I wouldn't want to run a company, but I keep hearing about incompetent bullshit and so I think I want to run a company and not fuck it up.

Thoughts?

Be a shadow CEO that only interferes when necessary

I think a lot of us think that. I really want to run a company a make it right and Im working towards that slowly. i think It's worth at least trying. Im currently working at a Startup that's ran by two software engineer, old school guys but Still eager to learn and despite our processes being shit often, they are better than any corporate I worked with/for so far.
On the other hand I think if you want to run a company, you also need to remain grounded, because the simple fact is that doing things better than anyone else takes constant effort and balancing. I kinda think of it like entropy. Most corporates just let it increase until It's too shit to fix in reasonable time/price. A good company would try to maintain low entropy through It's entire lifetime, and that takes team effort, time and money...
Still, I would be remiss if I didn't at least try. I support devs building companies rather than normies

@Hazarth I agree it's hard. I think the thing that infuriates me is the stuff that just shouldn't happen. Bad managers blaming their people for their fuck ups. Bullshit like quoting legislation to people as justification for something stupid that is nothing to do with the legislation. Being better than everyone else isn't the goal I've got in mind. "Don't be shit" is my goal.

@alexbrooklyn I like this. The best CEO I've seen hired people he trusted and left them to it. That was literally his strategy, that's what he told people. The worst CEO I've seen was his successor, but there's a load of political reasons there.

Oh don't worry, your personal unique idiocy will show the moment you get in a position of power.

@lbfalvy eeeehhh. Hitch hikers guide, Douglas Adams, there's a guy on a planet that basically controls the universe. People come to him, ask him questions, then leave him alone. He doesn't want power. I'm not saying I'd be good, and I don't really want it, but I think I could at least not be totally shit. Step one would be to find some people that I think aren't shit. Step 2 is listen to them.

It's fucking hard. I've met people that work every day, weekends included, it's crazy. I would've killed myself.

@atheist There's a difference between listening to your employees and letting them do whatever they want. The lord of the galaxy in HHGTTG may have unrestricted power but since he isn't doing anything with it (and he isn't expected to take control any time soon) it's not him who effectively makes most decisions. In any case, it the galaxy in the book is a loosely bound state where most effective decisions are made by local governments.

well, it's not easy, specially if you work with investors that need fast releases. i worked for some startups, and most of the rush and lack of organization was caused by the clients

@darksideofyay oh god yes, I'd hate to do it, I'm sure it's horrible. That's kinda why I wanna do it. I think it could be done better, or at least with fewer fuck ups. It's unfair of me to criticise if I'm not willing to try though.

I built a few apps with a team of part time engineers and a designer. It was fun. Didn’t make any any money off it though because advertising is exoensive

@chovy "advertising is expensive" is the first and most expensive lesson you can learn if you decide to learn it the hard way. The second most expensive lesson to learn the hard way? "Bankruptcy is, like crashing at takeoff, often the result of too short a runway."

@jAsE-cAsE uuuurrrggghhh... I mean, I wouldn't want to micromanage. But so much stuff amounts to "I've got one manager and think he's a bit of an asshole, but who do I tell?". I mean, I joined a company 3 months ago and spoke to my manager a couple of times a week, had 3 team meetings a week, and didn't really speak to anyone else at work. Making sure people have someone to talk to, making sure people get to know their team, isn't that hard. Stuff like that is incompetent. Verging on illegal. My manager is a jerk, but I'm having to raise a grievance about *HIS* manager, nevermind my manager being shit.

So, as an update, the biggest thing I'd want to do better is fix this bullshit:

https://devrant.com/rants/4781731/...