from Hacker News

Results (Don't) Speak for Themselves: A Case for Documentation

by RetiredRichard on 9/10/24, 12:41 PM with 10 comments

• by jakub_g on 9/10/24, 3:27 PM

  > GLP-1 agonists (such as Novo's Ozempic) are another example in healthcare. Despite their effectiveness, Pfizer rejected GLP-1s in the 1990s because they would eat into their other product lines. It took over a decade before another company, Novo, commercialized them.

  Pretty sure this happens all the time those days. Big corps being happy with status quo, and not doing X until a small motivated competitor does.

• by advisedwang on 9/10/24, 4:06 PM

  The education and health sections is a lesson that politics is unavoidable where interests clash. Recognizing that there are people who stand to lose from what you see as a good thing is really important, and understanding they will fight against it is vital. With that in mind it's clear that in such cases documentation is not enough - you actually need to go fight for it too.

  I do recognize that sometimes interests align broadly enough that taking action shouldn't need a fight over interests. The hand sanitizing example is one such case. This is where laying out the case and winning hearts and minds could be enough.

• by CipherThrowaway on 9/10/24, 4:38 PM

  So where is the "case for documentation"? The author provides no vision and no actionable recommendations. Documentation is not even mentioned until the end of the article.

  Anyone can pat themselves on the back for pointing to the worlds problems and saying "this could be better!"

• by from-nibly on 9/10/24, 3:56 PM

  Yeah I don't think it's a lack of understanding of the results. It's a lack of desire for said results.