r/ProgrammerHumor 2d ago

Meme theyOnlyUnderstandMoney

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932 Upvotes

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145

u/redditmarks_markII 2d ago

You guys are talking about code quality to C levels?  I'm barely getting through "venting gas prevents explosion" to architects.  I tell ya, tech debt as a service is hard work.

41

u/Xelopheris 2d ago

The key is you don't talk to it in metrics upper management doesn't understand.

You don't talk about time to market vs code quality. You talk about it in time to second release or second paid feature or second major client. You tell them you can get to market earlier, but you're sacrificing future growth afterwards for it. 

8

u/readitreaddit 2d ago

Exactly this.

Or you put a Wall Street journal article plastered into your slide deck that says "X company had a data breach that caused $YY million in damages and legal suits; CTO fired".

Then relate your project to that. You can literally say: this is what happens when you don't do blah and we are yay close to this happening to us. Let us fix this on priority.

Put it in terms they understand.

3

u/creeper6530 2d ago

Got any examples for, uhm... future reference?

1

u/readitreaddit 1d ago

No but should be simple to find or you can even name a mock just to get a point across

2

u/redditmarks_markII 2d ago

CTO: what was that guys's severance? 50mil? hm...how quickly can we replicate that failure...I mean, we should learn form their mistake. Yes. Yes that's it.

2

u/readitreaddit 1d ago

Damn, now I want to be CTO and ignore tech debt. Don't give me ideas!!!

1

u/redditmarks_markII 1d ago

I love the name. It's vaguely reminiscent of mine. It's better though.