Feel this engineering heroism is a symptom of a culture/mindset where people are available/willing to drop everything to address an emergency (unplanned work) but always too busy to address the underlying problem in planned manner (read it build quality into the product from the onset).
It reminds me of the analogy given in Accelerate book (by Forsgren, Humble and Kim) about paying attention to low fuel light vs car running out of fuel.
Perhaps it is human nature; tackling an emergency is exciting (adrenaline), implementing an improvement in controlled manner is boring. Akin to revising for exams night before when there was plenty of time to do so a week ago!
It's easier to be seen in heroism mode. I think the hustle culture also plays a role in that. In the end you need to thank the Hero for saving the day, otherwise they won't do it again when it happens.
But the biggest problem I observe is that leaders, esp. on the very top, forget to praise predictability, stability, "things working as expected". They take it for granted, so it's not really sexy for those who seek promotion, growth, and just be seen.
Love it! Hero engineers are such an organizational antipattern... Sometimes they do emerge naturally but if they do, it's a sign there's something wrong with the org as a whole
I have no problem with heroes; they can move a product company forward by light years (or save it from annihilation).
However, it's not a repetitive pattern, and companies should proactively take steps to address this dependency. Yet too many of them wait for too long.
Feel this engineering heroism is a symptom of a culture/mindset where people are available/willing to drop everything to address an emergency (unplanned work) but always too busy to address the underlying problem in planned manner (read it build quality into the product from the onset).
It reminds me of the analogy given in Accelerate book (by Forsgren, Humble and Kim) about paying attention to low fuel light vs car running out of fuel.
Perhaps it is human nature; tackling an emergency is exciting (adrenaline), implementing an improvement in controlled manner is boring. Akin to revising for exams night before when there was plenty of time to do so a week ago!
It's easier to be seen in heroism mode. I think the hustle culture also plays a role in that. In the end you need to thank the Hero for saving the day, otherwise they won't do it again when it happens.
But the biggest problem I observe is that leaders, esp. on the very top, forget to praise predictability, stability, "things working as expected". They take it for granted, so it's not really sexy for those who seek promotion, growth, and just be seen.
Love it! Hero engineers are such an organizational antipattern... Sometimes they do emerge naturally but if they do, it's a sign there's something wrong with the org as a whole
💯!
I have no problem with heroes; they can move a product company forward by light years (or save it from annihilation).
However, it's not a repetitive pattern, and companies should proactively take steps to address this dependency. Yet too many of them wait for too long.
I really prefer when there's no need for heroism at work 😄