“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed”

Re:“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed” by Joeri on Wednesday August 12, 2015 @12:54PM (#10048919)

The issue that I'm struggling with as I picked up experience and learned how to estimate better (read: higher) is of becoming a wet blanket. People will rave about this awesome thing we could do, and I'm the one saying "no, we can't, and this is why". That's why Steve Jobs said to stay foolish, it lets you chase after ideas that a rational person would consider too risky or just plain impossible.

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Re:“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed” by sopooneo on Wednesday August 12, 2015 @09:06PM (#10051768)

I don't know what the opposite is of a "wet blanket" (perhaps "ray of sunshine"?), but is it possible to express almost the same hesitation from the opposite direction? For instance, say, "Yes, we can do that, but it will mean hiring four new devs and investing in XYZ server." Or does that just come across as transparently disingenuous?

I ask this sincerely, because I am trying to find a way to approach office politics as just part of my job and play it well. But as a developer, I'm also trying avoid the version of office politics where you just promise impossible things then find scapegoats later.

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Re:“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed” by timv on Wednesday August 12, 2015 @11:14PM (#10052082)

My solution, where possible is to run with one (or more) of the following responses:

- I think there will be some challenges in that, can we take some time to think through the implications of ______ (or how we would deal with _____, etc)

- I think it's a great idea, but we're going to need to come up with a creative solution to solve _______

- I think we're probably under-estimating how much work that is. Maybe there's a smaller version we could start with and progress from there.

- We've looked into this before and got stuck at ________, do we think we've got a solution for that?

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Re:“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed” by fenomas on Thursday August 13, 2015 @12:47AM (#10052303)

I like the phrase "creative solution" here, as a way to introduce what the alternatives are - as in: "I think we'll need a creative solution for ______, or else a revisit to the schedule".

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Re:“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed” by seanmcdirmid on Wednesday August 12, 2015 @05:08PM (#10050625)

The flip side of meta ignorance is the curse of experience. Inexperienced people are more likely to take big risks because "they don't know any better." Most of the time, these risks predictably don't pan out, but sometimes they do!

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Re:“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed” by collyw on Thursday August 13, 2015 @05:01AM (#10052918)

When two implementations look similar, inexperienced coders are unlikely to know which one represents the bigger risk.

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Re:“It’s done, there is no way back. We tried, we failed” by seanmcdirmid on Thursday August 13, 2015 @09:04PM (#10058102)

Not the same. Risk aversion means not doing something because it is too risky...so you never write the code at all.

Once you have committed to doing something, experience usually wins out in doing it better.

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