You're on Hacker News. This is a site full of developers who are convinced that "proper software engineering" is 100% of what makes a business successful, and everything and everyone else is useless. You can't just waltz in here and point out that code in business is a means to an end and expect not to get downvoted.

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Schiendelman an hour ago | parent | next [-]

As a technical product manager, this 1000%. It's just irrelevant how bad code is unless it impacts the business.

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AdieuToLogic an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> As a technical product manager, this 1000%. It's just irrelevant how bad code is unless it impacts the business.

If you are, in fact, "a technical product manager", I would hope you understand that "bad code" is identified as such specifically because it "impacts the business."

	▲	Schiendelman 14 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		That is not how most engineers define bad code.

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nomel 41 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

This is something I wish I understood sooner. There is strong merit to "good enough".

Of all the "concise" and "beautiful" code I worked hard to produce, I was the only one to ever lay eyes on it. It didn't actually matter, and nobody cared but me. The people in charge of my raises could never perceive quality of code, because it wasn't their area of expertise. They only cared (rightly so) that it did what it was supposed to, and all the elegant abstractions didn't practically help that purpose. It was, literally, wasted life that I should have spent just getting off work early, like most of my colleagues.

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echelon 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Every bit of code written in the last 50 years is going to be meaningless.

People need to get to grips with that fast.

Distribution, relationships, processes, mindshare, marketing, and politics matter. Code is just ephemeral glue and implementation detail.

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ses1984 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Not every bit of code is going to be meaningless.

Just 99.999%.

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slopinthebag 41 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Lmao. Have more respect for your elders, who wrote all the code that your ai psychosis is fuelled by.

	▲	echelon 18 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Every single thing around you was pioneered by people who are dead and forgotten. From the materials science of the clothes you wear, to the very language you speak. Get over yourself. We're all ephemeral, dead and recycled in the blink of an eye. Our species doesn't even clock on the geologic timespan. If you think your code (or any of your artifacts or possessions) matter beyond their immediate utility, you're mistaken. Work will either fall into disuse or be replaced. It's scaffolding for what comes next along a well-traversed path.