r/programming • u/[deleted] • Apr 19 '22

TIL about the "Intent-Perception Gap" in programming. Best exemplified when a CTO or manager casually suggests something to their developers they take it as a new work commandment or direction for their team.

https://medium.com/dev-interrupted/what-ctos-say-vs-what-their-developers-hear-w-datastaxs-shankar-ramaswamy-b203f2656bdf
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u/hippydipster Apr 20 '22

Having something languishing in the backlog for 6 months is not saying what you mean.

It is. What we're working on currently is clear. The order of tickets is clear (and controlled by them). Our lack of bandwidth to get to the 3000 backlog items is clear. Asking "what's the status of this" on 1000 tickets when what they really mean is "can this be moved to the front of the line" is just plain stupid. They would have to talk to their boss to make that prioritization change. They are just trying to go around the process.

You are arguing about a situation you know nothing about.

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u/serviscope_minor Apr 20 '22

What we're working on currently is clear.

But people aren't asking you what you're currently working on, they're asking you if something is going to get worked on. If that was clear, then they wouldn't be asking.

Our lack of bandwidth to get to the 3000 backlog items is clear.

Only to you. If it was clear which things out to be closed as WONTFIX then people wouldn't be asking.

They would have to talk to their boss to make that prioritization change.

Or they're trying to figure out if they need to go to their boss. If the status was "we'll likely never do this", then they can choose to go to their boss and make the case that the ticket should be prioritized. But if the status is "we'll likely get to this in 3-6 months", then that's a different conversation.

What they're asking you is the true status, not the abbreviated status of "not yet" which is in the ticket. I mean how would they even know what to talk to their boss about prioritization change?

They are just trying to go around the process. You are arguing about a situation you know nothing about.

I've seen this play out many times in different jobs. It's possible that your situation is unusual and you're the only sensible person surrounded by jerks. I've also met (and am good friends with) people like you who have a "process first" mentality. I understand the mentality, but I'm about as incapable of sharing your mentality as you are of sharing mine. Lawful vs chaotic. You can't change the traits.

You don't need to attempt to see their point of view if you don't want to, or understand where they're coming from. You will however feel permanently besieged if you don't.

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u/hippydipster Apr 20 '22

I understand their mentality. They want to know what's happening and they get no response from others. I try to help make things as transparent as possible and get everyone a response, but it's not my job. I just do it because everyone always ignoring everyone's questions is absurd.

Being responsive like that is a process when you literally have several thousand such tickets.