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NTDF9

1,181 karma · joined September 18, 2013

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NTDF9··on Measuring developer productivity? A response to McKinsey
I am glad this discussion is being brought to the fore. In my experience, far too many managers are clueless about what engineering actually means. They see it like warehouses or factories where the number of units shipped == output. But in engineering, number of PRs or commits or lines of code are meaningless. In fact, setting these output targets take away time from engineers in doing things such as meaningful design choices, system health investigations, cross-team situations.

I see software engineering more as a team sport than as an individual sport. In team sports, each individual sacrifices some metrics for the good of the team.

Here is my rant about how soccer teams would perform if they were evaluated like the McKinsey-style nonsense becoming pervasive in the tech industry: https://medium.com/@NTDF9/if-soccer-managers-did-performance...

NTDF9··on A good measurement culture where numbers don’t replace common sense
> I'm confused by your comment. How did you decide this was something worthy of fixing if it "doesn't show any good metrics"? If you can't quantify the issue in any manner, how do you determine it's worth doing?

Because sometimes some things without metrics are incidental to the actual thing you set out to do.

E.g. a large refactor that switches libraries which is necessary for your new service that give 10% lower latency. But that library refactor will need to be done and it will take 2 months.

NTDF9··on A good measurement culture where numbers don’t replace common sense
> I feel like you're stating this as "Look how silly KPIs are!", but your CEO is correct. The issue isn't the KPIs; it's the team members who are willing to intentionally game a system in conflict with overarching company goals.

The real issue is - KPIs are used to incentivize or PIP employees. Why are you setting the employees in a game that is in conflict with your company's overarching goals?

NTDF9··on A good measurement culture where numbers don’t replace common sense
What about things like "Stuck on XYZ because no one fixes it because it doesn't show any good metrics and management doesn't care about it. So I fixed it at the expense of my own time."
NTDF9··on A good measurement culture where numbers don’t replace common sense
Leaving this not-so-humorous-post https://medium.com/@NTDF9/if-soccer-managers-did-performance...

Full disclosure, it is my own rant about performance management.

NTDF9··on Launch HN: Certainly Health (YC S23) – Book doctors without surprise bills
> Anything surgical is typically billed against a dozen or more CPT codes for a single procedure and often involves more than one provider.

This is the real startup gap. There are thousands of CPT codes. When a medical provider is trying to give an estimate, it should be easy for Medical providers to have packaged, template CPT codes for template procedures. Then, they should be able to add/remove CPT codes from the package (like drag and drop), and the prices should change automatically.

The template packages could even be put on a social marketplace for doctors so that the information is shared.

NTDF9··on Scrum is not for software engineering
I have seen managers who were very effective at their work. But they actually understood the software in depth and were very skilled at shielding the team from politics.
NTDF9··on Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay
> Other countries are able to execute proper fiscal policy without complex central banking paradigms or measures.

Which countries?

NTDF9··on Why Are Canadian Construction Costs So High? (2018)
When you really think about it deeply, better production should depress prices because of econ 101.

However, the FED induced inflation in assets has made everything out of control.

NTDF9··on U.S. Workers Show Little Improvement in 21st Century Skills
What a great analogy!

I think this is a great analogy to bridge the gap between individualistic vs systematic thinkers about US education and healthcare

NTDF9··on How California Became America’s Housing Market Nightmare
yup
NTDF9··on Apple's $2.5B Home Loan Program a Distraction
I don't think the problem is lack of loans. The problem is the price of assets. This is a structural problem (this used to be something we used to tell developing countries and here we are)

Essentially, the asset prices need to match economic activity. Another way to think about this is that house prices should be affordable to the median household (teachers, nurses, office staffs, blue collar workers)

The reason it is not affordable is because of laws and unequal taxation.

Access to loans is NOT the problem!!

NTDF9··on US debt surpasses $23T for first time
This is good. I kind of buy into this theory. About the 100-300 year cycle, that stands as well. History is littered with changing reserve currencies.
NTDF9··on Slave markets found on Instagram and other apps
> wat.... ? 1. you rent a car, and on the Term of Service you declare you are not going to use it for anything illegal . 2. Go rob a bank with it.

3. The rental car company is liable?

No. The rental car company should

1. Do driver record check 2. Contain enough info about drivers to aid law enforcement

I believe it is faster to sign up for an instagram account than getting a rental car.

Social media cannot prevent everything. On the other end of the spectrum, they can't just brush themselves off of the responsibility either. This is simply, to protect children and vulnerable.

They need to be ok with losing fake users, bots and illicit activity accounts from their MAU counts.

NTDF9··on Slave markets found on Instagram and other apps
No. This is like blaming hammer-as-a-service company for hammer murders.

If you're leasing out equipment, you better have reasonable tracking/prevention mechanisms of your equipment. This is much like tracking car leases, computer leases, apartment leases.

NTDF9··on The Global Fertility Crash
What a load of nonsense! The planet needs lesser people.

If economics is the problem, fix the damn econs, not the planet.

I'm not naive. I understand that the young will have to produce more per capita to support the masses of elderly. But the solution to this is not producing more kids. The solution is somewhere along the line of better economic distribution

NTDF9··on State of Health Report Shows Growing Despair Among American Men
I've said this in the past but I'm going to reiterate at the expense of much downvotes again.

America is the third world country of all developed countries.

For individuals like you seeking human connection, I highly recommend SE Asia as a place to permanently migrate to.

You will find meaning in mingling with people who don't care about the rat race on the edge. Comes with its own shortcomings but you've lived the lonely life of America. It cannot go lower than this.

NTDF9··on Indian startups have raised a record $11.3B this year
Then compare it with major US metros only and not entire US.

The multiplier again becomes 18x

NTDF9··on Indian startups have raised a record $11.3B this year
That is accurate
NTDF9··on Indian startups have raised a record $11.3B this year
I literally used the multiplier here: https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-p...

As shocking as it sounds, PPP multiple is really 18x

NTDF9··on Indian startups have raised a record $11.3B this year
What's incredible is that once you factor in PPP, this is equivalent to $200B in local purchasing power.

Imagine how much new economic activity that is for a country whose GDP is only $2.5T

NTDF9··on Economists are now admitting that they were wrong about globalization
Yup. I don't think most people today realize what a one-time event American wealth was after world war 2.

After WW2, the rest of the developed world was destroyed and the under-developed world was colonies. Today, they all have woke citizens working hard to reach a developed lifestyle. Which means America has to compete, hard!

NTDF9··on The Universe Is Made of Tiny Bubbles Containing Mini-Universes, Scientists Say
Men in black
NTDF9··on Ask HN: Why don't homeless people from SF move to another city?
A few reasons:

1. Weather in most northern states will cause death

2. Transportation for poor doesn't exist in the US

3. If one can't find jobs in SF, forget about being able to find them in Tulsa. Reasons vary from number of employers, lack of transportation, lack of education, felony record, divorces/child support.

I think the easiest way for someone to imagine this would be to think os the US as a dense jungle. The bounty is plentiful but there are death traps everywhere. Only the death traps are man made.

You need to find the patch of this jungle where you are likely to survive. Which means living under a rock in region A is better than dying in a barren desert in region B.

NTDF9··on Think young people are hostile to capitalism now? Wait for the next recession
Every administration has a problem. You are the one who brought some "progressive" nonsense in the first place, when you yourself know that it's not a political party issue. It's a problem with our politics which is sold out to the highest bidder.

Oligarchs in our system are people funding lobbyists. How else do you think Oligarchs work?

Let's be rational and remove the blame game. Focus on the problem and we know none of the political leaders are doing anything to fix it.

NTDF9··on Think young people are hostile to capitalism now? Wait for the next recession
Are you really kidding me? I'm not sure if you are looking at things objectively when you blame progressives (for something they didn't even do) while the current administration is enriching the oligarchs
NTDF9··on Think young people are hostile to capitalism now? Wait for the next recession
The proponents of current form of capitalism miss a big big aspect of free-market capitalism. That is: taking losses.

Every capitalism proponent is so tied up to the stock market that they don't want to see losses. Thus they resort to policies that would somehow socialize losses.

If you are really free market, you need to accept losses.

- Let the FED not print money which causes inflation which is driving a regular life out of the young's reach

- Let students declare bankruptcy on student loans

- Let your social security go bankrupt, it is market driven

- Let your house prices go underwater. Whoever said it should always go up and that the young should burn their lives to buy it from old geezers at elevated prices.

But no, the boomers don't want those losses. This is where cries for socialism is coming from.

NTDF9··on McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
So is the housing market, so are people who've take up ungodly debt
NTDF9··on When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
Healthcare here is so f-ed up, I can't believe we don't produce more medical refugees to other countries. All this shit show makes Mexico look like an advanced country.
NTDF9··on Americans Now Need at Least $500k a Year to Enter Top 1%
You need to think a little beyond velocity of money. Velocity of money causes inflation/deflation. Printing currency reduces interest rates which indirectly causes more borrowing which indirectly causes more spending, thus increasing velocity of money.

All of this still isn't related to the article which is talking about unequal distribution of wealth.

Sure one way to solve this unequal distribution is handing more money to poor directly by printing, but thats bound to cause inflation.

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