Gergely Orosz Profile picture
Jun 29, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
As a tech lead or eng manager, you so frequently get request from above or from other teams to drop what you are doing and work on this thing they need, *now*.

During my 4 years at Uber after asking these questions, 9 out of 10 times it turned out it wasn't really urgent:
1. "What is the impact of this work you're asking for?" If the impact is unclear: sorry, but we can't do the work. Why would we?

Just this question made the requester realize half the time they just think it's urgent, but don't know what the work will actually result in.
2. "Do you have a spec that is agreed with stakeholders?" A writeup answering the "why" and the "what" that is signed off by relevant business folks.

I've seen so much engineering work thrown out as later the business goes "that's not what we wanted, why didn't you tell us?"
3. "We're not committing to any work before we have done a rough estimation."

With #1 and #2 done, many stakeholders will come and say "drop what you're doing, this is a 3-day work we need ASAP."

Hold your horses. You don't make estimates: the team doing the work does...
4. Make the cost of dropping what you're doing very clear.

This cost is always forgotten by the person coming with the request. But it's a relevant one: wrapping up work, onboarding to the new work, then later onboarding to the old work. Plus a hit on morale for a sudden change!
Uber has some very hectic times when there were reasons we needed to do some new work ASAP. Like a regulation change that means the company would be banned from operating in a region if not building something.

Even in such a place, most "urgent" things turned out to be noise.
The way I always approached these requests was to educate the person coming with them, and have them realize their work is actually not as urgent or as important or as impactful of what the team is already doing.

Doing so meant building empathy both ways, and less hard feelings.
A huge upside of this approach: when committing, you *can* commit with a very high certainty that you will not be interrupted with your work.

The alternative: take on this "super urgent" work, then someone else comes along saying " I need you to drop what you are doing *now*..."

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More from @GergelyOrosz

Jun 30
So predictable that we’ll see an explosion of digital products selling “ideas for million dollar businesses” that you can “just vibe code quickly”.

Basically: “buy my digital product for $500, spend $1,500 on Lovable / Claude Code and become a millionaire.”

Another hype train
Ofc these products promoted by influencers will work just as well as crypto sh*tcoins launched by influencers in 2023.

We’ll see doctored evidence (“someone who built one of ideas idea is at $5K MRR after 2 weeks”) and nontechnical people will spend thousands for $0 in return
The predictable winners: AI infra companies! Lovable, Vercel (with v0), Claude Code, Cursor, Replit, Gemini and any and all products that (at least partially) position themselves as “AI tools to build your idea that work even if you’re not a developer”

And it’s stated. A gold rush where - and the surest winners are those selling the shovels!
Read 6 tweets
Jun 28
I generally like Anthropic: but the more they paint a dystopian future where AI “manages” people (“AI middle-managers”) the more I am starting to think they are losing their marbles.

LLMs is a tool humans should use. The tail should not wag the dog; Anthropic should know better
And frankly I’m getting tired of Anthropic being loud about how their AI will lead to mass unemployment, and while claiming to be a responsible lab to develop AI.

If your master plan is to wipe out the labor market for profit: you’re not responsible.

You cannot have both.
I DO feel recently that Anthropic is the single least responsible lab out there.

Thanks to their CEO parroting how their AI will lead to massive job losses: not being concerned the least, and seemingly *wanting* this outcome (even if it’s not realistic).

aimagazine.com/articles/white…Image
Read 7 tweets
May 28
Something I hear very little talk about:

How AI coding tools are so much LESS useful when used on existing, large codebases at work (with custom frameworks, conventions, coding style etc)

... compared to doing greenfield work or side projects

So common for me to hear: "yeah I love it on my side projects, but at work it's 'meh'"
I'm getting details talking with devs at the likes of eg Google, Meta, Microsoft: the companies building some of the best AI coding tools out there!

And yet, for their existing codebases, the usefulness is marginal. Mostly for autocomplete (that has a higher miss rate than for greenfield)
And yes, surely there are workarounds. I just don't hear much of these used or successfully used!

Point is almost all success stories I hear are greenfield ones or small projects, or ones started with these tools

Using on larger one a bigger challenge

Read 5 tweets
May 25
This blog is SO good at pointing out what should have been obvious about AI for coding (Copilot and others)

These tools are good for re-creating whatever they’ve been trained on.

They are not what will create the next, better generation of frameworks, libraries, technologies. Image
Full blog - you should *absolutely* read it

I also find these AI tools helpful when it’s doing the routine task I’ve done many times and can do it with eyes closed

But… it’s not helpful when I want to build something GREAT that is elegant, and better than beforedeplet.ing/the-copilot-de…
Anyone who tells you otherwise hasn’t built software from scratch that is best-in-class

And likely things software is all solved by now

But it’s NOT

Those who invent the next chapter I cannot see doing it relying mostly on AI. Quite the opposite
Read 9 tweets
May 16
I am hearing SO many stories about people realizing coding with AI tools (aka “vibe coding”) is a game changer after “reviving” an old side project or idea on the side and making so much progress

But… while I often hear the excitement on starting: not hearing “finished” often!
Almost like these tools were amazing at making rapid progress at first… but it still takes a ton of effort to finish things and feels like most people go back to leaving side projects unfinished (even if in a more advanced state?)
FWIW guilty as charged

I got a bunch of side projects “revived” and was amazed at how fast it was

Then I just… kind of let them on the side? Turns out the reason I don’t touch them is because… they are just not a focus. Even tho it’s less effort now: still effort!!
Read 4 tweets
May 13
Question from an ex-Uber engineer:

"I got this reachout from recruiting Uber. I responded that I'm happy to discuss why I left (so Uber can learn from it) but not planning to return.

I got ghosted. Why? They asked, after all!"

Here is exactly why (continued): Image
It's b/c you mis-read the email (which is so easy to do!)

It sounds like a "we'd love feedback and improve", right?

WRONG

This is a recruitment email, using Uber alumni as a high conversion channel.

It's from a sourcer: who only has one goal: get ppl in the hiring pipeline! Image
(Btw I got the same email - likely sent out to ex-Uber folks who have left for more than eg a year, in certain regions)

The "Sourcer" role if laser-focused on bringing in candidates to roles currently hiring.

If Uber wanted feedback, it would come from HR

A sourcer will not do a call with someone they know has a 0% chance of entering the hiring pipeline!

Check the signatures of the emails next time and you'll know what the goal of the person sending almost certainly is
Read 5 tweets

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