OJ’s rants What would OJ do?

18Feb/0918

An All Too Common Issue

I think the following statement goes way deeper than it may have been intended (I might be wrong of course)...

Engineering is about making tradeoffs. If you refuse to make the choice, then you're taking the cowardly route and ultimately are creating more work for your team. Instead of solving problems, you're creating them.

All because you're too chicken to make a hard decision.

Thank you, Raymond Chen! You are a legend.

Read the article :)

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  • some internet jerk

    What is a “depper”? a fan of the early 90s Johnny Depp?

  • some internet jerk

    What is a “depper”? a fan of the early 90s Johnny Depp?

  • http://buffered.io/ OJ

    It’s a typo.

    Thanks for pointing it out in such a … erm… “witty” manner.

  • http://buffered.io/ OJ

    It’s a typo.

    Thanks for pointing it out in such a … erm… “witty” manner.

  • http://keithjudge.com/keefsmusings Keef

    But then making a decision too early with incomplete info is just as bad.

  • http://keithjudge.com/keefsmusings Keef

    But then making a decision too early with incomplete info is just as bad.

  • http://buffered.io/ OJ

    Agreed. But most of the time people delay when they have what they need.

  • http://buffered.io/ OJ

    Agreed. But most of the time people delay when they have what they need.

  • http://keithjudge.com/keefsmusings Keef

    I’m not so sure.  I’ve seen so many project post mortems with comments like “We made a bad decision in hindsight about this thing that caused us immense amounts of pain”, which wouldn’t have been a bad decision if the research had been properly done in the first place rather than betting on someone’s hunch, or what their mate told them.

  • http://keithjudge.com/keefsmusings Keef

    I’m not so sure.  I’ve seen so many project post mortems with comments like “We made a bad decision in hindsight about this thing that caused us immense amounts of pain”, which wouldn’t have been a bad decision if the research had been properly done in the first place rather than betting on someone’s hunch, or what their mate told them.

  • http://buffered.io/ OJ

    I’m not advodating making half-baked decisions that are uninformed (which describes the decisions you’re talking about). Make sure you read the article and you’ll see the context we’re talking about.

    The point is: Stop fucking about and get something done.

  • http://buffered.io/ OJ

    I’m not advodating making half-baked decisions that are uninformed (which describes the decisions you’re talking about). Make sure you read the article and you’ll see the context we’re talking about.

    The point is: Stop fucking about and get something done.

  • http://keithjudge.com/keefsmusings Keef

    Sure, I understand and agree with the article’s point about deferring engineering choices (give the user a tickbox which fundamentally changes a whole load of backend code === a fookload more work), but the quote in isolation can be misinterpreted easily enough.

  • http://keithjudge.com/keefsmusings Keef

    Sure, I understand and agree with the article’s point about deferring engineering choices (give the user a tickbox which fundamentally changes a whole load of backend code === a fookload more work), but the quote in isolation can be misinterpreted easily enough.

  • http://buffered.io/ OJ

    @Keef: .. and that is why I also posted the link and said “Read the Article”. :)
    Though I still think the quote that I isolated is still valid out on its own.

  • http://buffered.io/ OJ

    @Keef: .. and that is why I also posted the link and said “Read the Article”. :)
    Though I still think the quote that I isolated is still valid out on its own.

  • http://keithjudge.com/keefsmusings Keef

    Meh!  We could argue semantics all day long!

  • http://keithjudge.com/keefsmusings Keef

    Meh!  We could argue semantics all day long!

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