Writing

Feed Software, technology, sysadmin war stories, and more.

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

It's now your fault they don't know about it

Quite a while back, I wrote a post that basically went like this: if someone has a problem with someone else or something that person is doing, they're going to find a way to get to "no". They will find some reason, some excuse, or some problem with it. They'll bring up a point and you'll show that this is not in fact a thing. They will then pivot again and again.

At the time, I was mostly referring to the open sewers that are certain web forums on certain days of the week and certain hours of those days. For some reason, when the regular people are out doing whatever they do, the haters have nothing better to do than run unchecked on the web. With no sensible people there to set them straight, they feed off each other, and pretty soon you have some straight-up nuclear waste in those forums.

But, as I said, that was back then, and this time I'm talking about something else: when it happens in person with a coworker. I had an experience like this a few years back, and figured I'd share how it goes for the sake of others who might not have encountered it yet, or who have and thought they were alone in this.

It goes something like this. The topic of something or other that you intend to build has come up. You've mentioned it multiple times in different venues with very little uptake from the rest of the team. It's pretty clear they are more concerned with other things. Time passes, and now it comes up in conversation with this coworker.

Coworker: There are no docs for [this thing you're doing].

You: Yes there are.

Coworker: You could make a wiki page.

You: There *IS* a wiki page. [finds page, sends link]

Coworker: This is just a list.

You: Scroll down.

Coworker: But this isn't a design plan.

You: I posted that to the team group two months ago. [finds post, sends link to that too]

Coworker: You should put it in the wiki.

You: If I put it in the wiki you would have said to put it in the group, and if I put it in the group you would have said I should have put it in the wiki.

Basically, with them, something's always wrong, and if you refute their points, they will pivot to find something else. This will go on for a while, and at no point will they ever reach a point of being able to understand what's going on. They chose their outcome before they even started the conversation, and they're on rails, headed for that outcome and no other.

Here's how you can tell. A reasonable person might also raise concerns, but it sure wouldn't go the same way.

Coworker: [goes and does a cursory search, finds the group post, then finds the wiki page, and reads all of it first]

Coworker: I have (specific concern) about [thing you're doing]. I couldn't find anything about it in that group post or on the wiki.

You: Oh, crap, yeah, that's a thing. Huh, okay, we have to figure that out.

or ...

You: Check it out, it's kind of buried in the wiki, behind this thing you have to flip open for it to be visible. It's not great but the page is getting too big. Sorry about that. Maybe we can reorganize it somehow.

or ...

You: Huh, I thought we talked about that in the group post? Guess not, okay, well, whatever, we're here now, tell me more?

... you get the idea.

The point is: reasonable people approach such situations entirely differently. They tend to do *at least* the basics of looking around a little for some answers before showing up and declaring that the person in question has put something out there without documentation.

Basically, that declaration from the first scenario ("there are no docs for X") actually means "you did not manage to do whatever arcane steps are required to forcibly insert this into my brain, such that I somehow know about it without doing ANY ACTUAL WORK ON MY OWN to learn about it". And, as a bonus, it's your fault they don't know about it. Short of fully supplicating yourself before them, you will *never* please them. It is not possible.

Now, sure, there are projects in this life where people don't write a damn thing about them and which definitely have no documentation attached. This is not that scenario. Consider the players here. If I was involved with something, do you think there'd be any lack of writing on the topic, given how much I obviously like seeing myself in print? Of course not. I write early and often when there's something like that going on. It's just my nature.

That guy can take a long walk off a short pier. Good riddance.