Charlie StrossDec 23
Psst: Microsoft's suicide note just dropped
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/115770620333626312
Show threadWeeGem
@cstross Jesus, when did using "North Star" for "target" become a thing?
Dec 23 at 9:29pmWeb
Show threadanathemaDec 23
@WeeGem @cstross https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20151103-00/?p=91861
Microspeak: North star - The Old New Thing

Guiding principle.

The Old New Thing
Show threadWeeGemDec 23
@anathema @cstross Omg, as an IT professional I am shocked that I've not heard that before!
Show threadanathemaDec 23
@WeeGem @cstross tbh I’ve never heard it used in any of the (UK) companies I’ve worked for, but I’ve managed to avoid the ones that try and copy the American tech culture for the most part
Show threadJames KempDec 24

@anathema @WeeGem @cstross I first heard it in UK govt when before the 2010 election, although I think it came from Bill Crothers who had been a partner in Accenture before being recruited into the civil service.

Certainly been used for our digital work in the early 2010s when I was doing stuff with GDS.

Show threadDrWhoZeeDec 23
@WeeGem @cstross Well, »target« tends to be something defined, something you can be measured on. Now, »north star« has the advantage of making you a dude with a galactic vision, is clearly a long way over there where it’s obvious that only energetic hand waving can describe it in any meaningful way…and as such is hard to measure.
Show threadSteve Hammond✒️ 📚🔭📹 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Dec 24

@DrWhoZee

@WeeGem @cstross

Of course the really funny thing about that is, astronomically speaking, the North Star is slightly off of actual North.

Show threadDrWhoZeeDec 24
@snap2grid @WeeGem @cstross 😀😀😀
Show threadSam Easterby-SmithDec 23
@WeeGem @cstross the new upper management at my workplace are suddenly *very* into North Star. They held a North Star event a couple of weeks ago with lavish production values. I’ve never seen them so well lit.
Show threadJdeBPDec 24

@WeeGem

Given that it is #ChristmasEve, albeit that the original job listing (q.v.) was posted on December the 12th, I would have thought that they could have come up with a more seasonally apt metaphor for a star that designates a goal. (-:

I suspect that #RaymondChen has not been the only one over the years to observe that if one follows a north star one ends up at the North pole, irrespective of the real goal. #Polaris isn't a goal. It's a latitude measuring device. Billions of navigators from history must be rolling in their graves.

https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/115772536307305071

@cstross

#ChristmasTide #Advent #Microsoft #BusinessBollocks #LinkedIn #Microspeak #astronomy #Magi #StarOfBethlehem

JdeBP (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] Funny that you should ask. I went to the LinkedIn post, and there's a hyperlink there to the actual job listing on Microsoft's WWW site. It is patently LLM-written. The 'Responsibilities' section shouts that fact the loudest. https://careerhub.microsoft.com/careers/job/1970393556639051 Amusingly, for a job that deals in rewriting things in Rust, actual experience with that language is an optional requirement, whereas >= 6 years experience in Python or JavaScript fulfils the mandatory requirement. Mind you, job listings have been autocompleted using boilerplate, especially by recruitment agencies, for decades. @[email protected] #Microsoft #AI #LLMs #rustlang #BusinessBollocks #LinkedIn

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Show threadMirko SchenkDec 24
@WeeGem @cstross
The difference is, you can't reach the north star.