Everything is Politics

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Politics tends to be a dirty word in the common vernacular. However, I think politics is just part of everyday living. Maybe not in the mind of every human, but at least in the mind of every worker.

My first job - not even out of high school - was detasseling for the regional farmers through the local coop. Now, I grew up in Iowa, so there's a fair amount of things I need to explain, but let's just cut to the chase and say that all you've ever heard about Iowa is probably true. Corn. It's everywhere. Pioneer was a major business in them parts, and they had enough capital to make it worth your while to work in the heat of the Iowan summer walking miles through paper-cutting corn leaves to make a buck. They paid $5/hour at a time that minimum wage was around $3.15 or $3.25 (memory lapse), so it was a Siren Song of sorts for those of us aspiring to the American Way.

A couple summers of that work, though, and one might reflect on their current situation and aspire to something more...humane. The local Hy-Vee grocery store was hiring at $3.50/hour and it was NOT outside in the blistering Iowa heat marching through nature's razor blades in an effort to help promulgate a corporate behemoth to become more behemothy. (admittedly, I'm taking a bit of artistic license here)

Hy-Vee - Where There's a Helpful Smile In Every Aisle. After being a Children of the Corn for several summers, it was a welcome reprieve to work in an air-conditioned grocery store. Sure, the pay wasn't quite as good, but the trade-off was worth it.

I used to believe that politics suck; that software was a black-and-white art. However, I now submit that the science of trade-offs is the essence of politics. Software development is a series of trade-offs. And, inevitably, it seems to be that politics is front-and-center. That is to say "trade-offs" is another term for politics. Now, admittedly, this isn't true of all situations, but compromise is unequivocally a fundamental aspect of producing software. Indeed, I submit that's is a fundamental aspect of being human. 

Compromise comes in many different guises - relationships, budgets, etc. Every decision is essentially a compromise.


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