Vindication

I went out drinking with some [old company] people last night.  Several things I wrote are still in common use, including things that I received negative feedback about.  It felt pretty good to hear about that, especially about people using the hack I wrote to get around one of [old company]'s shitty ass configuration systems.  In fact, when it comes to solving problems for code, I have a perfect score.  Of course when it comes to solving political problems by explaining to people why they suck, I have a bad score.

Based on a comparison of my experiences at [old company] and [current company], I would conclude that if it is at all possible to solve a problem with code, it should be done so, even if your manager, manager's manager, and your peers tell you not to.  The key is to not tell people about the tool until it has proven its usefulness.  When it comes to problems that cannot be solved with code, it is NOT a good idea to strike at the root of the problem (e.g. try telling a congressmen that they make bad decisions because of the disproportion influence of the people funding their campaign) but instead to make a great show of attempting to solve the problem in the manner other people expect, while patiently waiting until you have enough political influence to effect a real change.  It is likely that you will credit for the show, and you won't receive credit for the real fix.

I'm even finding this true in my startup.  My business partner (who doesn't understand the difference between the front-end and back-end of the web) wants to pay our mediocre graphics person $700 for a static web page.  Telling her flat out that $700 was a ridiculous price for a web page was ineffective.  I must, instead, fix this problem silently, and with great patience.