#044 - Managers should know how to code feat. Thorsten Ball

Backend Banter

In today's episode, we bring Thorsten Ball, author of "Writing An Interpreter In Go" and "Writing A Compiler In Go". In this talk, we discuss the different clashes and responsibilities between Product and Engineering teams, reignite the topic of working with technical managers, explain why cookie banners are dumb, and on a more interpersonal note, discuss how important coolness is in education, explain why a lot of the times, highly talented people just don't know how to work and also dabble into the ideas of fulfillment, responsibility and reliability.

Thorsten's Twitter: https://twitter.com/thorstenball
Register Spill: https://registerspill.thorstenball.com/
Thorsten's Books: https://thorstenball.com/books/

• (01:08) - The idea behind Register Spill
• (02:20) - It's a Negotiation: When Product and Engineering meet
• (05:58) - Engineering vs Product
• (07:31) - Thorsten's view of the Product team
• (09:36) - Thorsten's view of the Engineering team
• (11:06) - Engineers should inform product before building something
• (14:57) - Real-life example from Thorsten
• (18:04) - Measuring completixy in T-Shirt sizes and Time Estimates
• (22:46) - Set a cap on time dedicated to a task
• (23:50) - Do we need more technical leadership?
• (27:58) - Working with Engineering Managers that are technical is a bliss
• (35:19) - Not Every Company Is For Everybody
• (41:14) - Cookie Banners are Dumb
• (50:13) - Educators underestimate how important coolness is
• (56:19) - There are a lot of highly capable people that just don't know how to work
• (01:02:20) - Getting fulfillment just from the effort
• (01:04:23) - Be reliable
• (01:06:34) - Where to find Thorsten