to be paid for "over-time" when they don't complete their tasks in a time-efficient manner. But I tell you, if they don't bother to finish their tasks in the scheduled time then they shouldn't expect to get free money by working over time.
Many programmers in fact are socialists. I've noticed that many of them are against businesses and capitalism, as can be seen by their anti-SOPA, and pro-copyright-theft ideologies. If programmers would be smart enough then they wouldn't be programmers, they would be a boss like me telling them what to do. It's obvious that the people complaining about their superiors are just jealous.
I guess since this is Slashdot I can expect to be moderated down because people just can't handle the truth.
Re:Human Resource Management Perspective (Score:4, Funny)
Re:You are the problem, a big one sadly. (Score:5, Funny)
o <-- joke here
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o <-- you here
Why not? (Score:5, Funny)
Why on Earth WOUNLD'T you give your code to your boss if he/she asked for it, no matter how offensively?
It's a copy, for Pete's sake. What are you afraid of, that they'll print it out and scribble on it? (Well, mine might.)
Re:It's not only programmers vs bosses (Score:2, Funny)
You have to be a very confident, out going individual to buy a house when you guaranteed basic wage would not cover your mortgage.
You misspelled idiot.
Re:It's not only programmers vs bosses (Score:5, Funny)
By "ON" mode, do you mean salesman mode, or the "pretense in your pocket"?
Because, if you have the latter for longer than 4 hours, please consult a physician...
BTW: If you have your pretense in both pockets, either "congratulations!", or "yikes!"
Re:It's not only programmers vs bosses (Score:4, Funny)
Survival tip: Determine #3 before evaluating #2.