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Software Friction

(www.hillelwayne.com)
141 points saikatsg | 1 comments | 17 Jun 24 06:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.23s | source
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WJW ◴[18 Jun 24 11:13 UTC] No.40716351[source]▶
> What about event planners, nurses, military officers?

As a Dutch ex-Navy officer, we just called this "friction" as everyone had read Von Clausewitz during officer training and was familiar with the nuances of the term. Militaries overwhelmingly address this problem by increasing redundancy, so that there are as few single points of failures as possible. It is very rare to encounter a role that can only be filled by a single person, a well designed military organization will always have a plan for replacing any single individual should they accidentally die.

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pjc50 ◴[18 Jun 24 12:23 UTC] No.40716962[source]▶
"The graveyards are full of indispensable men" -- attr. Napoleon

"I can make a brigadier general in five minutes, but it is not easy to replace a hundred and ten horses" -- attr. Lincoln (exact words vary by source)

It's noticeable how few computer wargames simulate any of this, instead allowing for frictionless high speed micromanagement.

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1. gumby ◴[18 Jun 24 17:21 UTC] No.40720084[source]▶
> It's noticeable how few computer wargames simulate any of this, instead allowing for frictionless high speed micromanagement.

Games are entertainment, and as with a novel or film, the authors pick and choose to get the level of verisimilitude they think the player/reader/viewer might want. Who wants to take an in-game break to go to the bathroom? When you pick something up (extra ammo) it's instantaneous -- and how come there are so many prefilled magazines lying around anyway? And when you get shot your shoulder doesn't hurt and you don't spend any time in the hospital.