Beancounter wow vanilla error12/29/2023 I think some harsh language was used (probably because of frustration), but I think they didn't mean to imply outright _malice_. I guess I feel like the PM is worthless position unless the PM is writing code along side the team, and can fully appreciate the technical problems - and more importantly - offer technical solutions. Until PM's do this, I decline to see it that way. If you volunteer to cycle into the on-call hours, I'd feel more compassionate for your point of view. You're not the one going to be called at 4am when postgres takes a dump. > one reason PMs might not "care" about scaling up that database, is that it almost never needs to be scaled. Perhaps, it's also possible you've never worked at enough shops to see it. > While I've certainly seen incompetent, bureaucratic and/or poorly incentivized PMs, I don't think I've ever met one who wants to throw their developers under the bus to get a job done. The only form of motivation is threat of existence in the company. The only thing they're concerned with is when something's going to get done. Communicating with them goes nowhere since they don't empathize with your point of view. I've always thought PM's to be more or less aliens with a ray gun tapping at their watch. > Anyway, it might be good to talk to your PMs and not assume they're evil villains. And if I'm wrong and you're working in a truly Machiavellian hellhole.you should look around. The war continues.Īnyway, it might be good to talk to your PMs and not assume they're evil villains. The PM side is always having to remind that side that most of my engineering life was spent in a cycle of useless premature optimization. The engineer side of my brain wants to optimize everything. I'll add a third, specific to my own history:ģ) one reason PMs might not "care" about scaling up that database, is that it almost never needs to be scaled. We're constantly managing expectations in every direction, and "up" is just one more.Ģ) Even if we were "middle managers", those amongst us who have been working for a while realize it's bad practice to leave a trail of burned-out colleagues behind us, due to a history of bad decision-making. The classical "PM" has to use soft force for everything, and only gains authority through a history of doing the job well. It's generally a non-management position, despite the title. I'm not saying it doesn't exist anywhere, ever (big world out there), but you've made a couple faulty assumptions:ġ) A PM is not "a middle manager". While I've certainly seen incompetent, bureaucratic and/or poorly incentivized PMs, I don't think I've ever met one who wants to throw their developers under the bus to get a job done. Need to suddenly scale up that "pragmatically" designed database? I know in my heart that many PMs will _never_ manage expectations with their superiors if they can harangue developers into overtime, out-of-hours alerts or death marches. > PMs won't be honest with the business that they sold an undercooked product. Wow, you're spinning some wild stereotypes here, and while some are based in truth (as are all good stereotypes), I'm going to take issue with this: Do you _seriously_ think that you are the only person in your team who understands "commercials" or "cost benefit analyses"?Įxperienced developers do, which is why we've learned the best strategy in the long run is to avoid offering too many concessions to people without skin in the game. By the time the problems of your "pragmatic" architecture have emerged, your typical PM / EM / team lead will either be working on another team, doing another job, or talking about "tech debt" as "just one of these things", a mysterious natural force, visiting your team stochastically like a freak summer snowstorm or an outbreak of measles. It's just the way incentives are structured for middle managers. But my experience is that PMs / POs / team leads as a group can be bad actors. I’m sure you, individually, do the right thing. It’s asymmetric risk.ĭon't take that personally. Need to suddenly scale up that "pragmatically" designed database? I know in my heart that too many PMs will _never_ manage expectations with their superiors if they can harangue developers into overtime, out-of-hours alerts or death marches. PMs won't be honest with the business that they sold an undercooked product. PMs aren't usually accountable when their shortcuts come and bite the team further down the line. It's a question of incentives and accountability.
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