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Ask HN: How to handle morally superior engineers

5 points by runawaybottle ↗ HN
I’ve got a team that is building a product that is mostly not meeting any definition of success. The current team is hiding behind what I would consider ‘moral superiority’, where they point to ‘well this app is very complicated and you won’t get it’, ‘we are following best practices from top companies’, ‘we are real engineers’, etc. None of them are faang, for if they were, they would faang themselvss to a FAANG by now. They bring no notable experience either, nothing that would impress anyone.

The product(s) are not meeting any acceptance criteria. What is the best way to tell them to shut the fuck up?

10 comments

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mssundaram
Are you also an engineer on the team, or a product owner, or what role do you play?
runawaybottle
This I cannot answer, the identify bloc reads HN. Work with what I told you.

Edit: for the downvoters, respect anonymity, which is sacred for honest discussion. I can’t give more context.

mssundaram
You could try using a throwaway account next time, and also add some obfuscating and extraneous details, such as... If you are at an enterprise in London, make the post say that you work for "a small startup in NYC"
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derivagral
Perhaps you're frustrated, but consider that in this post you come off as primarily blaming them. I can only speak for myself but I would expect that many on this site, faang or not, are not willing to put up with that kind of attitude from their boss. I'd be curious to know why you jump to "moral superiority" instead of digging in to whatever might be causing the problems.
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TylerE
Jump shit to somewhere that isn't incredibly f'ed.

This sounds like mass stupidity and ego, not moral superiority.

sarcasmatwork
Is there clear guidelines and requirements? Can it be broken down into smaller tasks? What IS the "problem" they are facing now and why is their no progress?

Are you doing kanban or any agile methods?

Do they not understand their roles and or expectations?