if you want stable and reliable software, give developers stable and reliable employment

@zachleat Look at this smart guy being all smart like.

@westbrook if you thought that was smart — *puts on glasses*

@zachleat that's always been the most mind-boggling part of working in tech and seeing layoffs. The most important investment comes from creating and nurturing IP, and the I(intellectual) comes from people.

@zachleat what sort of leftist commie horseshit is—oh wait that’s actually a super good idea let’s do that

@jgarber ne’er the twain shall meet

@zachleat what makes you think corporations want stable and reliable software?

@zachleat Are we on strike? This is almost a strike slogan. Let's go on strike.

@slab_bulkhead because corporations like money

@zachleat @westbrook Oh wow, you suddenly got 10X more smart!

<hollywood-logic>
But be sure to take them off before your date so you become 10X more pretty.
</hollywood-logic>

@zachleat if I expect to be the one who is responsible for the system for years, I'm going to make a damned fine system that doesn't cause me (or anyone else) any trouble.

@zachleat @slab_bulkhead uh oh, look who's here, it's shareholder primacy

@jaredwhite @zachleat Just wait till I turn my hat backwards and you see me work 10x harder!

🤪

@westbrook @jaredwhite it’s time for a MONTAGE

@zachleat But AI... (gets headbutted)

@zachleat @westbrook cue “Careless Whisper” sax and some slow-mo hair tossing

@zachleat during the 1980s, when asked by potential employers "what commitment can you give us?" my response was always "exactly the commitment you can give to me."

@zachleat while I support stability for developers (union, anyone?), it sometimes goes too far. I have been in attrition-averse companies where complacent well-tenured engineers deliver flaky software. Those engineers have high cultural inertia so it is difficult to get them to start caring about robustness. If you can give your good developers confidence in their job stability while removing bad apples from your team, that's the dream.

@zachleat Fred Brooks second corollary

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