here is a nuance i really think people need to understand, especially people who work within the tech industry.
are there grunts in the trenches working in bigtech who are trying to make the best thing they can? sure. not all of us are out here quiet quitting, nobody likes to feel like they're doing a bad job, and there's always a few true believers in the mix. Corporate loves them, they're easier to manipulate.
are those the people who decide what gets done, and how? no. that's management's job, and management's job is an entirely different set of priorities the further up the chain you go.
a corporation exists to make profit. it is literally legally bound to do whatever it takes to do that. Any perceived quality of a product or lack thereof is merely a byproduct of that goal.
If management decides your Cool Feature Idea™ will improve their metrics this quarter? they might sign off, sure. They also might tell you to stuff it, or give you not enough time to do it right, or rush it out the door before it was done, or backburner it in favor of Bad Feature Idea That Makes Advertisers Happy™.
That is the reality of the business. This is capitalism, and capitalism does what it do.
This reality has some important consequences to how we talk about the things that corporations do. There's a bit of dogma that has arisen over the last some years in an understandable attempt to counter the toxic negativity that exists within tech spaces: "assume good faith."
And here's the thing: this is a perfectly good thought to keep in mind, if with a grain of salt at times, when talking to an individual in a conversation.
It is a terrible attitude for understanding the actions of a corporation. Corporations do not care about your good faith, and will indeed happily exploit it. I would love to live in a world where I could trust a single word a company says, but this is not that world and never will be. If the CEO of Google told me the sky is blue, I'd call a climatologist.
So when some corporation tells me their latest Bad Feature Idea™ is for my benefit? Hahahahaha no. No it sure as shit is not, and never was meant to be.
Are there maybe some grunts who've got sold a line and honestly believe it? Are even working their hardest to make it happen? Maybe. Probably even.
But I'm not talking about them, nor am I attacking them, because they don't make the decisions. I'm talking about the corporation. And the corporation does what it do.
because they are bank accounts cosplaying people