this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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Programmer Humor

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For reference (as per Wikipedia):

Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.

— Melvin E. Conway

Imagine interpreting that as advice on how you should try to design things, lol.

Tbf, I think most of the post is just typical LinkedIn fluff, but I didn't want to take the poor fellow out of context.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Sure, show me the manager who wants to subordinate their own career and status to the good of the users, and has the managerial competence to design a team accordingly. (Okay, Meredith Whittaker might be one. Name another.)

Otherwise, y'all still best off drawing projects out of the noisy nonsense anarchy of open source.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for introducing me to Meredith Whittaker - what a remarkable woman.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like you're probably making a very good point but I can't quite tell what it is.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Managers typically have local incentives that lead away from doing good things with their control of organizational architecture.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh-- Yeah that IS a good point. I'm not an anti-manager person, but I do think that many managers are incentivized to perturb their orgs superstitiously, with almost obligate overconfidence.