Post #2144344

2024-03-07 03:27 UTC

There was a movement 10+ years ago in industrial software development to embrace groups of engineers and product people as more than the sum of their parts - to work as true teams. But today the de facto has become async acrimonious PRs, individual assignment, and individual assessment. “More than the sum of parts” has been discarded in the name of an easier and more measurable, but far less effective, mediocre standard of engineering leadership, based on isolation. I find it very disappointing.

Replies (8)

@mikebroberts@hachyderm.io 2024-03-11 14:05

Self-follow-up : Even Emma Stone knows we're doing it wrong. In the middle of her Oscars speech last night for best actress (possibly the peak example of celebrating individual achievement) she said "It's not about me; it's about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts" . I wish we made software a bit more like Oscar winners make movies. https://youtu.be/Q8urFpWdi9c?si=I1Lk7SRVyBFsgD9V&t=110

Open ##2297095
@mweagle@hachyderm.io 2024-03-07 04:05

@mikebroberts@hachyderm.io On point. The atomization of people and work is very disappointing.

Open ##2297098
@shiftingedges@hachyderm.io 2024-03-07 04:30

@mikebroberts@hachyderm.io I’ve been struggling for a while to engage in deep collaboration on software teams. There have been periods where it came together, but few and far between. Some people like to blame it on remote work, but IME that’s not the primary factor.

Open ##2297110
@obviousdwest@hachyderm.io 2024-03-07 06:26

@mikebroberts@hachyderm.io I think this is an undesirable outcome of Scrum. Less experienced producers (scrum masters) embrace the rhetoric of: all resources are equal/interchangeable. If that were true, collaboration would be unnecessary, because you wouldn’t need advice or discussion. Clearly incorrect. But if followed for long enough, that’s the result. But in the worst, lowest common denominator way. And “learning from one another” never becomes a user story.

Open ##2297116
@tfiebig@wybt.net 2024-03-07 07:30

@mikebroberts@hachyderm.io But how else would you ensure that KPIs are sufficiently personalized to use them to increase individual performance and identify "non team players" who can be "made redundant" when management "streamlines costs". ;-)

Open ##2297117
@matrix9180@hachyderm.io 2024-03-07 08:13

@mikebroberts@hachyderm.io management doesn't care about anything that doesn't show up in their metrics. If they can be shown that the old way (presented as a "different way"?) is better for the bottom line or makes some graph go the desired direction faster, they'll be all over it.

Open ##2297130
@PragmaticAndy@mastodon.social 2024-03-07 11:35

@mikebroberts@hachyderm.io preach, brother

Open ##2297131
@reconbot@toot.cafe 2024-03-08 12:46

@mikebroberts@hachyderm.io it depends on where you go! Every place I’ve worked I’ve been able to build teams that are more than the sum of their parts. It has been hard to get non-engineering people to be part of the team but when they are, that’s good too!

Open ##2297132