Re:Mistakes I Made as an Engineer, but Had to Become a Manag...
by Aeolun on Friday March 10, 2023 @07:35PM
(#35103515)
> businesses have different goals and its focus should be on achieving those
For most businesses, still being around and profitable is an implicit, if not stated goal.
Re:Mistakes I Made as an Engineer, but Had to Become a Manag...
by lovich on Friday March 10, 2023 @09:44PM
(#35104595)
This is a forum for VC backed startups. We sell dollars for 90 cents here but we’ll make up for it in scale
Re:Mistakes I Made as an Engineer, but Had to Become a Manag...
by IanCal on Saturday March 11, 2023 @07:51AM
(#35107895)
Yes, this is different than "have a clean codebase".
I'd say that companies have more specific goals than making money - it's usually making money in a particular field. There are then strategic goals, set semi regularly by the leadership, which are the level I'm generally talking about.
You should have that concept of making money in mind though, as it helps guide what to prioritise. I've seen engineers spend thousands and thousands of pounds of their time (more if you consider the opportunity cost) to lower some bill by under a hundred a month - a large upfront cost with years before it'll pay back.
The other view I have on this is around trust. Do I need to "focus" on the code if I have people on the team whose job that is? At what level? At a more senior position I shouldn't be looking into the small parts, the more effective use of time is ensuring the larger components are going in the right direction and/or we're not spending time on parts expected to be unused due to a strategic shift coming in. Maybe it's more important to focus on documentation right now, or perhaps it's important to get people working on different things because everyone's fixed on their small problem and not understanding the integration issues we have.
Code is important, but it's important for a reason. Create your artistically beautiful perfect codebase when that's the goal perhaps as a personal project, but businesses have different goals and its focus should be on achieving those.
"Focus" or attention I guess, is a limited resource. Spending it on one thing is not spending it on another. Balance is needed - 0% interest in the code is a big issue, but so is 100%.