Hacker News Reader

Less technical here doesn't neccesarily mean "worse engineers". It can also mean lawyers, marketing, sales, product, and leadership.

Someone is trying to learn something from you and you give them an answer so full of holes and caveats that it looks like fishnet stockings, you haven't imparted any confidence to them in your answer.

View on HN

When someone asks you if you can commit to delivery in the upcoming sprint, they aren’t trying to learn from you.

Also, caveats are valuable information. Yes, we can go live next week if the number of users remains under x until we complete z. Clear communication empowers decision makers. Intentionally omitting trade-offs and limitations that are relevant means you’re being misleading.

Their confidence is not my concern to babysit. You're essentially asking engineers to lie and take blame.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com