|
Top-level
I have been a working computer programmer for nearly 50 years. Over, and over, and over again, I have seen snake-oil products sold with the pitch (sometimes utterly literally), "Fire the programmers!" Yet here we still are, writing the code that makes the world run. Until, in its latest round of log-rolling, management decides to "cut out the deadwood." This always works in the short term, because our code runs well by itself. For a while... 15 comments
 @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation There's a directly parallel problem of "it doesn't get votes," too. A badly misguided management paradigm divides operational units into "profit centers" and "cost centers." This, in turn, leads to badly misinformed managers thinking, "Hey, let's increase profits by getting rid of all the cost centers!" If a center isn't part of why your business is profitable, yes, get rid of it. But it was probably created in the first place because you needed it to make a profit. Tech support? Yes, if you use tech, then that's a profit center. @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation And they will NEVER regard management itself as a "loss centre," but it very often is. At best, they're paid disproportionately to how much they (allegedly) generate, but class solidarity keeps them in high-paying jobs bc once you're A Boss, that's your identity (to them), so you'll get saved from your own incompetence over and over again. @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation Fired from one firm for a huge fuck up? No problem, another will hire you and convince themselves it's a steal based on how much you got paid at that last job... that you fucked up. @Professor_Stevens @orionkidder @Infrogmation that assumes the primary purpose of all/most business is to make a monetary ptofit. @SergKoren @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation I think it is the purpose of most business, but I also think it shouldn't be. @orionkidder @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation It's still an assumption that needs to be stated. @SergKoren @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation I'd agree, ultimately. Organizations do lots more than "business." @orionkidder @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation Otherwise, people will believe that is the only way. @Professor_Stevens either way, you have not stated your assumptions. Your argument is, therefore, specious. @orionkidder @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation there's a saying "if you don't schedule time for maintenance, the machine will schedule it for you" @KormaChameleon @Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation Oh, that's very good. That said, the machine won't schedule it at all. It's be more like an unannounced emergency meeting.  |
Gregory's Server
@Professor_Stevens @Infrogmation One of the things non-techs (such as myself!) have to have painfully explained to us is: machines need maintenance. They don't run forever by themselves. As you say, they run "for a while," but then when they stop working, we're like WTF? But that's just what happens. It's predictable. It ought to be written into budgets and regarded as an immutable operating cost. But like the OP says, that "doesn't make money," so shit breaks down. All. The. Time.