Thread by @HeyChelseaTroy

Guess what, nobody asked me, so now we're going to talk about this DoorDash Dogfooding outrage.

You're gonna get all my hottest takes because I've got a sidecar in my hand and no deadlines tonight. Strap in.

https://twitter.com/landforce/status/1474445775539081218

So my FIRST hot take is that, in the 6 days I spent on blind, I saw some of the most insufferable, elitist drivel I have ever seen techies say behind closed doors, and that bar is not low

LOLOL at this Blind rant where the person signs off "TC: 400" like it's fucken "Esq"

Lotta devs are convinced that their total comp means something about their intelligence, skill, value, or impact

When really it's mostly execs' success convincing VCs that they'll make money someday

Leading w your TC is the "peeling out in a muscle car" of engineering

ANYWAY

I know it looks like I'm reading this Blind dude for filth for no reason, but actually I have a reason because in my experience devs' feelings about their comp are DI-RECTLY related to how they think about, talk about, and treat people in other roles.

EXAMPLE:

I used to work at a shop that hired us out for $240-315 per hour to sling code for clients.

This one colleague would drink like 19 espressos a day, and just leave his cups wherever. Couldn't be arsed to take 'em to the sink.

When confronted about it, hand to g*d, this dude says

"I am wasting company money if I take this to the sink, because the company makes $300/hr on me, and it pays the cleaning staff a fraction of that."

SO NUMERO UNO we didn't bill with carve outs like this. You just billed 8h/day unless you were in a meeting. You didn't take out time for putting away your cup, taking a shit, whatever. It's BS from the get-go.

But also, "my effort is worth 25x that person's?"

It isn't.

This is, by the way, why I say things like "programmers are not progressive."

There is nothing progressive about thinking the respect you owe others is summarily lower because circumstances created by capitalism resulted in your particular specialty being high income.

ONWARD

So DoorDash in particular. They want their engineers to deliver a burger a month, and some probably small but loud contingent of devs are threatening mutiny.

My second hot take is to call BS on THAT. Mutiny is actually hard AF and these people can't even sink an espresso cup

For a more serious elucidation on why organizing is hard, at what point it tends to break down (particularly in the U.S. and among privileged circles), and why, see this thread

https://twitter.com/HeyChelseaTroy/status/1475848764900392960

Right, so let's move on to the IDEA of having all employees do a dash once a month.

Why do this? The statements reference two reasons.

1. Dogfooding. This is when somebody who makes a product also USES that product to better understand the needs of their constituents.

2. Building empathy among office staff for dashers.

I think #2 is more accurate to what will actually happen because "dogfooding" is really supposed to be "We ARE our users" and using the product once per month doesn't get you that status, IME.

Do I think dogfooding is a good idea? Maybe. If the product is, in fact, for the kind of person that is also MAKING the product, yes.

If the makers are not already in the pool of people who would need this thing, though, trying to force them to pretend they are doesn't work. AND

Hot take #3: The better the product strategy, the FEWER of the makers will match the constituent they're building for.

Why? Bc visionary tech products come from centering people that modern tech is NOT ALREADY built for. That excludes, frankly, most techies, who are making it.

More on that here in this piece, which is a 14 minute read and probably one of about 5 posts on my blog (out of more than 400) where I'm actually proud of the writing.

Now, all of that SAID...

chelseatroy.com/2021/07/30/the…

...EVEN though I don't think DoorDash's policy counts as "dogfooding," and even though I think attempting to have the whole team dogfood is not an effective approach for a visionary technical product strategy,

I think DoorDash tech ppl would benefit from delivering the burger.

And the reason doesn't actually even have anything to do with the DoorDash product specifically.

I think that there is value in having responsibilities that place you in service of other people that you are looking at in the face as you do it.

Your legacy comes from your contribution to a group, much more than it does your individual actions*

*unless you are ung*dly rich. And I regret to inform the Blind poster that TC 400 does not even get within trebuchetting distance of how rich you'd have to be for this to apply.

Like, had my colleague gone down to the espresso shop and found it closed, it'd SERIOUSLY impact his day.

Even though he gets sold for $300/h and the barista only gets $12/h plus tips.

Because income != impact. And because every job that serves others is essential to someone.

And that's why I actually think—and this is definitely my HOTTEST take—that in an ideal world, someone who wields as much leverage as a tech worker does, should definitely have some service industry experience.

If you can impact that many lives with one push?

I want you to know shift work.

I want you to have come in at an inconvenient time to cover a colleague.

I want to know you can face someone who is having their worst day, and taking it out on you, and keep it together.

Because service jobs force you to exercise empathic skills all the time.

And actually, I think it would be fine if jobs with leverage, by design, included an ongoing service component. Because it's easy, once you have power, to...uh..."lose" solidarity with the folks in service.

I shouldn't talk beyond tech but I will because, like I said, sidecar

Other high leverage jobs could probably also benefit from this, not just tech.

Like politics, or judicial work, or the 27% of doctors whose parents pay their med school tuition

BUT I'm a codeslinger, so...

...I will leave it at this: with leverage comes the responsibility to understand that leverage

And the human mind remembers in stories, not statistics

So to wield leverage appropriately, a person needs to remember stories—remember FACES—from their actions impacting people.