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Comment by yomly | Hacker News Reader

Maybe it is part of crafting an article but did anyone else find the contrast of the looming tech disaster and team champagning really unfair?

The issue was obviously a systematic one, and that 18 month slog would have been a horrific death march for the people actually working on the project so why shouldn't they be able to celebrate it being "over"?

Granted, it was a failure, but I'm not really sure what the floor staff - the actual "software engineers" who were pictured had to do with it when they were set an impossible goal to begin with...

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> why shouldn't they be able to celebrate it being "over"?

Because it's not nearly over. In my experience, going into production is the most worrisome phase. For one thing, no matter how much you test and prepare, you just never know what's going to happen. For another, there are the initial bugs and user confusion that come with any new deployment, and the rush to respond to them effectively and quickly in order to maintain user confidence in the new system. And in the bank's situation we're not talking about an update, but an entirely new thing made from whole cloth (or code), if I understand correctly.

The outcome of the project, the goal, isn't to press the big red 'release' button, it's a stable, functioning system that meets the project specifications. When you have that, then you are done and it's time to celebrate. And exhale.

You're right - I fully agree with you, but I actually think that's kind of an entirely separate issue.

If it took your team an 18 month death march sprint just to get to the "red button" stage, I have a hard time imagining many people who wouldn't toss it all in without some kind of company recognition and were instead told "lol JK welcome to level 2 - hope you're ready to work harder now".

I'm not sure even the videogames industry could get away with not pandering to morale that badly without mass exodus.

Nope. Don't preen like a peacock all over social media until the job is really done. I certainly wouldn't.

I never feel like celebrating the releases that were shipped even solely by me. Maybe once I build something with Idris or Ada?

Nah I think this is just a personality thing. Coworkers often try to get my hyped up about finishing some release and I've learned that it's just not how I respond. My "celebration" is just to be relieved, go home and tell my wife about it, and start thinking about the next thing.

People need milestones. It makes them going rather than getting depressed about the fact that it all goes nowhere (in their opinion).

Agreed. Same reason I skip office Christmas parties, "team building" outings, retreat weekends, etc.

Taking a moment to enjoy a success, or just that a major heap of work is over, is critical.

The industry has a major problem with burnout. If we don't slow down, and take a break, then eventually, burnout becomes inevitable. The mind gets overworked.

Some people celebrate to recharge. Others stop using a keyboard, and find something else to do.

I don't recharge around others, I find it exhausting. But after a major project ends, I do usually find myself buying the new hit PC game, or taking a hike into the mountains.

Your coworkers celebrate, so that they can feel the weight of the release lift off easier.

Something else might already be playing that role with you - and some releases will be easy for you, and several months of hellish stress for someone else.

I think you missed my point (I probably didn't make it well): my point was just that "celebration" in the typical sense, is not how I take a moment to enjoy a success.

Fixed staff size. Fixed deadline. Fixed feature set. Something was going to give. You can't have all three.

If you fix scope and timeline, then the thing that has to give is quality. It doesn't seem like they failed to deliver all the parts of their system, they just didn't all work correctly.

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