Don’t Do This in Production

Re:Don’t Do This in Production by krab on Sunday August 19, 2018 @02:00PM (#17795407)

In my experience, it's quite common to have longer standing connections or friendships with people who won't be willing to join a particular startup but who might help with specific issues.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by hyperpape on Sunday August 19, 2018 @01:47PM (#17795329)

By not going in to a business that requires development unless you are one, or know one.

I wouldn't assume I could start a restaurant or run a medical practice, why do so many people with no technical background assume that they can start a business centering around software?

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by jasonlotito on Sunday August 19, 2018 @02:05PM (#17795425)

Because lots of people that haven't run a restaurant have successfully started a restaurant, and people who were in the restaurant business started a restaurant, but failed to keep it going.

History is littered with people who ignored your rule here and have been successful.

I guess we can flip that around: why do so many people with no business background assume that they can start a business?

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by jaredklewis on Sunday August 19, 2018 @02:54PM (#17795638)

First of all, if you have never worked in a restaurant in any capacity (chef, waiter, manager, host, whatever), I would say the chances of starting a successful restaurant are much, much lower than someone with some experience. And it’s easy to understand why, as even a short one year stint in a well run restaurant is probably enough to pick up industry best practices (that are centuries in the making) and make a handful of connections.

If you want to start a company which makes software, actually knowing about software is going to do wonders for your chances of success.

As for your flipped question, “business” is not a background. Other than perhaps Math, English, and common sense, there is no knowledge that is so abstract that it can be usefully applied to any kind of business.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by hyperpape on Sunday August 19, 2018 @03:03PM (#17795673)

Restaurants have an infamously high failure rate and low margins, so I wouldn't use that example if I was arguing for your position.

Unlike other people responding, I agree that people without a business background struggle when starting a business. There are a lot of developers who start a business and have no clue about pricing or marketing or sales.[0] They have a high failure rate.

If you know one side, you may succeed if you're a quick learner and/or your core idea is good enough, but you're at a disadvantage compared to an individual or team with knowledge of tech and business.

[0] Note that these are all things a developer could learn without a business degree, just like I learned to program without a CS degree.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by wpietri on Wednesday August 22, 2018 @08:30PM (#17823523)

> Because lots of people that haven't run a restaurant have successfully started a restaurant

[citation needed]

Do you have some examples? And do you have data supporting "lots"? Because I find that highly implausible.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by Memosyne on Sunday August 19, 2018 @02:20PM (#17795498)

I believe you've made a false equivalence when comparing software development to the management of a restaurant. Most people have basic knowledge of food preparation and distribution. They do not, however, have an understanding of the software development cycle.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by Moru on Sunday August 19, 2018 @02:40PM (#17795577)

There are a big difference between having limited knowledge of food preparation and actually running a restaurant without giving your customers food poisoning. The comparison is sound. Maybe even perfect, proven by your comment. Know enough to be humble or enough to be dangerous? How long can I keep that rice pudding on the buffé table before I have to throw it away? How do you make sure the food is actually kept fresh in the cooler overnight? The inspection protocolls makes for interesting reading. Especially for new restaurants.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by Memosyne on Sunday August 19, 2018 @04:24PM (#17795984)

Prior to the FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) [1] there used to be very little regulation in terms of food safety in the US. Since the comment was suggesting that throughout history people have successfully opened restaurants without any related experience, I find it relevant to note that selling food was not always so difficult: if someone had the wealth, they could hire some chefs and wait for customers.

Nowadays, though, there are dozens of different dynamics involved in the management of restaurants. As such, it is very difficult for someone who has both a culinary and business background to open a successful food shop. To believe that someone who does not possess such an expertise could do well in this arena is foolish.

Managing restaurants has always been difficult, but it is becoming harder with each passing year. Nobody in their right mind would recommend a complete amateur to open one of these shops given the current economy. They would need some sort of experience in the food industry before even attempting the feat.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FDA_Food_Safety_Modernization_...

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by stickfigure on Sunday August 19, 2018 @02:35PM (#17795559)

why do so many people with no business background assume that they can start a business?

Because starting a business, in and of itself, is trivial. Children do it with lemonade stands. It's "the thing that the business does" that is hard.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by unscaled on Sunday August 19, 2018 @07:42PM (#17796849)

This is not a chicken and egg problem. At least not for large organizations. If you read this line: The department that built the product had recently come into existence, and they hired a team of developers without having a technical person on staff to vet them.

This is clearly a management failure. If you start a new department you should at least try to seed it with experienced employees from other parts of your company, even if they're on a loan.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by cecilpl2 on Sunday August 19, 2018 @06:20PM (#17796497)

Talk to the most technical person you know. Ask them for an intro to people they would most want to work with.

Repeat this process several times until you have someone who will interview for you.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by richardun on Sunday August 19, 2018 @01:48PM (#17795332)

I get joke, but possibly to others wondering... Everyone knows someone more technical, they can keep asking. Also, a lot of entrepreneurs know other entrepreneurs that might help with this. Either way, they can find technical websites to help, founderdating.com, etc.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by Vinnl on Monday August 20, 2018 @02:24AM (#17798061)

I know people who are considered technical by shared non-technical friends - and I think they even are, to some extent. Still, some of those are still very inexperienced and I certainly wouldn't trust them to be able to properly vet new developers yet on their own.

I think to some extent, it's a matter of being lucky picking the right person to vet, since you can't vet that person yourself.

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Re:Don’t Do This in Production by crispyambulance on Sunday August 19, 2018 @02:53PM (#17795633)

By trial and error. Seriously.

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