GlyphI am writing a blog post about why it is bad to use AI. It is extremely heavily sourced. I have a tedious automation problem formatting my citations. No problem, I think. I will write a computer program. The computer program does not work, because websites are blocking simple computer programs in an effort to block AI. Solution? Simple. Browser comes with AI embedded, browses like a human, has all my cookies. Just ask the AI. It sails through the primitive anti-AI measures easily.
mcc@glyph When I think about "AI" I often think about how we had cities built to be navigated by people, and then we rebuilt the cities to be more easily navigated by cars, and now people without cars can't navigate the cities because we specifically designed them to require cars
Faye@mcc @glyph @mhoye I had that argument with a previous employer over mob programming.
They were trying to make everyone do it, it was burning some of us out.
Their response was “you can just not do it and the rest of the team will do it without you”.
Well, oh Einstein of managers, what do you think is going to happen when all the tools and communication structures the team uses assume mob programming, just like is required to do it properly? It’s not a real option to just not engage. You’ve just forced several of your staff out of a job because it was that or burning them out within weeks, and you’ve managed to paint it as their fault.
Ever since then I’ve been incredibly cynical about any “cultural shifts”. If it’s optional then it’s totally not optional they just don’t want to take the responsibility.
tj usiyan@FayeDrake @mcc @glyph @mhoye What about mob programming burned folks out? I’ve always kinda wished mob programming or pair programming was more common than “go off somewhere and return with the PR” but it sounds like it didn’t have much upside where you were
@griotspeak @FayeDrake @mcc @mhoye I can't answer for Faye but I can relate from my own experience trying to advocate for pair programming: the efficacy and enjoyability pairing is extremely dependent upon personality. for socially anxious people it can feel like torture. for people with difficulty with task initiation it can feel borderline necessary. it's *really* hard to come up with generalizable processes around it, you have to be very responsive to the specific personalities on your team
@griotspeak @FayeDrake @mcc @mhoye personally I used to be of the opinion "pairing is always good, you just gotta give it a try" and for a lot of people, even some who thought they wouldn't like it, I was right. but for a few people (who I have now long since made amends to) the growing expectation that they would do it all the time made them feel anxious about coming in to work.
I've never been anywhere that it really settled in to a final steady state that everyone was happy with.
@glyph @griotspeak @mcc @mhoye very much so.
Both mobbing and pairing require emotional intelligence, or at the very least leadership who can ensure that needs are met for everyone.
My personal experience is that mobbing requires exponentially more of both and in some cases just isn’t practical.