Hacker News Reader

Mikerad1979on Whitespace killed an enterprise app

This technique is called a 5-Why in lean manufacturing. Useful tool in digging into a root cause, and helps people think deeply about the causes of issues that are not inherently obvious.

Also, 5 is just the "suggested" number. More or less may be needed. If you reach 'Because I don't want to die alone' in 3 whys, probably no need to try for 5...

Mikerad1979on The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study (2009)

I had a boss that worked in Continuous Improvement. As a manager he was great because he was very good at coming up with the nucleus of an idea. He was terrible about implementing the idea, but had a crew that was great at implementing his vision (think George Lucas).

Left to his own devices, he had some horribly implemented ideas that really messed with our manufacturing floor. He was then moved to supervise a couple of manufacturing departments, which also resulted in disaster. He was moved to another facility shortly thereafter.

Mikerad1979on Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

When writing crappy code you are either not thinking long term at all, or you are just "kicking the can down the road", in that you'll pay for it later when there isn't a time crunch.

Not that I've ever done something like that...

Mikerad1979on The big data of bad driving, and how insurers plan to track every turn

For mine, participation entails a yearly health screening. The screening measures blood pressure, BMI, nicotine usage, and cholesterol (via a blood draw).

Depending on the findings, you fall into 1 of 3 tiers, which results in a penalty on every pay check if you don't fall into the numbers.

Mikerad1979on The big data of bad driving, and how insurers plan to track every turn

They don't even use step 4. They just raise the "non-participation" penalty so high that you, for all intents and purposes, have to participate.

The company I work for charges a $50 per week penalty for not participating.

Mikerad1979on Facebook vigilantes catching thieves and punishing them

The same thing happens with an actual police force, though. Too much adrenaline and the "shoot first, ask questions never" mentality.

Mikerad1979on Examining Microsoft Edge Browser Performance

I have an excellent example of this. Despite having both Chrome and Firefox installed on my home desktop computer, my wife continues to use IE 11. Even with her own profile for Chrome, and using an Android phone with Chrome, she still sticks with IE for some odd reason.