Comment by thisisit
25 days ago
Recently I had a request come through to allow finance analysts to vibe code their apps. During a discussion one of the finance managers let the cat out of the bag. Turns out our CFO had met fellow CFOs at a get together. They talked about how each of them were using AI. Our CFO was lagging behind and felt that we need to "accelerate" our usage of AI. He wants to push it just because he lost a bragging contest.
> He wants to push it just because he lost a bragging contest.
That is an uncharitable interpretation, IMO.
The CFO heard of a novel technique used by his peers in other companies, and they reported good results. He wants to try it within his organization too. As an executive, he is paid to (among other things) keep abreast of such developments in the industry and ensure that the organization he is leading is not caught flat footed in the market.
Peer-pressure driven management style. Fantastic.
Right right, I'd prefer management lock themselves in a closet and not engage with the outside world.
I am guessing you were being snarky. Care to explain what about it you find about it objectionable?
It is a tale as old as time (in the industry)
I wrote a while back, Most of the executives I have met really have no clue. They just go with what is being promoted in the space because it offers a safety net. Look, we are "not behind the curve!". We are innovating along with the rest of the industry.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46670190
"What, you guys are still not using Big Data? What's wrong?"
I call this Dinner Driven Development. That feeling of being Patrick Bateman when everyone is sharing their calling cards must be every C-suite's nightmare.
Now let’s see Paul Allen’s AI adoption strategy.
Oh god, he even has a dashboard.
Things like this make me realize the software engineering 'industry' is not a real industry.
There are people who write important software that the world runs on, but they do it outside the 'industry'.
A real industry should be responsive to events of nature, or at least the market, not vibes.
I don't know why you think a "real" industry would work in the most idealized way. The media heavily reports on the stupid insane crap of the tech industry, that doesn't mean every other industry is sane they're just not as vocal on Twitter.
Having worked in electronics, mechanics and software engineering the latter is definitely the insane clown show of the three. With the others sure you have some craziness once in a while but you are still being constrained by the real world and solid engineering principles.
Oh its well within industry norms for leaders to make decisions based on dick measuring contests.
> A real industry should be responsive to events of nature, or at least the market, not vibes.
Market is vibes! The price of something at a moment is, for example, what market participants collectively agree what the price of it should be.
Hate to break it to ya, but this is how most C-suites operate. Their job isn't to run a company well. It's to appear to the board/investors that they're running a good company.
It is a better play to do the popular thing in a way that measures as "ahead". Then it's hard to argue against a raise. But if you stick your neck out on your thoughtful expertise, it can take years or more for the value to come thru. You can easily be replaced by then.
The only antidote is a board that has a real working nuanced understanding of the entire industry. But this rarely happens, for many reasons.
It is really surprising how many of people that are running entire companies are ignorant businessmen