We’ve got a saying at work, “Manglement’s gotta mangle.”
It’s how we refer to management’s (who we refer to as manglement) decisions when they can’t leave a functioning system alone without getting in there and breaking it.
There’s an old story about a website designer finishing a site. But they knew the approval for the site would need to come from one specific manager. This particular manager was notorious for changing things just to be able to say they contributed. Nothing could ever pass over this manager’s desk without at least one revision, because the manager wanted to be able to say that they had a hand in the project. They weren’t ever content with just sitting back and going “yeah, looks good. Ship it as-is.”
So the designer got the site looking exactly how they wanted it. It was perfect… And then right before they sent it off to be approved, they added a banner of spinning rubber duck gifs at the very top of the page:
The manager sent back “yeah, just get rid of the damned ducks before the site goes live.” By giving the manager a big bright “this needs to be fixed” thing to change, the designer was able to get the site they actually wanted. So if you’re ever dealing with a manager like this, be sure to give them a figurative rubber duck to “fix”.
I agree. Microsoft employees are not guilty of any microsoft issues. Anyone who used windows11 for any amount of time has very clear understanding that the devs have no idea what is going on.
I blame whoever gave public school kids tablets and chrome books instead of sending them to computer labs. Now all of society is paying because we only taught one generation of people how to use Windows.
Ugh, what can you do on a tablet other than art or some flavor or business bureaucracy. The mouse and keyboard is the most efficient way to accurately convey information into a machine, and we intentionally failed to teach young people how to even type. I am sorry but if you type faster on your phone than you do a desktop / laptop you don’t know how to type.
I am incredibly pro-desktop computer but it’s 2025 dude. Times have changed. Desktop/laptop computers are not the only way to work anymore. I’m not saying it’s going the way of cursive anytime soon, but I also think you’re maybe getting a little too worried considering when we were in school computer education was generally a fucking joke no matter where you went yet most of us turned out fine. If kids are going to need computers, they’re going to learn computers.
Those kids are barely starting to graduate highschool or are only a few years out of it. It doesn’t do any good blaming today’s cs interns and juniors when Microsoft products have been shit for decades
“Those kids” have already graduated college and are in the workforce. Computer labs got removed from my local schools in the early 2010’s, which was a literal decade ago. The middle schoolers (at the time when the computer labs were removed) have bachelors degrees now.
Why do people blame devs for enterprise software functionality? Those requirements are all driven by marketing / product management.
We’ve got a saying at work, “Manglement’s gotta mangle.”
It’s how we refer to management’s (who we refer to as manglement) decisions when they can’t leave a functioning system alone without getting in there and breaking it.
I call them Rubber Duck Managers.
There’s an old story about a website designer finishing a site. But they knew the approval for the site would need to come from one specific manager. This particular manager was notorious for changing things just to be able to say they contributed. Nothing could ever pass over this manager’s desk without at least one revision, because the manager wanted to be able to say that they had a hand in the project. They weren’t ever content with just sitting back and going “yeah, looks good. Ship it as-is.”
So the designer got the site looking exactly how they wanted it. It was perfect… And then right before they sent it off to be approved, they added a banner of spinning rubber duck gifs at the very top of the page:
The manager sent back “yeah, just get rid of the damned ducks before the site goes live.” By giving the manager a big bright “this needs to be fixed” thing to change, the designer was able to get the site they actually wanted. So if you’re ever dealing with a manager like this, be sure to give them a figurative rubber duck to “fix”.
I agree. Microsoft employees are not guilty of any microsoft issues. Anyone who used windows11 for any amount of time has very clear understanding that the devs have no idea what is going on.
I blame whoever gave public school kids tablets and chrome books instead of sending them to computer labs. Now all of society is paying because we only taught one generation of people how to use Windows.
Good. We shouldn’t bake a corporate product into a national curriculum.
I’m not in favor of chromebooks, but tablets make all the sense in the world.
Ugh, what can you do on a tablet other than art or some flavor or business bureaucracy. The mouse and keyboard is the most efficient way to accurately convey information into a machine, and we intentionally failed to teach young people how to even type. I am sorry but if you type faster on your phone than you do a desktop / laptop you don’t know how to type.
I am incredibly pro-desktop computer but it’s 2025 dude. Times have changed. Desktop/laptop computers are not the only way to work anymore. I’m not saying it’s going the way of cursive anytime soon, but I also think you’re maybe getting a little too worried considering when we were in school computer education was generally a fucking joke no matter where you went yet most of us turned out fine. If kids are going to need computers, they’re going to learn computers.
Those kids are barely starting to graduate highschool or are only a few years out of it. It doesn’t do any good blaming today’s cs interns and juniors when Microsoft products have been shit for decades
“Those kids” have already graduated college and are in the workforce. Computer labs got removed from my local schools in the early 2010’s, which was a literal decade ago. The middle schoolers (at the time when the computer labs were removed) have bachelors degrees now.
I’m not sure whether TV Tropes warnings are expected here but, in case they are, you know, fair warning.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExecutiveMeddling