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The Door Problem (2014)

77 pointsby windsurferover 4 years ago

7 comments

tjchearover 4 years ago
I like that the author brings up all the different roles in a company and explains succinctly what each one does with the door.<p>This could be a good way to explain an industry or the roles within a company to newcomers.
ineedasernameover 4 years ago
I think all jobs have that component in many ways, though not all with the veneer of glamour. In my job, it&#x27;s not doors. It&#x27;s &quot;I count things&quot;.<p>I&#x27;m probably something like a data scientist (my work precedes the popularization of that term) but I&#x27;m sort of merging of data&#x2F;statistical analyst, report writer, occasional programmer, occasional ETL writer etc.<p>An extremely large amount of my work results in output that is a count of some measure or metric or whatever. It might be something that happened, things happening now, things that might happen. But a lot of it comes down to counts. I recently finished a month-long analysis of 10 years of data to validate potential operational changes. The result? Counts of what happened in the past, counts of what might happen if we make changes.<p>The list of questions I have to answer, and ask people, is as long as the &quot;doors&quot;.<p>Most jobs are rarely as simple as they appear from the outside. On a novel project, it might take me a week to come up with a single number. I have had a few occasions where I have had to explain in a similar &quot;doors&quot; list why that is often the case. It often ends with me saying something like, &quot;So I can get you a bad number in a day. I can get you something minimally usable in 3 days. Or I can get you the correct answer in a week.&quot;
avereveardover 4 years ago
&gt; Character Artist: I don’t really care<p>&quot;I&#x27;ll have to detail the hand for the door animation&quot;
dangover 4 years ago
If curious see also<p>2017 <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=16021509" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=16021509</a>
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andreareinaover 4 years ago
And here I thought it was about the other door problem, where they&#x27;re used as a chokepoint, enabling a more timid playstyle.
amirmalekiover 4 years ago
That was quite an insight. But wait, isn&#x27;t it middle-managers job to address those conflicts and take steps to resolve them?
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supernova87aover 4 years ago
If you have a good team, 2&#x2F;3 of those roles can be avoided, saving you from bloating your company and diluting your value.
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