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As an independent contributor I don't want my manager weighing in on my choices. I see them as out of the loop on the more technical aspects of my job and they

As an independent contributor I don't want my manager weighing in on my choices. I see them as out of the loop on the more technical aspects of my job and they should leave those decisions to me. If I come to a more technically senior member of the team who is more knowledgeable, it is to _precisely_ ask for their opinion. So in my mind: if you're a manager, don't bother; if you're a more senior IC, do, with the explanation of why your approach is better. You're more of a mentor at that point than a manager. Oh, and if your approach isn't really better, just different, keep it to yourself.

jacquesm 10y ago
> Oh, and if your approach isn't really better, just different, keep it to yourself. This really is the heart of the problem, not giving feedback when it is solicited (unless it is really soliciting for approval rather than feedback). There usually are many ways to do something, all of them roughly equal and it doesn't matter who gets to chart the road to take, as long as a road gets taken and you can move on to the next issue. Way too often the discussion will center around who gets to claim that their road was taken, which is more often than not utterly irrelevant. Office politics is the silent killer of teams, projects, products and whole companies and this is one of the more immediately destructive manifestations.