Comment by MrMember
3 days ago
It's a positive for a nameless middle manager somewhere who can show their boss a graph with a line moving to the right and up with a title like "AI Adoption Across Platforms" and hit their bonus target.
3 days ago
It's a positive for a nameless middle manager somewhere who can show their boss a graph with a line moving to the right and up with a title like "AI Adoption Across Platforms" and hit their bonus target.
This is 100% the why.
Whenever I see this much vehement agreement about something on HN, it sets off serious groupthink alarm bells.
Idk what the answer is, but it is not 100% this. It’s too simple and satisfying of an answer to be true.
I understand what you mean, but it does match MBA/mckinsey thinking very closely.
Make a metric a goal, work tirelessly towards that new metric.
Does it make the product better? Well, the product is already made- so it doesn’t make a difference.
It’s only software developers who think a product is never “done”- normal MBA thinking is “we have invested in R&D, now there is a product, how do we get as many users of our product as possible”.
You don't think the reason we have seemingly broken optimization is because poorly thought out metrics are being gamed?
That's all its been for the last few decades. Everyone is now "data driven" and "metrics oriented". That's a footgun - if people can game it, they will, and numbers don't say what people think they say.
Normally I would agree, but I've seen this happen too often. Common sense be damned, just make the number look good.
3 Billion Devices run Java, I mean Copilot.
if you work in a restauraunt, and decide salt is cheaper than sugar, and fill the bowls like that, someone will find out, like your manager.
telling your boss we are selling sugar, when its actually salt, is a good recipe for footgunning.
No, the boss is asking for more salt. Employees are then replacing sugar with salt and getting bonuses, no matter what the customer reactions are.
And then word gets around that you put salt in coffee instead of sugar, and people stop going to you. Unless you’re the only deli in town.
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Accountability and responsibility are not so clear and large, insanely profitable, behemoths like Microsoft.
Yea, and that's the reason we pay taxes and tolerate a government, they're supposed to provide a counter force to this apparent corruption.
You've clearly never worked at a large tech company
“In Q2 our P0 goal is to deliver Project Footgun. Your focus on delivering this important goal will put us in a good position to finally fund your favorite tech debt projects.”
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