2023-02-16 13:51 UTC
Replies (35)
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@davetron5000@ruby.social 2023-02-16 14:05
Same goes for security team. They will always say no it's not safe, so you have to ask what are the risks (because the only way to be sure is nuke all computers from orbit [which, TBH, would probably increase quality of life for everyone on the planet, at least for a while ])
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@kims@mas.to 2023-02-19 17:54
@davetron5000@ruby.social In all three cases, I'm a big fan of “If I were your daughter/mother/favorite aunt, what advice would you give me?” Their answer usually stimulates the right follow-up questions. I likewise ask contractors, "What would you do if this were your house?”
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@arclight@oldbytes.space 2023-02-19 18:20
@davetron5000@ruby.social Never ask an engineer if something is safe, etc. etc.
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@kay@meow.social 2023-02-19 19:05
@davetron5000@ruby.social as a programmer even if I know the answer is "technically yes, but it's dumb and will cause us future pain because " I just lie and say no, because management never hears anything except the "yes"
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@johnefrancis@mastodon.social 2023-02-19 20:54
@davetron5000@ruby.social "anything is possible" is my favourite answer, followed by "let me know if the business case pans out"
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@breadbin@bitbang.social 2023-02-19 21:38
@davetron5000@ruby.social Never tell people above you no, ask them what you should remove to fit their new request or let them know what it costs. They love free features and blaming you, they don’t like the spotlight of having to make a tough call and taking responsibility for it.
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@adriftinaotearoa@mastodon.nz 2023-02-19 21:46
@davetron5000@ruby.social "it depends" is the usual lawyers' answer. :)
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@yesterzine@topspicy.social 2023-02-19 22:54
@davetron5000@ruby.social @alda@topspicy.social I don’t remember where I stole it from but as a software team lead my answer is always “Difficult we can do, the impossible might take a little longer.”
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@nazgul@infosec.exchange 2023-02-20 00:52
@davetron5000@ruby.social Definitely. I treat legal advice like insurance (and the same applies to computer security). The cost of insurance to protect you 100% is never affordable. You have to compromise. But they aren’t paid to tell you to take risks--they’re paid to tell you how to avoid them. Tell me the risks. Tell me the cost of protecting me from the risks. Then *I’ll* decide what trade-offs I’m willing to make. There are no absolutes in those fields. It’s all about the level of risk you are comfortable with given what the situation is, and what you can afford.
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@jwz@mastodon.social 2023-02-20 07:59
@davetron5000@ruby.social Never ask a programmer if the thing they're getting paid for will undermine democracy because the answer is yes
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@incitatus@mastodonapp.uk 2023-02-20 09:27
@davetron5000@ruby.social Talking to programmers requires specificity and precision. That’s why you should leave it to experienced professionals like me 😂
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@thatandromeda@ohai.social 2023-02-20 12:45
@davetron5000@ruby.social I find with doctors (in an inpatient setting) the magic question is “what’s the next decision you’re going to make, and what information will help you make it?” Routes around their tendency to hedge when uncertain, because they almost always DO have a decision tree in mind (…the alternative is really scary) and feel comfortable discussing it.
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@macdonst@mastodon.online 2023-02-20 17:35
@davetron5000@ruby.social this hits home as my dad was a lawyer/judge and I’m a programmer.
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@jhshannon@mstdn.social 2023-02-20 18:30
@davetron5000@ruby.social well said, all of these folks are there to provide their best advice given the circumstances of the moment... you should consider their advice from a holistic perspective weighing all if the available information available... the decision based on the advice is on you... #advice #perspective #Information #decisionframework #responsibility #professional
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@rockymcrockerson@sfba.social 2023-02-20 21:34
@davetron5000@ruby.social Wouldn’t it make more sense for each professional to know how to reframe these questions as they come up, rather than having laypeople memorize the rules for availing themselves of every possible professional service they might need in their lifetimes?
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@mendel@hachyderm.io 2023-02-21 00:49
@davetron5000@ruby.social @cdmicacc@tech.lgbt I had someone explain the “lawyer” part of this to me at work a couple years ago, and now I explain that part to other people at work on the regular.
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@Citizenkahn@tech.lgbt 2023-02-21 20:00
@davetron5000@ruby.social @RiverEnodian@tech.lgbt I sooo resent your middle paragraph and gave run into the first quite a bit will sorting out license obligations for 3rd party open source usage. The fun part is that lawyers don’t always understand the difference between linking with a native library vs including dynamic link (jar or DLL), or use of external services when we get down to the specifics. There’s so much back and forth education where we think we speak the same language but don’t really.
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@raikou@donphan.social 2023-02-21 20:30
@davetron5000@ruby.social A company I used to work for had a motto of "never say no, always use yes if…" That way it highlights just how unreasonable the request is.
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@patriciajhawkins@mastodon.art 2023-02-21 20:43
@davetron5000@ruby.social An additional doctor strategy: ask them what they'd recommend for a family member. Or if it was them. Because then they can stop worrying about malpractice, and just tell you.
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@DrInterpreter@mastodon.scot 2023-02-21 21:03
@davetron5000@ruby.social Never ask an interpreter or translator how you say something in a language. The answer is "it depends on context". Give the situation, purpose and audience and you'll get an answer.
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@suehle@social.afront.org 2023-02-21 22:16
@davetron5000@ruby.social Alternately, if you are the expert, answer the question the way the person asking/learning needs it answered, including the appropriate clarifying questions.
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@robby@barnes.social 2023-02-22 03:51
@davetron5000@ruby.social @anildash@me.dm This kind of thinking applied to almost any situation will get you extremely far in life.
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@Dr_Elizabeth97@mastodon.social 2023-02-22 16:16
@davetron5000@ruby.social , solid advice!
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@funficient@hci.social 2023-02-22 16:28
@davetron5000@ruby.social Good advice! So to summarize, never ask yes/no questions?
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@troed@ioc.exchange 2023-02-23 08:52
@davetron5000@ruby.social This is spot on. And yes, that's what Legal at strongly hinted to us as well. "Don't ask us things in writing, call us."
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@sybren@mastodon.art 2023-02-23 08:53
@davetron5000@ruby.social Hah, so recognisable! As a programmer, I wholeheartedly concur. "Possible" and "possible within a week or two" are two very different things, and nerdy me can sometimes have a hard time figuring out which one is being asked. Same as "easy" vs. "quickly done", I made that mistake too. Yeah, something can be easy but still months of easy work.
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@Bethkem@mstdn.ca 2023-02-23 13:57
@davetron5000@ruby.social Never ask your wife if it's okay to go out with the boys. Ask her to explain the risks of coming home at 1:00 am, 2:00 am, 3:00 am, etc.
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@akashicbunny@mastodon.social 2023-02-23 16:36
@davetron5000@ruby.social A lot of excellent advice here
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@nicksloan@phpc.social 2023-02-25 04:07
@davetron5000@ruby.social Never tell me the odds
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@den@t.den.yt 2023-02-26 03:34
@davetron5000@ruby.social Never ask a politician if his or her opponent has any good proposals.
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@_holger@mastodon.social 2023-02-26 11:50
@davetron5000@ruby.social never ask an aerospace engineer if something can fly. The answer is always yes. Ask him how much you would need to accelerate something to make it fly.
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@breadbin@bitbang.social 2023-03-19 18:57
@davetron5000@ruby.social The majority of developers will answer “no” because they full well know the consequence to them if they say yes. A yes means management think it can be done for free, and will 100% blame the developer if it goes wrong. So all the possible blame and more work without extra budget? No thanks! If I’m asked, I ask back “what do you want to remove so we have time to do this new feature?”.
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@kay@meow.social 2023-02-19 19:54
@DevWouter@s.poweredbydev.com @davetron5000@ruby.social doesn't work on salespeople who only care about the "yes" until the ink on the contract is dry and then it's not their problem any more. Been left holding that bag for some serious bullshit on numerous occasions. And of course at the point the mgmt is like "whelp 12 month contract just make it work"
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@rockymcrockerson@sfba.social 2023-02-21 00:23
@davetron5000@ruby.social the way it is is that professionals are failing to communicate effectively & set realistic expectations with laypeople. There are two possible solutions; one that asks professionals to learn how to do one additional thing (clearly communicate what they can and cannot do) and one that asks laypeople to learn how to do multiple additional things (infer what professionals can do and somehow ask the right questions, multiple times) Which one is more likely to be successful?
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@rockymcrockerson@sfba.social 2023-02-21 01:20
@davetron5000@ruby.social so everyone has to be a better communicator except for doctors? You know, the ones who are actually getting paid?