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0 pointsgspencley1y ago0 comments

It's not FUD, it's pointing out a very real fact that most problems are not engineering problems that you can fix by choosing the one "magical" engineering solution that will work for all (or even most) situations.

You need to understand your business and your requirements. Us engineers love to think that we can solve everything with the right tools or right engineering solutions. That's not true. There is no "perfect framework." No one sized fits all solution that will magically solve everything. What "stack" you choose, what programming language, which frameworks, which hosting providers ... these are all as much business decisions as they are engineering decisions.

Good engineering isn't just about finding the simplest or cheapest solution. It is about understanding the business requirements and finding the right solution for the business.

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3 comments · 1 top-level

pphysch1y ago· 2 in thread

Having managers (business people) make technical decisions based on marketing copy is how you get 10 technical problems that metastasize into 100 business problems, usually with little awareness of how we got there in the first place.

gspencleyOP1y ago

Nice straw-man. I never once suggested that business people should be making technical decisions. What I said was that engineering solutions need to serve the needs of the business. Those are insanely different statements. They are so different that I think that you actively tried to misinterpret my comment so that you could shoot down something I didn't say.

pphysch1y ago

Well, you're using an overbroad definition of "business decisions", so forgive my interpretation. Of course everyone that goes on in a business could be conflated as a "business decision". But not everyone at the business is an MBA, so to speak. "Business" has particular semantics in this case, otherwise "engineering/technical" becomes an empty descriptor.