Why Should Americans Be Grateful for $137 Insulin? Germans Get It for $55 - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/opinion/diabetes-insulin-generics-humalog.html <comment><USER2> You want to see a bigger differential?

When I was in the US, I needed an inhaler. It cost $250 to see the doctor and the inhaler was $150.

In the UK. It costs £0 to see the doctor and for the inhaler now is £8.80. Although I remember a time when it was £4.

Americans pay way too much for healthcare.

<comment><USER3> We pay for healthcare every month, even if we dont go the doctor. Last year I paid 500€ per month for healthcare, and I went one time to the doctor

<comment><USER4> In other words: The direct cost of the insulin for the average German is not $55, but $0 - since it is covered by the mandatory health insurance.

That said, don't worry that you do not get enough back from your health insurance. This will come soon enough when you get older ;-)

<comment><USER5> Are people not understanding how drug prices work?

Intellectual property law is a way for government to grant exclusivity to one firm. This whole "you can get it for x in Canada and y in Germany" is a silly conversation. It's not like it costs 1000x to manufacturer the drug here vs there. The R&D and marketing costs are amortized over the period of exclusivity. Saying "you can just go to Canada to get it" just means "im going to circumvent intellectual property law." It's kind of like, but not quite, piracy. You're choosing where and when which laws apply to you. It also kicks the can down to the rest of the people buying the drug, because we know the pharma actuaries arent going to price their drug at a loss. And then on top of that, like you say, these prices people pay AFTER insurance arent what the cost of the drug is to the population, its an already subsidized price.

Germans and Canadians are getting the drug cheaper not only because they have different laws, but because the R&D recovery isnt evenly split between country, they take their money where they can get it.

Insulin SHOULD be generic by now (the patent on long-acting synthetic insulin expired in 2014), but the companies continually improve it and always sell the latest variant. And of course Doctors are going to prescribe what works best.

<comment><USER6> > but because the R&D recovery isnt evenly split between country,

This point, which always comes up in these threads, has already been debunked both in those other threads, but it was even debunked here before you made this comment.

<comment><USER5> You're saying drug companies make an equal amount of extra money, after manufacturing costs, in every country?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Because that's a direct consequence of the system their elected representatives have burdened them with?

Edit: To be completely fair, that probably explains why they _have_ to pay it, not why they _should_.

<comment><USER8> Correct and as a reminder, these elected representatives receive health care benefits that exceed those available for the majority of their constituents.

[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/members-congress-health- ca...](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/members-congress-health-care/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Let's check it in India:

Sanofi sells it at $3 (208 INR) [https://www.medindia.net/drug-price/insulin- lispro/insuman-r...](https://www.medindia.net/drug-price/insulin- lispro/insuman-rapid-100iu-ml.htm)

Humalog(3ml) sells at $7 (544 INR) [https://www.medindia.net/drug- price/insulin-lispro/humalog-3...](https://www.medindia.net/drug- price/insulin-lispro/humalog-3ml.htm)

Humalog (3ml) sells at $94 in USA: [https://www.drugs.com/price- guide/humalog](https://www.drugs.com/price-guide/humalog)

</comment><comment><USER10> Pardon the editorial here but this is a sloppy opinion piece.

\- It would be helpful (and honest) if the article discussed the rate of demand in both / any / all countries.

\- Why only Germany?

\- Why only Insulin?

No doubt, the USA healthcare systems has issues that need to be addressed. However, that's not where the problem starts. The truth is, it's no worse than the (attention to personal) health of the majority people using the system.

BTW, I caught bit of the (new?) PBS feature on Cancer a couple nights ago. At one point, one of the doctors being interviewed said (paraphrasing): "We could reduce the rate of cancer by 50% if we were willing to adopt the changes[1] that have already been recommended. No additional research required. 50%!"

[1] Diet, lifestyle, etc.

<comment><USER11> The American lifestyle/diet and healthcare costs are two separate issues that both desperately need to be solved. What a lot of people don't know outside the U.S., is that the obesity crisis exists in upper class and upper-middle class, but is a completely different animal among the poor and working poor. I grew up in a working-poor family, and kept that same social group until about 10 years ago.

The culture around food is completely destroyed. Social gatherings revolve around unhealthy food. There is generally not the understanding that the choices for what you eat is the major reason for obesity. The poor are lied to so much, they don't know what to believe, and the prevailing opinion tends to be that it is mostly due to genetics (how could that be, we have the same genes as 1-2 generations ago) or character (laziness, but I was obese in the past and worked a full time job and two part time jobs). In the past, the poor would get info from cable news, or not at all. Today, they get their news from Dr. Oz feeds on Facebook telling them to lose weight with various forms of snake oil.

While there is quite the gym culture in the U.S. in upper middle class, lower class does not have money for the gym, but mainly their metabolism is so shot from the foods they eat that they don't have the energy to go to the gym.

The government and the medical field in general could do a lot to move the needle on the terrible food culture, but they don't. They in fact made the terrible food pyramid, that tells people to eat grains above all else, and says nothing about the processing of the foods that they eat. And the foods they eat are processed to the nth degree. When I eat with some of my old friends or family that are still a part of my old culture, I am always amazed by how terrible the cheap food is here. It really doesn't even taste like food. Potato chips, rubbery chicken nuggets, soda, Totinos pizza, TV dinners, Hamburger Helper, I could go on...

<comment><USER10> > "The government and the medical field in general could do a lot to move the > needle on the terrible food culture, but they don't."

I wanted to reply to this directly.

Yes and no. Nothing is more personal than what you put in your mouth. It's not just to blame others for those decision(s) / action(s). Could more be done? Yup. But gov + med are not the only ones dropping the ball. How many times does a doc have to say "You've got to lose weight" before they give up, and are "forced" to write a script for meds X, Y and Z?

I mean, when you step up to the toilet, you look down and can't see over your belly and see where your pee is coming from, isn't that a red flag? Maybe the trip to the all you can eat buffet isn't a good idea?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> The patent laws need changing, especially the laws that allow companies to slightly change the process and re-patent the same thing over and over again. Barring that, Congress could invalidate patents. It's ridiculous that they hold hearings on high drug prices when they could fix this issue themselves in a few days. Barring that, they could allow imports from other countries. Barring that, I hope a proper black market for such drugs pops up because Congress refuses to act on behalf of the people even when they are dying so that these drug companies can get richer. To me that's murder. Like the classic ethics 101 dilemma asks, should one steal life saving medicine to save oneself or one's loved ones? This is not a hypothetical situation in the US, it is everyday life for millions. And the answer is yes. I would say at this point, there is no unethical action one could commit to this end. The truly unethical and monstrous actions are the drug companies greed driven prices and worse, Congress' unwillingness to act while people suffer and die. That's akin to murder, imo.

</comment><comment><USER13> Is there an analysis of "all" prices somewhere, maybe even combined with the sales numbers? Just as an example, some more common drugs like Ibuprofen are much more expensive in Germany. I get that we can always point to drug X or Y.

There's probably also an interesting conversation about effective cost: what does average Joe pay after taking deductions into account?

<comment><USER14> > some more common drugs like Ibuprofen are much more expensive in Germany.

What's stranger to me as an American living in Germany is that you can't get it at "drug stores" like DM, Rossman, etc. that are the equivalent of CVS/Walgreens, let alone grocery stores. You have to get it at an apotheke (pharmacy) that's a separate business. In practice that means it's both more annoying (due to more limited business hours) and more expensive. No going to Costco to get a bigass bottle of more ibuprofen than any one family could reasonably use here.

But you _can_ order it online at Amazon, oddly enough, though it's still much more expensive than in the states, and it looks like the largest size on offer is 50-count.

I get that German society is somewhat more regulated than in the US, but I just don't see what's the threat with basic medicines like ibuprofen that necessitates them being sold at specialist stores.

<comment><USER15> Even though ibuprofen is considered a basic medicine, it's still a medicine. Ibuprofen is not totally risk free and therefore needs to be sold by "professionals". Either way, Americans tend to overuse this drug as a pain killer for every little bit of ache they may have, which is dangerous. The first time I took ibuprofen was when I broke my arm with 12-13 for the first day. The next time was with 24 after I got a root canal removed.

<comment><USER16> "it's still a medicine. Ibuprofen is not totally risk free and therefore needs to be sold by "professionals""

I don't know if you're using medicine as an _official_ term here.

There are plenty of things that are medicine like, plenty of things that aren't risk free.

Peanut butter isn't risk free if you're allergic to nuts. Honey isn't risk free for young children. Alcohol isn't risk free.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> They need to overhaul the industry and it must start with how the FDA approves new and old drugs. For example, drugs should have hard expiry regardless of patent claims. No more generic exclusivities. More importantly, scrap biosimilars and make all biologic manufacturers turn over the specific details to produce identical products.

</comment><comment><USER18> Walmart sells old-school insulin for $25 / vial:

[https://www.walmart.com/ip/Novolin-ReliOn- Insulin-R/12978348...](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Novolin-ReliOn- Insulin-R/129783484)

[https://www.walmart.com/ip/Novolin-ReliOn- Insulin-N/16767244...](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Novolin-ReliOn- Insulin-N/167672445)

</comment><comment><USER19> I pay into the system and have no issues doing so, when you think about it, at some point you too will be at the mercy of some(let's hope not) disease or someone you know will and you'd be glad you won't be going bankrupt. A healthy society is a productive society. if that's socialism then I'm all for it.

<comment> maze-le And even if you don't need it, the people surrounding you (friends, family, co-workers, people you share a seat with in the tram) are probably in a better general state of health, which is also good for you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> > Imagine if Apple sold a $500 iPhone for $250 if it was called, say, a > yPhone, and simply lacked the elaborate white box and the little Apple on > back. That would be patently absurd. An iPhone in a brown paper bag is still > an iPhone.

To be fair, Apple already does this. If you buy a refurbished Apple device, you are essentially getting a cheaper iPhone with slightly worse packaging.

<comment><USER21> > To be fair, Apple already does this. If you buy a refurbished Apple device, > you are essentially getting an iPhone with slightly worse packaging.

This is not the same, because the device will still be Apple with the same design and logo. But the article is making different point that if Apple would sell also yPhone with same technical specs and slightly different design and half the price then it would be outragous.

P.S. They are paying that price the same reason why they pay 20x more for university than Europeans. It is the system that they live in.

<comment><USER22> > if Apple would sell also yPhone with same technical specs and slightly > different design and half the price then it would be outragous.

Would it? Companies do this all the time; it's called differential pricing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> The argument I heard it's that it's the USA that's disproportionately funding R&D in the medical field, so naturally the costs are higher than for someone just replicating the formula and selling it. Is there any truth to this?

</comment><comment><USER24> You can thank the FDA (plus the patent system) for that. If it wasn't so fantastically expensive to bring generic, age-old, drugs to the market in the U.S., there would be a lot more competition.

<comment><USER25> Not really sure why this matters in the case of insulin - the "good" modern- day insulins will never fall into generics because the companies have a backlog of incremental changes they hold on to until they need to renew a patent.

<comment><USER26> That agrees with mikl's claim that "you can thank [...] the patent system [...] for that".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Ridiculous and pointless comparison. Germans pay 2 times as much for healthcare that is inferior to the one i get in Korea.

And guess where the korean specialists go to ? Yes it is the US of A.

</comment><comment><USER28> Why should someone have to pay for insulin at all?

</comment><comment><USER29> NZ I believe is $100 per year total.

<comment><USER30> yes $100 per household, we pay $5 per prescription item, with a limit of 20 items/year per household

<comment><USER31> To clarify, a limit after which you no longer have to pay. Not that that's all you can get :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> I just ran into this during a business trip. Extended my work trip and needed medication. Had the Dr fax me the prescription.

With insurance my cost is 68$ US ... here in Germany without insurance it was 13$ EU

Insurance is socialism for profit and they are raking it in.

<comment><USER33> We had someone get sick on a trip to Iceland. They walked into the emergency room, talked with a doctor a few minutes later, and got some antibiotics. They were very apologetic because the U.S. wasn't part of the E.U. reciprocity agreement and they would have to charge them for the costs and the total came to — cue Americans raised on medical news stories bracing in expectation – less than what their major university insurance copay would have been for the visit + prescription.

<comment><USER34>
       a few minutes later, and got some antibiotics

... which is improper care. They could not properly diagnose a bacterial cause that quickly -- they gave that patient antibiotics _to make them go away_. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics has lead to resistant strains worldwide.

<comment><USER33> Antibiotic misuse is a problem but in this case you are completely wrong, and you really should think twice before making accusations of professional misconduct when you have no idea of the facts.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Why don't they just buy it in Germany, then? Shipping can't be 80$?

In fact I just checked, DHL ships a parcel of 2kg from Germany to the USA for 18$, A 5kg parcel is 42$.

<comment><USER26> Pharmacies are heavily regulated. They're probably only allowed to sell to domestic customers.

<comment><USER35> Then that's one thing to look at for reasons. And maybe deals can be struck.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> (Disclaimer: Not American)

I've been reading NYT for a long while now, and I've been noticing more and more of these "medicines are more expensive here" trope.

There's half an answer isn't there? The US is subsidizing the development of these new drugs to the world, at the cost of it s citizens, as these companies operate all over the world and not just in US. The _relatively_ richer people in Cali can afford to pay $x more than the people in Bali.

Sure, the exploiting the people under the marketing guise of "patented" paracetamol varieties is _very_ unethical, and just slimy. That we can all agree on.

But every time such an article is posted, the only question in my mind is, "isn't the problem half explained?".

What's the alternative, not innovate and let everyone die? As opposed to innovate, and some people who live better than the others pay a bit (or in this case, ~2.49x) more ?

Is there an alternative where everyone pays equally ? Sure, you can lower the cost for an American and subsidize it (which comes from their tax again, so they're being more/less charged the same amount).

or you can increase the price for the rest of the world until the death toll vs affordability ratio looks good for the company that decides this is a good idea.

The problem is half explained.

The rest of the problem's explanation must lie here.

\--- From the article:

Part of insulin's price rise in the United States is because of the middlemen who buy the drugs on behalf of insurers and hospitals and negotiate discounts off the list price for their clients. So Lilly often doesn't make the full $275 a vial (though, since rebates are secret, we don't know how much less).

By selling an authorized generic, rather than merely lowering the brand's price, Lilly is essentially doing an end-run around those middlemen and giving patients who don't purchase through an insurer another option.

\---

It's also a supply chain problem, not the manufacturing supply chain, but the business to customer supply chain.

I guess margins are not that wide enough for middle men to make anything significant in other countries except the states.

My tone in this comment is very inquisitive, not aggressive in any way, I don't mean to come across like that.

<comment><USER37> The trope of "the US subsidizes healthcare for everyone else" has no basis in reality. Drug production is not operating at a loss in Germany.

<comment><USER38> Drug production does not equal drug development. The later is much more expensive and not guaranteed to go to market.

<comment><USER37> Fair enough, but the way I meant it, included R&D in the production costs.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What C++ unit testing framework do you use? - <AUTHOR> What C++ unit testing framework are you using, and how do you like it? Is it easy to get started using it? Are there many footguns?<p>I've used Boost in the past, but am debating whether I should switch to Google's test framework, or to Catch, or something else. <comment><USER2> I use MinUnit for C on an embedded linux device. Minimum overhead and fast.

That is the MinUnit source code: [http://www.jera.com/techinfo/jtns/jtn002.html](http://www.jera.com/techinfo/jtns/jtn002.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> I use [http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtest-overview.html](http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtest- overview.html) , mostly because my code is Qt based.

Qt is like boost, a all in one solution. With it I have network framework, threading framework, testing, json parser and lots of things. I want to keep my projects' dependencies as few as possible. If Qt can do it, I won't include another.

I had some frustration before when installing Caffe deep learning framework, which includes many google libraries, including gtest, protobuf and glog. I want my projects' dependencies to be clean and easy to install.

</comment><comment><USER4> Catch, like you mentioned. It's a single-header library that slots very nicely into my cross-platform C++ programs.

</comment><comment><USER5> I've used Boost in the past when i was forced to use Studio 2005 in 2012 development Now I use CppUnit, and I combine that with a fuzzer</comment>


The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels (2014) - <AUTHOR> http://www.moralcaseforfossilfuels.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> I started reading this this week and, although he's wrong on several things, the author does make some good points. The TL;DR is that hydrocarbons have raised the world's standard of living enormously and to reduce their use now would send us backwards in many areas, not only transportation but also food production, healthcare, and leisure.

Has anyone else here on HN seen this book? Your thoughts?</comment>


How to Live with Introverts - <AUTHOR> http://sveidt.deviantart.com/art/How-to-Live-with-Introverts-291305760

<comment><USER2> Good starting point. If you want to go further you can watch Susan Cain's TED talk, "The power of introverts". As an introvert myself, I love this talk. It is good to hear for once someone saying that it is ok to be what we are.</comment>


Chrome extension to disable HN comments (and other sites) - <AUTHOR> https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/omkfohaepefmigclopnhainmlikebklh

<comment><USER2> Why would someone do that? The meat of the discussion is usually in the comments.

</comment><comment><USER3> Why use this extension for HN? There's a RSS feed for new items.</comment>


Sucking carbon out of the air won't solve climate change - <AUTHOR> https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/6/14/17445622/direct-air-capture-air-to-fuels-carbon-dioxide-engineering <comment><USER2> There's only one nasty problem with sucking billions of tons of carbon out of the air every year: WHERE ARE WE GOING TO PUT THOSE BILLIONS OF TONS EVERY YEAR?</comment>


Nigel Richards, The Best Scrabble Player - <AUTHOR> http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-makes-nigel-richards-the-best-scrabble-player-on-earth/ <comment><USER2> _Richards has won an estimated $215,000 in his tournament career_

Here you have a person that has dedicated their life to playing a game professionally and has attained literally the top ranking in he world. Yet in his entire career has made less than many software engineers make in a year.

That is why I stopped participating in Scrabble tournaments years ago. Casual play is fun but tournament play is about memorizing a dictionary. It was less fun than work and paid horribly.

<comment><USER3> The article certainly doesn't sound like he has dedicated his life to professional play, and the recompense is simply a factor of how much economic pull the game has - if people aren't going to shell out to watch other people play, no prize money for you.

<comment><USER2> _The article certainly doesn 't sound like he has dedicated his life to professional play_

Read the book "Word Freak" and you'll read all about the people that win Scrabble tournaments. It's really sad.

<comment><USER4> Why is it sad?

<comment><USER5> It's also on Netflix. Scrabble champs have no job and now money and scrape together funds to travel to events. It seems like a lifestyle that no one withing a few standard deviations of neurotypical would desire.

Elite Scrabble feels an unrewarding life goal.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> _" there are more than 16 billion ways to draw seven tiles"_

Wrong. Even assuming the order matter (which is false, ABCDEFG is the same draw as GFEDCBA) and even assuming there are 7 tiles of each letter and 7 blanks in a bag (which is false), that would be 27^7 = 10.5 billion ways. Because these assumptions are false, the real number of combinations is lower.

<comment><USER7> For calculating the number of combinations, it looks like they are simply using 100 choose 7, or C(100, 7) which yields 16,007,560,800.

[http://what-are-the-chances.blogspot.com/2008/02/7-letter-wo...](http://what- are-the-chances.blogspot.com/2008/02/7-letter-words-and-8-card-suits.html)

<comment><USER8> That doesn't take into account repeated letters. You actually want the number of 7-combinations of the multiset { A * 5, B * 3, C * 4, ... } or whatever the letter frequencies are. That's for the first draw from the bag.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Given that he has a better Scrabble rating than a computer algorithm, there has to be an element of poker at this level - otherwise if it were pure probability and memorization of the words (which a computer would have done perfectly, with no room for error), then a human could not outrank a computer.

I'm wondering (for the professional scrabble players out there) - do you play words differently depending on your competitor? That is, do you leave a vulnerability with some players, that you wouldn't with others? Or do you play the same game every time.

I was surprised that element of Nigel Richard's Scrabble game wasn't discussed.

<comment><USER10> It could just be that the Scrabble AI is not sufficiently advanced to explore the entirety of the decision tree. For all board states X, there are many deep trees that increase in complexity at boards X+1, X+2, etc (though it's arguable that it decreases in complexity in the late game, or can a game can be played "closed" to reduce the chances of bingos).

It may not be purely metagaming that causes the difference between AI and humans; the algorithm probably plays a far-from-perfect game.

<comment><USER11> The article claims there are just shy of 200,000 scrabble words.

Why would it be so complex? The key is to use all 7 of your letters. The subset of valid words containing all 7 letters you hold shouldn't be that large, surely the board can be exhaustively searched to fit them?

<comment><USER12> You don't just want good words, you want to position yourself so your next move is also a good word. So you don't just have to iterate over the current board, you have to iterate over all _possible_ upcoming boards.

But it's even worse than that! You want to set up your opponent for a bad move, and vice versa, so you're trying to infer each others' tiles from past moves and bluffing starts to matter. So you _also_ have to reason about counterfactual games where your opponent would have done the same thing, meaning you have to care about the _entire_ game tree instead of just the sub- tree you're in...

In the general case, solving games involving partial information requires super-exponential time. It's no picnic. (Of course in practice we use approximations, and those can work quite well.)

<comment><USER11> Good point regarding setting up for double/triple word scores, however I doubt there is much soul reading or bluffing in scrabble - I think the cost of making a sub-optimal move is too great, you'd need to be very sure that it hurt your opponent even more than yourself.

Also although the remaining letters are known, your selection is random. I don't know how you could possibly choose between words to maximize your next move when you don't know what letters you will get?

<comment><USER10> > I don't know how you could possibly choose between words to maximize your > next move when you don't know what letters you will get?

Your selection is random amongst a determined pool of tiles. You can easily maximize your move even if the move is not 100% deterministic. The fact that there is a random factor does not mean strategy is useless.

This is trivially true in a lot of cases, but sticking with games: The dealer's concealed (hole) card in Blackjack is not known precisely but by counting cards, you can determine the best play even if the effect is small.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Because he can make a word out of O X Y G E N ?

Edit: see one of the earliest Simpsons episodes

Edit: it is interesting that the articles assumption has been he is better than current algorithms and so better than algorithms can be. This just indicates to me a lack of time and research into the correct algorithm.

That's not meant as a trivial throwaway comment but that in pretty much every area of human endeavour we have lots of headroom for new algorithms.

</comment><comment><USER14> So, It seems like No Human Player could beat Nigel, time to take over the challenge of building a better Scrabble AI than Nigel is!

<comment><USER15> Well, you can still jump in on the very fun and competetive Al Zimmerman's challenge (which ends in about a week, though), the current task is exactly about solving the given Scrabble sets in the best possible way: [http://www.azspcs.net/Contest/AlphabetCity](http://www.azspcs.net/Contest/AlphabetCity)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Competition scrabble games are typically more open, where players lay out longer words to allow more opportunities to play more words and larger scores to develop. After that it's vocabulary and experience.

</comment><comment><USER17> Isn't _Chlorodyne_ a brand name and therefore capitalized? I would have rejected that. By the way, massive scrabble fan here. If anyone finds themselves in south-west China hit me up for a game!

</comment><comment><USER18> Can he actually beat the AI in a head-to-head match?

<comment><USER19> yes (as can a lot of the other top players). though due to the element of luck in the game, the right question is whether he would have an overall winning record after repeatedly playing quackle (also yes; as of now he's definitely better than the state of the art ai)

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Well, so, what makes Nigel Richards the best Scrabble Player on Earth? The article does not even answer its own leading question, which is enormously disappointing (though it is otherwise interesting). There are a couple humorous quotations, and literally two or three sentences that could be interpreted as conjecture as to why Nigel Richards is the best player by such a phenomenally large margin: some loose statements about knowing relevant probabilities.

This article was a perfectly interesting read about how Richards utterly dominates Scrabble, but unfortunately plagued by a totally misleading headline: I was expecting an answer.

<comment><USER21> Well, the article does say "I try to score points. The goal is to score more points than your opponent." and "I'm not sure there is a secret. It's just a matter of learning the words."

Perhaps that (incredibly unsatisfying) explanation is actually true?

<comment><USER11> There's a 'how to play chess' book I can't recall the name of, with similarly useless advice:

Rule #2: Make the right move.

<comment><USER22> That worked for Smyslov (7th World Chess Champion), who once quipped:

"I will make 40 good moves and if you are able to do the same, the game will end in a draw."</comment></comment></comment></comment>


With Instagram Deal, Facebook Shows Its Worth - <AUTHOR> http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/with-instagram-deal-facebook-shows-its-worth/

<comment><USER2> I find tech people arguing about the valuation somewhat curious. Instagram has a lot of traction, eyeballs and users. More importantly it has those users in the place where everyone wants to be, mobile phones.

So sometimes you hear complaints from technologists like this "Hey I could write that app in a weekend, throw some EC-2 at it and blam, done. So WTF is up with that valuation?" And that sounds a bit like saying that the New York times is just some typeset ink and pictures. Which technically is not hard to produce, but their reach in terms of audience is actually quite large. So their value is in their reach, not their technology.

So wired wrote [1] that Instagram has 40 million users. Lets look at them from a 'customer acquisition cost' story. Paying out 300M in cash for 40M customers is $7.50 per customer. What is the lifetime value of a Facebook customer? How about a Facebook customer on Mobile? Good question, but if you already have a kick ass display ad business (which Facebook does) and you add 40M daily users, and you tweak the product so it goes through a way that you can usefully display them an ad? Can you make that into a billion dollar a year business in 1 year? 2 years? 5 years?

If engineers have a blind side it's 'suits', which is to say great engineers not only have skills but they also have the intuition to know the value of the product delivered. But products only have value if people know they exist, and the cost of acquiring customers for your killer product, well it can kill your product.

So rather than say 'this is a stupid valuation for a nothing of a company!', lets assume that the folks at Facebook aren't complete idiots, or scheming some back room buddy deal to put one over on shareholders (which one blogger suggested), ask yourself honestly, "A smart person looked at this deal and agreed it was worth $1B, 30% cash and 70% stock, since that makes no sense to me I need to figure out what they know that I don't know."

I personally think they are interested in the customer acquisition in the mobile space (obviously :-)) but I also recognize that having been through these things in the past there is a ton of stuff that doesn't make the press, like process innovations, or specific people skills, or partnerships, etc etc.

The cool thing about this story is that it seems like the founders will get a bit of money 'up front' which can be re-assuring to a founder / employee. Since there are no guarantees that the stock you got is worth anything when it 'unlocks.' [2]

[1] [http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/instagram-40-million-...](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/instagram-40-million- users/)

[2] Speaking from personal experience of getting MANY shares of restricted stock valued at > $50/share when granted and then being worth $0.83 when 'unlocked', yes you read that correctly, 98.4% decline in value. Wouldn't cover tax, much less leave anything for me to write home about. But there are many such stories from the '90s, go use the wayback machine and price TUTS at December 1999 and 18 months later in June of 2001.

<comment><USER3> It sounds like you're assuming that those 40 million users weren't already Facebook users which I highly doubt. I could be wrong though, but really, what are the chances of that? It sounds more like they wanted to keep Google from getting Instagram which would have made sense for them to get those 40 million users on G+.

<comment><USER4> In my experience as a user of Facebook on mobile phones, mobile Facebook sucks.

From a technical perspective, the UI of their native app suffers from lag, making it unusable for me, which is why I prefer opening Facebook in my mobile browser. The web experience is much better and doesn't bother me much, except when I want to upload photos.

Also, the whole Facebook experience sucks on mobiles phones because Facebook was designed for desktop browsers and there are no easy ways out. The difference on mobile phones is that because of the small screen size the consumption of content has to be linear and the Facebook stream is anything but (unline Twitter or your SMS Inbox). To add salt to the injury, a big part of what forms the Facebook experience is made of Flash-powered games and shitty apps that weren't designed for small touch-screens.

Basically Facebook has gotten too big to turn around fast and redesign their experience around mobile phones. They may be able to pull it off, but I suspect that their strategy is to break Facebook on mobile phones in multiple apps.

A really big and important part of Facebook is sharing and seeing photos of other people. Google saw that and one thing that Google+ does well is the sharing of photos. Google Picasa was integrated with G+, so this means cheap storage for full-resolution pictures and a kickass desktop tool for managing big photo collections. Android also comes with Google Picasa integration by default, so whatever you upload on Picassa it ends up synchronized to your mobile phone (or vice-versa). Then the G+ interface is really slick; the mobile app is not too shabby and the web browsing experience is good (or was, there's something off about their redesign).

The bottom line is this ... those 40 million users may already be Facebook users, but I bet they aren't mobile Facebook users ;-)

<comment><USER5> I'll corroborate the mobile facebook software problems. Even on a good wifi connection (i.e. I'm browsing happily on the very same device) it routinely takes 4-10 seconds for anything to show up.

I'm not sure I buy the "Facebook experience is anything but [linear]" point though. Certainly the web UI _is_ broadly linear, and presented in the same order as the mobile app. The ability to "drill down" into comments is poorly implemented in mobile (especially when compared with G+, which has a _great_ mobile app). But really, I think Facebook could improve this greatly with just some tuning.

I think the bigger problem, and one mentioned frequently elsewhere, is that the mobile app doesn't have the same ability to push revenue-producing content at the users. An ad or game or "suggestion" or whatnot in the sidebar is benign on the desktop. On mobile it's an annoyance.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> You can definitely see why this deal got done. Instagram was maybe 3 or 4 years away from any chance of their own IPO, and probably a year away from a serious $2B aquisition.

Even if the sale price of the company was really $2B, they were able to take Facebook stock that is on the verge of an IPO for 75% of what it will IPO at. If Facebook hits a market cap of $150B in the next 12 months, that would put the value of the Instagram stake at $1.4B a year from now, plus the $300mm in cash that Facebook chipped in.

Looking at the deal that way, it made a lot of sense to do it now if Instagram was shooting for a $2B exit.

<comment><USER7> Ok seriously, why BB?

<comment><USER6> I don't know, probably a bad habit extending from the mm. Don't have a good reason.

Edit: Changed it to single, capital B's now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> oh right, I'm sure Kevin Systrom had a hard time deciding on taking the offer because of the price. Considering that he just had valuation of 500mm, and no current revenues. It's hard to see how anyone can justify a high probable scenario where they will do an IPO in the future for much higher valuation than what they just got.

<comment><USER6> Venture Capital is a game shooting for the 10x. To get the 500mm valuation, Instagram had to convince its investors that a $5B exit was a possibility.

So a lot of smart people were able to justify a higher valuation than what they just got.</comment></comment>


Twitter finally flicks the switch on 10,000 character DMs - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/12/twitter-finally-unlimited-direct-messages-dm

<comment><USER2> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10049137](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10049137)</comment>


Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf

<comment><AUTHOR> As much as people are snarky about them, it's good to see that some petitions actually result in action!</comment>


How and Why Prezi Turned to JavaScript, and why it took 4 years - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/prezi-engineering/how-and-why-prezi-turned-to-javascript-56e0ca57d135

<comment><USER2> The post is targeted at too many audiences. Lacks focus.</comment>


Nascar's Race Problem - <AUTHOR> http://www.portfolio.com/culture-lifestyle/culture-inc/sports/2008/01/14/Nascar-and-Race

<comment><USER2> My personal feelings

1\. Kudos to the article for calling black people black, and not african americans: (<http://davidadewumi.com/2008/01/27/just-call-me-black/>)

2\. How many black tech startups (or even Y C applications) have been around in the past decade or so?

I'd wager not many, and if/when there are, not much press coverage.

Two key comments to draw out of this article:

. Bringing up a young driver "is so expensive, no matter what your background," Gibbs says. "The diversity side just takes time. You've got to find some young guys and train them."

1\. Sports with high barriers to entry (just like entrepreneurship) are by default going to draw smaller minority crowds-- if you can play basketball, football, or baseball for almost free, why do a high-end sport like tennis, NASCAR, hockey or lacrosse?

He's not racing as a "black driver." What drew him to the sport--the speed, his competitive nature--is what keeps him there...If Davis happens to become a black role model, so be it. "But I never really thought about the racial things," he says. "I race because I love it."

2\. It's not about race -- the more we see it as a racial thing, whether it be politics or sports "the first black head coach to win a superbowl," the bigger the problem it is.

</comment><comment><USER3> NASCAR need to control their fans, not the first incident where these idoits have caused trouble. They should be banned for life from all circuits. Also is there not laws in the US to make this a punishable offence?, I know in the UK they could of been up in court for it.

Looks like this guy could be Nascars Lewis Hamilton and not because of colour but because he has talent. good luck to him.

</comment><comment><USER4> Plus one for the punnier title.

Whenever people ask me whether racism still really exists in America, I pretty much point them at NASCAR. Maybe point out that in hockey players are lauded for fighting if the first point doesn't hit home.

Sucks that it takes hitting people's pocketbooks to get them to notice that "hey, maybe we should let some black people drive cars..."</comment>


Predictive Analysis for Crypto: The spreadsheet that got me my first 1,000% gain - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/7kgk29/financial_modeling_for_cryptocurrencies_the/ <comment><USER2> Not to knock the guy's technical work here, but making 1000% gain while buying into a bubble on the upswing isn't an accomplishment.

Though seeing as how he's pulling 30 tweets at a time, I can't imagine this is statistically meaningful at all. I'd like to see this tool show gains on something not already bubbling up.</comment>


Docker Events and Docker Metrics Monitoring - <AUTHOR> http://blog.sematext.com/2015/06/24/docker-events-and-metrics-monitoring/

<comment><USER2> Is that list of events exhaustive? Actually, a better Q: are there any Docker events SPM doesn't capture?</comment>


China's younger generation: lifestyle counts as much as work - <AUTHOR> http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/1126/China-s-younger-generation-lifestyle-counts-as-much-as-work

<comment> guard-of-terra This could greatly encourage creativity: Quit a job in spring, record an album/set up an open air festival/shoot a movie, find a job in autumn with better pay.

It's possible when economy is growing, it's hard when it is tanking thus stifling creative activity.

</comment><comment><USER2> It's nice that Chinese kids have the ability to focus on what they want, rather than status and money. However, it would probably be better if they try to find one burning passion that will carry them for the rest of their life, or at least some sort of field that allows them to build on from previous projects.

Given sufficient time, people can create very amazing things like dwarf fortress. Dwarf fortress was a culumination of several years and is already one of the most sophisticated fantasy simulation game ever. By the end of my lifetime, it will probably have everything that you could want in a simulation game.

<comment> guard-of-terra Which is fairly untypical.

The typical growth-maturity scenario is that something gets good fast and energetically, and then sits there without much development for some reason. Maybe it does a few more leaps due to competition or new people, but it's rare.

If they can maintain steady progress is an amazing thing of itself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I bet there's someone here to tell that "it isn't that easy, you'll learn it the hard way", but this is something I intend to do as well. If I'm working with something, and I don't feel like I learn anything new or is simply unhappy, I'll quit and live off my savings for a while. As long as I work hard, I'm sure I can find a new opportunity somewhere else.</comment>


Microsoft to Create a Windows Tablet PC (Failure). Again - <AUTHOR> http://nextparadigms.com/microsoft-to-create-a-windows-tablet-pc-failure-again/ Microsoft just can't learn from its own history. Tablets with Windows don't make sense. Read on to see why not and if there's  hope for Microsoft in a tablet dominate world. <comment><USER2> "I believe Microsoft is already working hard at making the next version of Android, as tablet-friendly as possible."

What? The author needs to reread and edit the end of this otherwise good article. There are some other typo's too, but this statement stuck out the most - it just doesn't make any sense unless he meant to say 'next version of Windows'.

</comment><comment><USER3> Correct</comment>


Full recovery of 2048-bit RSA key stored in Amazon's EC2 service - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/09/storing-secret-crypto-keys-in-the-amazon-cloud-new-attack-can-steal-them/ <comment><USER2> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10232769](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10232769)</comment>


FriendFeed Has Search, And Suddenly Feels Like A Destination Site - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/17/friendfeed-has-search-and-suddenly-looks-like-a-destination-site/ <comment><USER2> What is FriendFeed written in?

<comment><USER3> Python is my guess?

<http://friendfeed.com/about/jobs>

<comment><USER4> Yup, Python and Javascript primarily. We're all fairly pragmatic and will use whatever works though. The indexing engine is Lucene, which is of course written in Java. There's also a little bit of c++ around, but we try to minimize that.

<comment><USER3> Possibly a stupid question:

When you say Javascript, you don't mean server side Javascript do you?

<comment><USER4> Not yet, but we may do that in the future.

<comment><USER3> Cool, thank you.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Is there a service that will submit an API request on my behalf? - <AUTHOR>

For instance, I have an API call that remaps an Elastic IP to another EC2 instance in case there's a failure. I have the call saved on my mac, but in case I had a failure while I was out of the office, it would be nice if I could visit a webpage, send an email, tweet something, etc, and a service would send the API call on my behalf.<p>Seems simple enough, but I can't find anybody out there doing it. <comment><AUTHOR> Found a solution:

Set up the query on hurl.it, click on permalink, then copy the URL it gives you, for example:

[http://www.hurl.it/hurls/5a5762bfd067fe6c500f79f10db3c2a3166...](http://www.hurl.it/hurls/5a5762bfd067fe6c500f79f10db3c2a3166fe846/090e750e6190dce2a7687c84453f524b3179d6fe)

Every time you visit that page, the query will be loaded, you can send the request and see the response immediately.

</comment><comment><USER2> Check out [Zapier](<http://zapier.com>)

<comment><USER3> And IFTTT - <http://ifttt.com/>

<comment><USER2> IFTTT does not offer webhooks, so I believe it is out of the running for this usecase

<comment><AUTHOR> Both great services, but I'd need a greater level of customization to get it to work.

Would this be something enough people would use to justify it as a weekend project?

<comment><USER2> Maybe utility mill - <http://utilitymill.com/> is what you need, if you're up for writing some Python code

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> You could host a script that does it on Google app engine ?

<comment><USER3> Non-http requests would be a problem with app engine</comment></comment>


PyCon India 2020 CFP now open - <AUTHOR> https://in.pycon.org/cfp/2020/proposals/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hi all,

PyCon India 2020 is live and calling all the brilliant pythonistas to submit their proposals for talk. PyCon India 2020 will be held on October 2nd and 3rd, completely online. So, no matter where you're at. You'll be able to join in the action.

View other proposals and submit yours here: [https://in.pycon.org/cfp/2020/proposals/](https://in.pycon.org/cfp/2020/proposals/)

Read more about our CFP guidelines here: [https://in.pycon.org/blog/2020/2020-call-for-proposals- annou...](https://in.pycon.org/blog/2020/2020-call-for-proposals- announcement.html)</comment>


High Temperature Superconductivity Record Smashed by Sulphur Hydride - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/high-temperature-superconductivity-record-smashed-by-sulphur-hydride-c853795079bb <comment><USER2> Tangentially, the metallic hydrogen mentioned is one of the craziest chemical substances to possibly-exist [0].

Besides likely being a room-temperature superconductor (at ridiculous pressures, like 500 GPa), it's postulated to be metastable -- like diamond, you could create it at pressure, and it might stay a solid metal at STP conditions. It's postulated to be made of atomic hydrogen -- lone H atoms, without the molecular bonds of H_2. The recombination energy H + H -> H_2 suggests [1] it's the most energy-dense chemical fuel that exists, with 20 times the specific energy of {H2 + O2}. It could allow [1] rocket engines with I_sp of 1,700 seconds -- four times higher than LH2/LOX. It's thought to be the main phase of hydrogen inside the planet Jupiter [2] and responsible for its dynamo [3] (but as an ordinary conductor, not a superconductor). It's also speculatively a structural material, one that's less dense than water [4].

It _might_ have been created in a lab, in 2011 [4], but it's not clear.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallic_hydrogen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallic_hydrogen)

[1] [http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/637123main_Silvera_Presentation.pdf](http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/637123main_Silvera_Presentation.pdf)

[2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter#Internal_structure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter#Internal_structure)

[3] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetosphere_of_Jupiter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetosphere_of_Jupiter)

[4] [http://www.nature.com/news/metallic-hydrogen-hard- pressed-1....](http://www.nature.com/news/metallic-hydrogen-hard- pressed-1.10817)

<comment><USER3> The metastability at STP is particularly intriguing. I wonder what quantum chemistry calculations have been performed on this material. I need to look this up, and maybe perform a few of my own!

Supposing that we can actually generate enough pressure to generate metallic hydrogen at some point, I wonder what the downsides of the material would be.

<comment><USER4> > the downsides of the material would be

Well, considering how energy-dense it is... As a construction material, wouldn't it be more than a tad dangerous if it ever caught on fire?

<comment><USER5> It wouldn't so much catch on fire as revert to gas, straight from solid to H2. Otherwise known as an explosion. _Then_ maybe you get burning hydrogen.

<comment><USER6> Oh, there will be fire. The amount of energy going from H to H2 is more than there is from H2 to H2O.

If this really is atomic hydrogen it holds a ferocious amount of energy.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_hydrogen_welding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_hydrogen_welding)

<comment><USER5> Yes, my point was that it doesn't make any sense to call that a fire. H(s) to H2(g) is a highly exothermic phase change. Fire is oxidation.

<comment><USER6> That's not a phase change (despite the solid to gas), that's a chemical reaction.

Fire is oxidation yes, but despite the name oxidation does not require oxygen, it just requires electron transfer, which happens here.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This article is science writing done right.

All the information is there, but written clearly, without much jargon. A layman could understand it well enough, a physicist can understand it as well (the 'detailed' information hasn't been deleted or mangled by a journalist not understanding what they're writing, just presented clearly). And the graphs they show actually tell you what you want to know. Fantastic.

<comment><USER8> Yes, it's very, very good - a joy to read.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> _" [...] have measured sulphur hydride superconducting at a temperature of 190 Kelvin (-83 degrees Celsius). There is a caveat, of course. The material has to be squeezed at pressures greater than 150 gigapascals — that's about half the pressure at the centre of the Earth."_

And 1.5 million times the atmospheric pressure at sea level ...

<comment><USER10> Put in a different, less unreachable comparison, the yield strength of kevlar is 3.6 GPa (tension) and diamond forms between 4.5 and 6 GPa, w (compression)

It's been 60 years since we first synthesized diamonds, and back then they were capable of generating 10 GPa, that's only a factor of 15.

<comment><USER11> Another comparison: the highest pressure we can create without shock waves is 300-400 GPa with a diamond anvil cell [1]. With shock waves we can create momentary bursts of up to 100 TPa

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_anvil_cell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_anvil_cell)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> When I studied physics five years ago, my impression was that nobody really understood high-temperature superconductivity.

There were some mathematical models, and some professors who claimed to understand it, but nobody was able to give a coherent explanation to the (mostly nearly finished) students, much less predict which materials would exhibit hight-temp superconductivity.

Does anybody know if that changed significantly? The article reads as though the measurements were inspired by the theory, which is always a good sign.

<comment><USER13> Although this is a high-temperature superconductor in the literal sense, it isn't the kind of high-temperature superconductor that no one understands. Those are the cuprates (and now iron based exotica).

What's really interesting about this potential discovery isn't just that it exhibits superconductivity at a relatively high temperature but that it seems to be a conventional superconductor. That should give some insight that a slightly better cuprate might not.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Completely off topic, but I really hate articles where all I initially see is a headline and a large, unrelated image.

I hope the trend dies quickly...</comment>


Ask HN: I'm being bullied at work. What do I do? - <AUTHOR> Ask HN: I'm being bullied at work. What do I do?
This is a throwaway account.
I've been in a new company for 2 months now. I'm a developer and I'm being bullied by my Product Owner. I'm a direct to an Agile Coach and on top of us is the CTO. This is a tech company with around 70 employees and we are in Europe. The PO is a female and I'm a male.
On my first week, me and the PO had a disagreement during a Scrum Grooming. It wasn't a big deal for me but it must have been a big deal for her. Since then I've been constantly questioned, bullied and I'm sure she bad mouthes me to the upper management and other senior people. I also know that she accuses me of being sexist (I'm a feminist and a LGBT rights activist). This week she screamed at me.
I know this person is perceived as aggressive by the rest of the company but she seems well integrated and she has a lot of pull with upper management. My team members are aware of the situation but they obviously don't want to get involved.
I don't discuss the situation with anyone with fear of being accused of trying to win them to my side. I only want the situation to go away. I'm afraid of complaining to my Agile Coach and/or HR because I don't want the person in question to be confronted otherwise I think it will only make things worse for me.
I'm on a 6 months contract and I'm afraid this person will make sure I don't get a full employment offer. I've been doing very well with my programming tasks so I know that's not an issue.
I like the company and the paycheck is great. I've never been in a situation like this before. I live in constant fear of upsetting her. What do I do? <comment><USER3> Apologize.

This sound counter-intuitive; but it work a lot of times.

The things is that most people fixate in that "the other" is wrong and "I'm right".

 _Probably is_ , but the other is thinking the _same_. If 2 persons fight, and one have the arm broken and the other have only a finger, you can' count that the one with the broken finger will be calm and rational and know is he that is hurting more. It have the broken finger, dammit, and you must pay!

This is one of the teachings of Jesus. You take a proactive attitude to diffuse a situation. If you are "more guilty" you do because you are, if your "are not more guilty" o worse, "totally innocent", you ALSO DO it because you have _the moral high ground_ , and because is _smart_.

\---

I have be in situations like this, but worse. Even with actual death threats and display of weapons. Have never ever in a fight, and yet "win" all of it ;)

"Sorry, I think I have say something wrong, that was not my intention. I not feel good because this. I wanna to solve any misunderstanding that and that situation/words have caused. I appreciate the work here I like my coworkers very much, and think we can move forward. I appreciate your opinion on this. "

Or something like that. You get the idea.

Look, if the situation can be saved, a calm voice and be humble must work when the people in conflict are not that against you, and have enough decency.

If even acting like this not work, then you are more certain is better to get out.

P.D: Can be even better if you can bring another, neutral, person, and be _very casual_ about this.

<comment><USER4> I agree. What some people don't understand is that conflict resolution has nothing to do with being right. In fact because of human obstinacy, often times a dichotomy of either being in the right, or resolving the conflict are the only choices present. If you wan't the problem to go away, you have to be the bigger person as much as that sucks. Remember bullies are mainly seeking a reaction but not a conciliatory one, it ruins the effect they were after.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Here's a counter-argument, just in case you need it. Of course I have no idea what the actual situation is.

It was hard to find examples of things I'd consider bullying in your post. The only thing seemed to be being screamed at once, which I agree is unacceptable.

Everything else seemed explainable as you having had an early disagreement with someone senior to you that led them to initially question your competence, and perhaps assume you are arrogant; they're continuing to do that, perhaps also to people senior than both of you.

(You also mention something about how you can't be sexist because you're a feminist, which seems a weird thing to say. In my experience everyone's somewhat sexist, and the people you need to worry about the most are people who think they're immune to it.)

Switching to another team, talking to your Agile Coach, or even talking to the PO about it constructively all seem like decent ideas to me. But you could consider the possibility that you simply made a bad impression and haven't taken any concrete steps to improve your relationship with them, giving them the impression that you're uninterested in doing so.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's not easy to defend yourself against sexist accusations, except that I have proof that I'm an activist and I've rallied for women rights and LGBT rights. Does it exclude the possibility of me being sexist? No, but it sure as hell keeps it at bay.

I do consider the possibility that I made a bad impression. In fact I'm well aware that was a mistake and I tried to fix it by making up for it in any way possible. But it has been 2 months now and it's not getting better so I'm running out of ideas but I appreciate your perspective and I agree with you in part.

Thanks for your input.

Edit: From your perspective how can I solve it?

<comment><USER6> > No, but it sure as hell keeps it at bay.

I would avoid this attitude. Assume there are areas where you can improve in this dimension. The fact that you're being defensive on this point here with us is not a good signal. It makes me think that maybe you are being defensive at work as well.

The correct response to this is, "I'll keep that in mind and look for ways to improve." There is zero room for making statements about how good you are on this point or any other, except through action. There is no way talking up your own qualities can help.

> Edit: From your perspective how can I solve it?

Personally, I'd go the direct conversation route. Schedule a one-on-one, say, "I've gotten the impression that our relationship doesn't have the professional trust I would like it to. I'd like to understand what I can do better." Take radical steps to demonstrate good faith. Never complain, never defend.

I was actually in this situation lately, but on the other side of the table. I had a person under my leadership who had been disgruntled and unsatisfied, and I had to go to them and basically say, I'm sorry I've been a bad lead, but I want to repair this. We had a long conversation where I basically took responsibility for every bad thing that had happened, and pledged to improve. Since then, there's been a night and day improvement in our professional relationship.

If it were a peer, I might suggest something different, because bullying in this case might be a way for the peer to assert extra-organizational power over you. But this individual already has organizational power over you -- what you perceive as bullying is probably not about obtaining more power.

Or it could be a rare case where the other individual has some sort of sociopathic tendencies. In which case there is probably not much you can do. But nine times out of ten this is not the situation.

<comment><USER7> > "I've gotten the impression that our relationship doesn't have the > professional trust I would like it to. I'd like to understand what I can do > better."

This! Use these words exactly! How she responds to this will show you what it's all about. Either she gives you concrete examples of what she thinks the problems are and how you two can solve them or she will continue as before. If it's the latter there's probably nothing that will make her change.

> Never complain, never defend.

And this! Even _if_ you 100% in the right, complaining about person A to person B will have a significant chance of you losing face in the eyes of person B (exceptions: you either know person B extremely well (e.g. spouse) or person B has also experienced the faults of person A). Acting defensively will seem as if you're not willing to learn or see your own flaws.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'll tell you what worked for me:

I walked over the bully and told them to their face that I did not appreciate the way they were talking to me. That I will not accept or tolerate being treated the way they were attempting to treat me. I then wrote an email to their manager with what happened, copied the conversation that was had in chat and explained that we are adults and that behavior was not acceptable. Their manager had a talk with them and it hasn't happened again.

I was/am prepared to forward my communication to HR if the time comes where they try to bully again.

</comment><comment><USER9> _Do Not Apologize!_ That is a recipe for censure, failure, and a permanent record. It is also a way to guarantee the problem will only get worse. Your apology will be used as an admission of guilt, and she _will_ use this against you.

Ignore the advice which others give here to approach her directly. That too is a recipe for disaster. She will use this "one-on-one" time to drum up additional charges against you. You cannot reconcile with her. There is nothing you can say to change her behavior.

You need to go on the offensive, hard and fast. Document everything. Go over her head. Do not back down. Do not let yourself be intimidated. Stay calm, cool, and collected, and then, when you have everything you need, file charges against her with management.

The goal here is to make her toxic behavior rebound back on her. Do not feel sorry for her. She can end this at any time by changing her behavior. Remember: she is her own worst enemy. You are not the problem. She is creating the environment. She should bear the consequences.

If at all possible, foster an "I don't care what you think about me" attitude when it comes to whatever garbage she invents about you. This is to insulate yourself from your own emotional reaction, which will only damage your case.

Remember: Your goal here is not to reconcile with her. Your goal here is to serve your company and their clients with your best work. She is standing in the way of doing that and is attempting to damage your career in the process.

<comment><USER10> Are you being sarcastic?

I only ask because this sounds like a great way to escalate the situation and get OP fired. (I don't care how bad she is, she has experience capital and OP does not. She is more valuable to them than he is, end of story.)

An underhanded "I'm going to get you" approach only labels you as a toxic employee. Perhaps she may already have that label with colleagues and within the industry and she is tolerated based on work output. I don't see how it is productive for OP to join that club, particularly with little to no counterbalance.

I'm not sure what type of experiences you have had in your career to conclude that your recommended approach is a good one, but launching a nuclear assault because someone shot a rifle your way is not a very effective solution unless your goal is to destroy everything, including yourself.

<comment><USER9> No, I am not being sarcastic. I am being a cold realist. This is the path to self-preservation.

I did not advocate an "I'm going to get you approach" in the least. I am advocating the opposite: that the OP distance himself from his own reactions, and take whatever steps are necessary to make her behavior rebound back on her. No tricks or traps. No revenge plotting. No righteous indignation. No character assassination. Cold and careful strategy. Recognize the threat. Stay in control. Collect your evidence. Act to mitigate it using the established means that exist to do so.

She invoked the nuclear option the moment she played the sexism card. This means she feels threatened by his work. Not by him, but by his work. There is no going back once this happens. Anyone who falsely makes or implies such a thing is a direct threat to your career and reputation. You have to treat it like a loaded gun is aimed at you. As I said, she can end this at any time by changing her behavior, which in this case means admitting that no sexism occurred and that she was the guilty party.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Smile and wave. As the Brits say, keep calm and carry on. Don't mix emotions with business. Apply for other jobs in Europe. [http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/500x/23804747.jpg](http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/500x/23804747.jpg)

</comment><comment><USER12> My advisor told me once 'i think you should go somewhere where they respect and value your skills, care and help you advance your career. There are plenty of opportunities out there.'

Summary - work place environment needs to improve for you. You can't live under fear, that will be the biggest hindrance in your progress. You need to freely express your opinions without getting screamed at. Its important to get your ideas out, that is how you learn if youre thinking in right direction. I have been in similar situation, avoid companies with this sort of a culture. They just want you to do the hard work.

</comment><comment> anthony-james Schedule a private 1-on-1, and tell her point blank, "I've noticed that you do <X/Y/Z> to me and it makes me uncomfortable. Why do you do <X/Y/Z> to me?"

Either she'll explain why she's a jerk, in which case you can ask her not to do that anymore, or she'll realize she'd been doing something she wasn't aware of and stop. If she feigns ignorance, then you switch from inquisitive to commanding: "Treating me like <X/Y/Z> is negatively impacting my ability to deliver work to the company/team. I need you to stop treating me like <X/Y/Z> in order to achieve our team's objectives. If you don't stop treating me like <X/Y/Z>, I will have to involve [her boss]." She may deny some or all of this, but it doesn't matter. You're not trying to argue, you're trying to make her aware so she can't feign ignorance to her superiors.

Make sure you record the conversation on your smartphone. I've gotten to the point where I record all of my time I spend in the office in order to protect me against claims of sexism because of how detrimental it can be to my career.

By structuring the conversation in terms of your work performance, you can help convince her, her superiors, and the court (if it comes to that) that she is in the wrong and that you're a victim. If you don't record it though, none of it matters.

<comment><USER13> "I've noticed that you do <X/Y/Z> to me and it makes me uncomfortable. Why do you do <X/Y/Z> to me?"

Uhhmm ... well, I'm not sure this is the best approach, in my opinion.

1)

By framing the discussion as 'why do you do this to me'? It makes the assumption that 'she possibly did something wrong' etc. etc.. It's just a shade accusatory, and I'll bet $100 this person will assume as much.

2)

"Either she'll explain why she's a jerk, in which case you can ask her not to do that anymore, or she'll realize she'd been doing something she wasn't aware of and stop."

There's no chance of the former, and a very small chance of the latter.

If you're going to have a 1-on-1, I think it should probably avoid the specifics of the past (because it will just be something to argue over) - <USER2> say something like:

"Hey, Mary Sue, it seems we got off on the wrong foot here, I'm pretty new, I don't know how things work, why don't you help me figure out how we can work together and get things done"

1) By being a somewhat apologetic without admitting any wrongdoing ...

2) By avoiding 'things in the past' to nitpick ...

3) By assuming some humility about 'being new' and therefore maybe not knowing everything ...

4) By not making any reference to her 'doing anything wrong' or 'being wrong' ...

5) By being 'forward looking' and 'trying figure out ways to get stuff done' ...

She'll likely give you a piece of her mind with respect to what she expects in terms of working together. How she handles that might help you decide wether to stay or leave.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I'm sorry you have to deal with being harassed and find your self in an uncomfortable environment daily. I have dealt with this kind of behavior in the past working for several large companies, and as a quiet person that likes to keep to myself I have always had problems dealing with power dynamics. You have a few options.

1\. Find a new Job then quit. This may sound like hard advice to take, but if you are in a position and you feel like the structure of the company creates an environment were a person being victimized has no recourse, do you really want to work there anyway? It's always hard to quit a job but finding a new job first will make it much easier, and it will be easier to find a new job now that you are currently employed and have experience. ( I've done this )

2\. Find a new job and then talk to HR. If HR does not act to stop the harassment then you can threaten to quit. If you come under retaliation then you can quit. Be sure you have an actual job offer before you threaten to quit, employers will often taken you up on that threat.

3\. Talk to the person in a personal way. Explain that you want to be friends and explain how their actions are negatively impacting you. I've found that many people play power dynamics games in an unconscious/impersonal way. They either don't know that they are doing anything to distress you or largely consider it "part of the game". In any case when rational people are faced with the consequences of their actions they often change their behavior.

Good luck and may God bless you.

</comment><comment><USER15> As soon as this happens you should report it to HR, insure you reference any materials in the employee/contractor/company code of ethics, etc. There are more then likely laws that would also help resolve this issue too. So insure you report it to HR and call your city/state department of labor and ask away. They are paid to help you out just the same as the IRS or local state government will answer any tax questions you have if you are trying to run your own business.

<comment><USER16> > As soon as this happens you should report it to HR...

The H.R. Department Is NOT Where to Turn for Help With a Hostile Work Environment > [https://toughnickel.com/business/Hostile-Work- Environment---...](https://toughnickel.com/business/Hostile-Work-Environment ----Why-HR-Doesnt-Care-About-You)

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Typically, agressive people are those who can't admit defeat, agressivity being their last resort to "still win".

The trick is to maintain their illusion that they are in control.

So instead of saying: "It would be unwise to implement this feature because of X"

you could say: "I'm wondering if X could stop us from implementing this feature efficiently, what do you think?"

(what do you think = I am relegating control to you)

Stay clear of personal statements as much as possible but if it's unavoidable, think of "leaving them an open door"

Say your PO ate your lunch (for god knows what reason),

you would not say: "Why did you eat my lunch?",

you would say: "It might have been an accident but did you eat my lunch?"

(It might have been an accident = I'm giving you a ready-made excuse that you can use so that you can still feel in control about stuff)

It is important to have you "open door" at the begining of the statement for maximum effectiveness.

\---

Business-wise though, the typical steps is

\- try and fix it one on one (use the open door trick): "It might be just me but did you notice work tensions between us, if so how can we fix this..."

\- if this fails, go to HR but don't talk badly about anyone, you need to use the "ask for advice" approach.

\- if this fails, start sending your cv to other jobs

</comment><comment><USER18> Let me tell you something. There are 2 choices in front of you:

1) Loose hope & leave the job - If you choose this option, your PO will come as a winner. After you leave, no one would care if it was your mistake or her but people would most probably forget the incidents and think positive about her. Most of the people will think you had some issues and you left the job. You might find another job but there is no guarantee that you will not find another PO or for that matter any collegue/manager with whom you will NOT have similar issues.

2) Continue in your current Job and commit yourself to improve the situation. Life is presenting with a unique opportunity to you where you can learn how to take control of situation when people disagree with you. IMO, you can learn something very unique out of this situation even if you happen to loose your job after 6 months. This will build a character in you in how to face tough situations. A career is a long journey where you will face situations where people disagree with you. Learning this early in life will help to understand and act better in situations like this. I would say don't worry if you will get a permanent offer from this employer and continue looking for other Job options. If you do find a good job offer then whether to choose that offer should be completely a rational decision based on career growth, salary, technology and not because you are having people issues at your current job. Changing a Job is a life decision and you should be the only one who should take this decision.

Now, there are certain things you should do to improve your current situation at job. By your question, I feel that you had a direct confrontation with your Product Owner. She might not had liked this direct confrontation and is not happy with you. Have a 1:1 discussion with her and understand what you are doing wrong that is making her upset. In the end you will come up as a much more stronger person than her.

</comment><comment><USER19> Leaving is always an option.

Recognise that she is empowered by the organisation and you are not. Therefore, in your position, you will generally have to comply with what she wishes even if you feel it is wrong.

If you want to tough it out, I have a plan for you. Firstly, accept that your 'zone of influence' within the organisation is small. There are things that you can control and things that you can't control, and in your current situation there is not much you can control. Psychologically, what you can do is to choose not to be bothered by what you can't control. In other words, you can choose to abide by the maxim "Happiness is not getting what you want, but wanting what you get."

Also, you say you are in fear. Remind yourself that it is no big deal if she is upset, if you need to leave the company it is ok. You have nothing to lose. Try to see the humour of her overreactions. Of course, do not try to provoke her, but do it out of prudence rather than fear.

Remember, although you do not have much control within the organisation, you do have control over finding another job if you decide to do that.

Another thing I would do is arrange a short meeting with your report where you concisely outline the issue and how it is challenging you. This can be very difficult to do without causing more harm to the situation but it will help you if you raise the issue early. Keep the meeting short, you do not want to take up your boss's time with drama.

There are two key points you should make in the meeting. One is that the situation is challenging for you. You can literally say "I am challenged by this situation." Framing the situation in this way emphasises that you see it as a problem for yourself, not for the organisation, not for your boss and not for your PO. The second key point is to briefly outline what you will do to address the challenge. Generally this will mean focusing on your programming duties, being polite to your PO and being careful not to be a cause of conflict or distraction. Raising these two points will show your boss that you are being proactive about performing well in your job and addressing the interpersonal challenges of the workplace.

In this meeting you do not want your boss to go away thinking he should take action, such as disciplinary action or getting HR involved. Trust me, this would never go well for you. Therefore you should be careful not to create the impression in your boss that you would like him to take any action, you can also explicitly state that you don't want him to take action.

The purpose is to simply raise the issue and show that you are taking it on and dealing with it constructively. It opens a dialog with your boss about it. If your boss is a good boss you should be able to talk to him about challenges you are facing and not be afraid of him judging you unfairly, this is fundamental to a healthy relationship with your boss. Beyond this, having opened the dialog may help you in the future. For example, if at the end of the six months there are certain complaints raised that you can trace back to badmouthing by your PO, you can confidently and politely point that out. If you had never raised the issue of bulling prior to that time then you will have no credibility at all. Further, if the bulling reaches a level that you can no longer tolerate, you can go into a meeting stating that you've decided you need to leave the company. If your work has been good up until that point and your boss knows you've being trying to do the right thing, he may be able to move you to another project within the company. At the very least he will understand what's gone on and your resignation will not seem abrupt. Keep in mind it is quite possible he has no power to move you to another project to keep you away from the PO.

Good luck. Trust your instincts. If working for four more months and not getting extended seems like a waste of time you need to make that calculation for yourself and do what's best for your career.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you. You comment was very valuable and validates most of my own thoughts about how to handle it from now onwards.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Document specific instances of the bullying and go to HR with it. HR is there to protect the company legally and if you present them with this they should have concerns over her potential to cause a lawsuit

</comment><comment><USER21> First, I would ask an impartial third party if you're right or being over sensitive. Not that I'm suggestion you are... you just want that sanity check before you move forward.

I would not be afraid. I would have a direct, civil (but still with a "I'm not fucking around here" tone) and tell them you don't appreciate it. Have a list of examples, ideally with dates, you can point to.

If at the end of that conversation you feel things are not going to improve, I would immediately start A) looking for employment elsewhere and B) getting materials together to burn her. Will she get fired? From your story, probably not. Can you make her life and those above her painful for a while? Yes, and you should. Set that fire on your way out the door. From my stance, everyone impacted will deserve what's coming even if it's just some extra stress.

You'll be doing nothing wrong. It's a standard grievance that, at least in the states, is potentially legally actionable. Even if a company has the money and lawyers to deal with EO complaints and alike, they do not want to deal with that! And, again in the US, they put themselves in another potentially actionable place by communicating with potential future employers.

As long as your complaints are valid, what do you have to worry about? Just tell prospective employers that you gave the position 6 months but wasn't happy there and are looking for opportunities to continue learning.

<comment><USER21> In short, I'm suggesting let them think you are considering legal action.

It's surely not worth the expense (money, time, energy) but at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you made a number of people scramble and she will now have a scrutinizing eye on her.

This job is just a stepping stone to somewhere better.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> What I didn't do in your situation - should have done - was to stick up for myself. Now, "sticking up" can take several forms, and the trick is to do it appropriately.

If you're too gentle, the other party might not understand that you have concerns, might not respect them as important, or might be able to pretend not to know about them.

If you're too emphatic, you risk exceeding the bounds of professionalism yourself.

Do stand up for yourself. Don't bully her.

</comment><comment><USER23> If you really, truly think you are being bullied, then perhaps you should to go HR and report it. Since that seems to not have crossed your mind, I have to wonder why? And it makes me suspect that it isn't as simple as she is merely a meanie who is mistreating you and you have done nothing wrong.

And that brings me to this:

You don't necessarily need to apologize to her, but you should make every effort to show your respects to this person. Even men who mean well and are trying hard to not be sexist often fail to genuinely treat female colleagues with the same degree of professional respect they treat their male colleagues. So, assume you fell short somehow and try to rise to the occasion and get it right this time. Quit blaming her, accusing her, acting like it is all her fault, etc. Be an exemplary professional and expect to earn her trust and her respect.

Best. It sucks to have workplace friction, no matter the reason.

</comment><comment><USER24> You asked what to do. You seem like an intelligent person early in their career.

I want to tell you a quick, true story. In my high school Geography class (or Social Studies, or something), our teacher told us that the USA was the 2nd largest land mass country and my friend knew USA was 3rd and Canada was 2nd.

Sure enough, we looked it up in the new almanac (This as back before Bing was a thing) and Canada has annexed some land and we proved the teacher wrong.

We went to the history teacher and showed him the facts. He said he didn't care, he'd mark us wrong if we didn't answer the question like he taught us.

We went to the guidance counselor for "guidance." He recommended we write down what the teacher said to get a better grade and avoid conflict.

So, my friend and I, we wrote down Canada for the 2nd largest country, and we got it marked wrong.

And we dropped it after that.

Pretty stupid story huh? Doesn't matter now.

Whatever you argued with this Product Owner about, you need to go and apologize to her, and tell her you're sorry you weren't supportive, and that you want to help make her product great, and can you wipe the slate clean.

If you can't do that, quit and go work somewhere else.

This is not a place that needs to adapt to you and your opinions. You either help the company and the organization, or they get rid of you.

I mean this with love, and with gentle guidance: You are not a snowflake. Maybe they're sexist bigots, or maybe you're just a jerk.

I don't know.

But if they don't like you, you won't work there long. It doesn't matter how good your code is.

So find a way to become liked, or go work somewhere else. And when you get there, don't attract conflict or disagree rudely. Find a way to be liked and make your perception be one of a helpful friendly approachable person.

</comment><comment><USER25> Sit down and communicate with her about the incident and tell her your intention now is to improve your relationship for the benefit of the team. Easy to say, hard to do but that's the key here. It will put you in the right position and no one can argue if you maintain this position.

</comment><comment><USER26> Look for another job, be as cooly professional as possible in the meantime and DON'T TAKE THE BAIT.

</comment><comment><USER27> Have you tried talking to her? Explaining the situation from your perspective, and just trying to let her know that you want to clear the air with her?

I think opening up to her about your worries and feelings can help you both move forward and make your work environment more friendly.

<comment><USER27> And don't be defensive about wrong accusations thrown at you. Believe the your coworkers can see from the side how you behave around and treat other women.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> If the actual work is going well, you can try working under someone else, in a different department, etc. Of course, no one should be treated like this in the workplace. However, it happens because the workplace can really suck.

<comment><AUTHOR> I thought of it but I can't. I'm a very specific type of developer and our team is the only one where the role exists.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> "On my first week, me and the PO had a disagreement during a Scrum Grooming. It wasn't a big deal for me but it must have been a big deal for her."

Can you elaborate on this? What was the disagreement?

<comment><AUTHOR> I would rather not make it explicit since it would provide enough information for any colleagues of mine reading HN to connect the dots and be 100% sure who I am.

I was pressured to do something during that meeting, I refused with the argument that it wouldn't benefit any of us and I explained why. The person kept asking. I kept refusing. It was uncomfortable.

I know I've handled that particular situation in a bad way. I could just have done it even if it meant trouble in the future but I took a stance out of professionalism. It was a mistake, no doubt.

<comment><USER10> >I refused with the argument that it wouldn't benefit any of us and I explained why.

That's a bit of a lesson learned in terms of "Things not to do in your first week".

Aside from criminal activity, I can't think of any situation where you were in a position to understand things better than the person asking you to do the task, and even if you where, where it would be a good idea to make such an immediate disagreement vocal and public.

You should probably test the mileage of making an apology for trying to assert yourself over a senior person (regardless of whether or not you are in fact correct) in your first week before you do anything, really. I have a funny feeling that it might go further than you think here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> I was in a similar position once.

What I did was kept my head down, performed the work without any personal, emotional investment and started looking for a new job. It took several months but it worked out for the better for me. I was so happy when it was time to submit my two weeks notice. I took three hours to craft my notice email. If you're good at what you do and your skill set is in demand, this may work for you.

Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER31> Have you tried to sit down and have an open conversation with this person? Sometimes doing this can really help diffuse tension.

</comment><comment><USER32> This is not what you want to hear, and probably not the correct answer. But the pragmatic answer is to leave. Whatever happens is going to come at significant human capital to you, unfortunately, and unfairly, even if you 'win'. Suck it up, till you can get out of there.

</comment><comment><USER33> "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

</comment><comment><USER34> I'm dismayed to see most of the advice given to you by HN is bad. I am in a very similar situation, and it has been ongoing for years. I have also been bullied for some substantial parts of my life, so I understand the power dynamic very well.

In my recent experience, there is a playbook that you should use. This playbook is designed to be used in a one-on-one setting, between the bully and the person defending herself. I consider it fairly literal; you should memorize this sequence, rehearse it, and play it out as close as possible to how you rehearse. It is also intended to be used without any emotion; the goal is to be as matter-of-fact as humanly possible. It goes like this:

1\. Point out a very specific problem behavior (screaming at you, some other event). Be as specific as possible, and use times/dates if you know them. There should be zero ambiguity about this, and the bully should never have leeway to disclaim the event. 2\. Explain how it made you feel (angry, demotivated, alienated, etc.) 3\. Say "when you did #1, the message I received was (.....) Was that the intended message?". A common example from my own experience is "I feel like I'm perceived as incompetent, and not any value to the team." 4\. Regardless of the answer to #3, specifically say the words "In the future, don't do that again." Don't use the words "request" or "would like" in this response. 5\. Explain the consequences of breaking directive #4. Something like "If this happens again, I will report the incident to HR (or your manager)."

This recipe has corrected nearly every incident of harassment and bullying I have encountered (well, at least as an adult). It won't fix the underlying issues; someone might still hate your guts, be jealous of you, or use you as a scapegoat. Those are deeper issues that this kind of recipe can't address. Nonetheless, this script directly addresses the problematic behavior, and it opens the door to confronting some deeper problems once the bully realizes that their bullying is visible and unaccepted. Strange as it sounds, most bullies think that their behavior is invisible to all but the victim. Exposing the bully to others can shift the power balance substantially.

The other thing I recommend is to keep a work diary. You don't need to write in it every day (although, in a problem workplace, you may end up with >1 entries a day). In this diary, I encourage you to record events that took place, how you feel about them, and any technical consequences of that event. I have noticed that bullying tends to produce technical changes in team function which hurts the product and hurts the operational efficiency of the group. If these kinds of disputes ever escalate to HR, which sounds very likely in your case, you will need this diary to establish a pattern of behavior and demand resolution. It will become your most valuable tool to improve your situation. It also serves as a somewhat impartial record of what happened. You may decide that, after reviewing X months of work diary, these issues are not that serious, and your emotional reaction is dominating how you feel. In my own case, I expected this to be true (I didn't trust myself enough), but it became obvious after a 1.5-year diary review that the problem wasn't me. :)

Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER10> Not to belittle your feelings in this situation, but nothing here is what I would describe as "bullying".

A person not being nice to you, or being an ass in general, is not bullying. I don't think you'll get a positive outcome here if you frame this situation as being 'bullied' so I'd suggest using a different approach.

What I do see (and of course, it is a real problem) is that perhaps you and the PO seem to have a personality conflict. This is obviously an issue because you clearly don't want it to exist and of course are in a vulnerable position being so new to the company.

The first thing you need to do, regardless of your fear, is to sit down and talk with her. You need to explain that you clearly started off on the wrong foot, and ask her directly if there is anything you can do to change things. Her position is one of the following: She doesn't realize or intend to have this affect on you; she thinks you are incompetent or; she is just an ass or dislikes you for some irrelevant reason. By talking to her directly, you have a good chance of solving this problem if her position is one of the first two. (You don't have to like what she offers, but the idea is to assign motive here.)

If something constructive comes out of that, pursue it. If she is just an ass, or if you try something for a while and you continue to have issues, then you can talk to your Coach. I wouldn't talk to HR without first talking to your direct supervisor though. As your manager they deserve the respect of being allowed to solve this issue first. At that point, you also have your conversation and any remedial steps to refer to in that conversation as well.

If that doesn't work, you should look for a new position. You can tell HR the issue on the exit interview if you want. To be honest, if your manager can't address this issue to your satisfaction, HR won't either.

Finally: If you can't sit and have a conversation with your PO directly in which you are able to articulate your position for whatever reason, you should probably just start looking for a new job regardless. Communication is essential to your success at work. If you can't communicate, whether it is "your fault" or "her fault", you won't be successful. May as well cut to the chase. If this is the case though, you need to be clear and honest with yourself though about why you are coming to this conclusion. There is more than one person out there that is going to be hard to work with... at some point you need to be able to address these types of conflicts in a way that is constructive and that works for you beyond simply removing yourself from the situation entirely.

I wish you the best of luck. These things are never fun, but they are inevitable given human nature.

</comment><comment><USER13> Obviously, this may not be a possible option for you ... and I loathe to say this, but you should probably just leave.

There's no way to deal with the issue without making it 'you vs. her'. Even if they don't like her (and know she's a bitch), maybe she's too important to them at this point ... so you're going to be perceived as 'the problem'.

If she is as bad as you say she is, surely other people will take note of that, you may want to hand in your resignation and inform upper management of the reasons why. And then move on.

I wish you well.

<comment><USER13> I would add one thing: if you keep going on like this, you will become her victim. It will affect you.

Right now - you're new - you're kind of outside the game. You're almost an 'observer'.

But once you are trapped in that - you'll either have to assume the position of 'trained animal' \- or you'll face serious wrath.

To appease her at the beginning, you might feign meekness - but this will consume your identity. It will start to affect your view of yourself, your skills, your role in life.

It's not fair, but that's power. If you feel that she is definitely valued by the company and can't/won't replace here, then there's not much chance you can win. It's going to be 'political' not 'judicious'. A startup that needs to make milestones is going to chose whoever is more valuable to them at that point and that's it.

I was in this situation once, the best thing I ever did was walk away, I was foolish to hang on for even the several weeks I did.

Anyhow, I don't want to seem so authoritative, obviously, it's a personal choice, but if you truly feel this person is bad and vindictive ... it could very well consume you. Surely you're a smart guy, find a place that works for you.

<comment><USER35> agreed. think in terms of game theory -- if you can hustle your way out of there, you could be saving yourself a lot of emotional wear/toll.</comment></comment></comment>