Gal Ziv
Gal Ziv
Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read

“Empathy is critical for good programmers, for instance. Writing code that is easy for others to understand and evolve requires empathy for fellow programmers”

That is utter nonsense. the code needs to be as efficient as possible.

It does require, for pure BUSINESS CONTINUITY reasons, to have at least as efficient documentation and logging. Such documentation is not done due to “empathy for fellow programmers” — it is done as a company mandate to allow the company to continue the development of the same product should the original developer no longer be able to continue to do so — for whatever reason — be it (from worse to best : death; form of disability that does not allow him to keep working at that position; getting “let go” / fired; quitting; getting promoted; winning the lottery). Logging is there to help troubleshoot issues that may arise due to code or process inefficiencies.

Business is business, and the bottom line is (as cynical as it may seem) that no matter how much your company “has empathy”, if it doesn’t suit its owner/board — they will let it or you go because it’s no longer “in the best interest of the company” etc.

Having said all that, Software Engineering is more than programming. it is so much more than just code. Still, nothing in the memo/manifesto or whatever you want to call it, calls for what you described in your post.

So, again, in one word — nonsense.

There is much I can say about Yonatan’s post — but a lot of other people have already noted the main points. It is indeed regrettable that the original memo did not include proper references, and in some places may have been written poorly, leaving room for misinterpretation and focusing on anecdotal points rather than the ideas. But then again it was only supposed to be an internal memo. not a thesis or proper journalism paper.

The backlash and the eventual firing of the employee kind of prove his point. People with opinions which “may be considered toxic” will no longer allow themselves to speak at Google (and probably other companies). Good Job, Google!

Lastly: Consider this an example to show how some antagonism brings the “best” in people: (Edit: don’t pay attention to the article writer — it’s useless for the purpose of this discussion. only look at the Google workers’ responses):

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    Gal Ziv

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