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TBM 44/52: Dissonance, Diffusion, and Debt

User Avatar of Dmitri Vassilenko Dmitri Vassilenko
· October 27, 2022 · 2 minutes to read

TBM 44/52: Dissonance, Diffusion, and Debt

A person (A) keeps asking their manager (B) for a much-needed tool. The manager hits their limit and shifts the load to a purchasing manager (C), who they know will not reply. C has adapted to protect themselves from directly saying No. A eventually resigns themself to not getting the tool and lets their work degrade. C knows they didn’t approve the tool but successfully reframes the issue as one of “tightening the purse strings during a downturn.” This shifts some burden to C’s manager (D). D promises that the issue will be resolved during the next budgeting cycle (shifting the load to the budgeting cycle).A hits another limit—they aren’t proud of their work anymore—and finds another job. This then puts newfound pressure on B, who reframes the whole thing as a “well, A wasn’t a team player!” The person B hires next is less likely to complain about tools.

Great example of an emergent quality of a system. Probably no one’s explicit purpose was to manage out people like A, but through other more explicit goals it becomes the function of the system anyway. Those goals may be something like “ensure Bs are highly utilized” or “keep budget approvals to a minimum”.


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User Avatar of Dmitri Vassilenko Dmitri Vassilenko
· October 4, 2020 · 1 minute to read

Memo reveals ‘shocking’ police misuse of COVID-19 database, say rights groups

This is wild and depressing. A database full of PHI is built in a rush to help 911 dispatchers. It turns out to be useless to them, but instead gets queried willy-nilly by police. “Shocking”!

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As Naughty Dog Crunches On The Last Of Us II, Developers Wonder How Much Longer This Approach Can Last

User Avatar of Dmitri Vassilenko Dmitri Vassilenko
· March 13, 2020 · 1 minute to read

As Naughty Dog Crunches On The Last Of Us II, Developers Wonder How Much Longer This Approach Can Last

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When a Team Does Not Want to Do the Work that Needs to Be Done

User Avatar of Dmitri Vassilenko Dmitri Vassilenko
· March 10, 2020 · 1 minute to read

When a Team Does Not Want to Do the Work that Needs to Be Done | Test Obsessed

Step 1: Have the “Here’s the Problem We Need to Solve” Conversation
Step 2: Create Momentum

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Momentum > Urgency

User Avatar of Dmitri Vassilenko Dmitri Vassilenko
· March 10, 2020 · 1 minute to read

Momentum > Urgency | Test Obsessed:

So from J’s point of view, when he was unhappy with the productivity of a team in the past, he ratcheted up the pressure and got the result he wanted. If there was a downside to his approach, he probably never saw it. He was too far away from the work and from the people doing it.

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Accountability vs Complexity

User Avatar of Dmitri Vassilenko Dmitri Vassilenko
· February 22, 2020 · 1 minute to read

Accountability vs Complexity:

invite folks to take collective responsibility for improving the system, rather than accountability for an outcome that they cannot control or predict

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Dmitri Vassilenko

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Backend distributed systems developer, living in southern Ontario, Canada. Occasional rock-climber, frequent video-gamer. Jack of no trades, master also of none.

Keeping notes on things I learn.
Writing to think.
It's a mess, but it's my mess.

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