Re:Kent Beck: “I get paid for code that works, not for tests...
by nostrademons on Thursday December 08, 2016 @01:28PM
(#13132711)
The point is that decisions should be made by the people who have the proper information to make them.
If the CEO lacks the understanding of the technical consequences of a change that may blow up the company, the engineer should make the decision. If the engineer lacks understanding of the business consequences of not making the change - like losing an important client, or suffering a wave of negative PR, or facing a lawsuit - then the CEO should make it. Ideally, both sides should be communicating these consequences so that both of them have all the relevant information and would ideally make the same decision. Then the decisions can get made at the lowest level that has all this information, and the CEO doesn't have to get involved.
In practice, there are many cases where the CEO can't communicate all of the relevant business realities, eg. if you're facing a lawsuit if you don't make a change, it's often better not to worry the rest of the staff or make them subject to depositions, and simply to ensure that the change gets made. That's why the CEO is the decider by default in organizations, and also why it's usually expected that employees will obey a direct order from the CEO or be fired.
If the CEO lacks the understanding of the technical consequences of a change that may blow up the company, the engineer should make the decision. If the engineer lacks understanding of the business consequences of not making the change - like losing an important client, or suffering a wave of negative PR, or facing a lawsuit - then the CEO should make it. Ideally, both sides should be communicating these consequences so that both of them have all the relevant information and would ideally make the same decision. Then the decisions can get made at the lowest level that has all this information, and the CEO doesn't have to get involved.
In practice, there are many cases where the CEO can't communicate all of the relevant business realities, eg. if you're facing a lawsuit if you don't make a change, it's often better not to worry the rest of the staff or make them subject to depositions, and simply to ensure that the change gets made. That's why the CEO is the decider by default in organizations, and also why it's usually expected that employees will obey a direct order from the CEO or be fired.