Ramblin' & Amblin' (2026-10-22): Another thing is proximity
Ramblin' & Amblin' Field Notes with Mike Hall (Staff Software Engineer) Recorded on the move: engineering observations, systems architecture, and software craftsmanship reflections.
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Another thing is proximity. Proximity trumps competence. Every time I worked with a company where the headquarters,
where the senior technical leadership was in a different
state, and there was one developer in that office. Well, I mean, there's more than one developer in that
office, but that one developer, I'm pretty sure they made
sure that their desk was right outside the office of the
senior, or the CTO, I'll just say CTO, because that was it.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
They made sure their desk was outside the CTO's office. And
I was working on a team in Chicago. And I was brought in by
a friend, and who I had worked with before, and knew what I
could do, and what he was facing in that org. And that was, it was a skeleton team of, at the time,
relatively junior developers, responsible for a relatively
large system.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, and he needed to get some traction. So that's what I
did. One of the things I did was recognizing that the
leadership didn't take us seriously, is even that we had to
start dressing better. So I have to say, couldn't make everybody dressed better,
but I started wearing a vest and, and, and that, and a tie.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Um, so that way, when I would be in meetings with these
salespeople, um, and, and other senior people who were used
to being in a sales adjacent role, wouldn't see a bunch of,
uh, slacks and t-shirts, I mean, jeans and t-shirts. But, um, somebody who's at least dressing more, what they
see is the part. And this did have a net positive result on, along with a
couple other things on, on the overall disposition towards
the engineering team. Um, but none of that.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
So I'm, I'm, I'm saying that to phrase it, um, paint the
picture of what I'm doing in, in my space. But the problem is, the CTO's in another state, and there's
this one developer who's younger, who's a little
enthusiastic and thinks he knows everything, which I
appreciate. But I wasn't the one that had a problem with him. It was the people I was working with, because they knew
that they would, uh, be basically thrown under the bus on a
regular basis by this particular individual.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
But that particular individual had lunch with the CTO every
day. They'd have their little, you know, tete-a-tete's. Um, I did get to go down and see the office one time, and,
you know, it was one of those offices where the CTO wanted
me to be impressed, um, by, by his space. So, uh, when decisions would come to a head, even the
person I reported to would get shut down.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, uh, it was never named to this person, but it would
always be what they wanted. Um, whatever their idea was, uh, and there were times where
negativity came back to us because of these decisions, and
then that person had changed the, uh, narrative to where it
wasn't their idea. You know, stuff like that. And I tried to engage this person, uh, I thought, not, um,
negatively, but trying to get them on my side, you know, to
work with them, to appeal to their engineering mindset.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, um, you know, appeal to engineering. We're going to build something that's going to be good. Like, I, I appreciate, you know, what you're working here. Come check out this and they, but I didn't realize they
heard that as a threat, maybe not, you know, an overt one,
but they saw me as, as somebody who's now in competition
with them.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Um, and if you can't beat somebody, uh, with the facts, let
's say if you can't pound the facts, you pound the table. Um, but, uh, when you can walk into the room of the
decision maker and that person is easily influenced by
personality and persistence, um, not reasoning and, uh,
um, um, um, um, rigor, think now about why I, I'm anxious
about all of this stuff with, uh, AI and, and the mirage of
competence is that even before AI, I, I experienced this,
um, predicament. Um, and I, at the time didn't have the, uh, uh, uh,
emotional awareness, uh, uh, of mind, uh, frame of mind to,
to understand what was really going on. Like, I understood, like, oh, you always just has, um,
lunch with the, uh, CDO.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
But, uh, I always thought that you could overcome this with
good engineering, rigor, and practice, and delivery, and
discipline. And that was wrong. That was wrong. This is not the case anymore.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I was, or if it ever was, I don't know. Um, but, uh, yeah. Personality trumps logic every time. Um, and presence is, is everything.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Um, because, uh, these, uh, leaders, they're going to do
what they're told by the person who's closest to them. Um, hence the RTO and all of that stuff, I think, is
connected. All right. Stay connected.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
All right, thanks. Bye.