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Comment by lucisferre | Hacker News Reader

It seems somewhat unfortunate to distil this down to where there are only two possible interpretations of someones idea, right and wrong. I don't think you could have straw manned his point any more either.

The entire idea of "can do vs can't do" is such a platitude anyways, it's not even remotely interesting. It takes all nuance away from communication. As if just because someone has to make their position clearer than a statement like "yes, if" in order to manage the expectations of others that they just don't have a "can do" attitude and by implication are destined to fail.

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How is "no, unless" clearer than a statement like "yes, if?"

I think the entire point is that they say the same thing while projecting a completely different attitude.

The way that someone responds to the question of "can we do this" is very important.

Because there's plenty of people that don't listen past the first word.

Then there are MUCH bigger problems than the first word anyways.

This kind of reply has become such a meme. Of course, it's always some "bigger" problem that are at the heart of disfunction. The problem is the _people_ who are often at the heart of such disfunction are usually the ones that judge their "reports" by how often they say "no, because" vs. "yes, if", typically because of some quote they read paraphrased in some internet discussion.

We typically call this middle management.

Regardless I'm not really interested in the blame game on who's responsible management or engineering. Both are irrelevant to this discussion. "Can" or "can't", as the article discusses, is an issue of leadership in a business. If it isn't there, it isn't going to matter whether the engineer says "how high?" whenever their asked to jump.

Why is that only a problem if you start a sentence with 'Yes' ?

Cynics always have scapegoats. It's always everyone else's fault. Dumb colleagues, idiotic managers, stupid customers. Just remember you control your situation and how those around you interact with you.

The 'Yes, if' thing is one of the major reasons I love startups.

Because they want to hear yes. So, they will keep looking for it even if you start with no.