5 ms·

I sent a complaint to my boss and HR about IT recently that was around 30,000 words. It was basically 500 words describing the level of incompetence of the IT d

I sent a complaint to my boss and HR about IT recently that was around 30,000 words. It was basically 500 words describing the level of incompetence of the IT director, the remaining 29,000 words were just supporting evidence. I'd say it was a massive waste of time, but the IT director has basically made his expertise unassailable, and the only higher authority he recognizes is Microsoft. I basically went through all my tickets and emails, took IT directors claims, read the MSDN articles on the topic, and pointed out all of the places where what he said was not only wrong, but grossly wrong. Things like "sometimes databases lose data." That's funny, cause I'm sure the team that built SQL Server 2012 would have something to say about that. Why don't we look at the documentation on ACID principles. I've come to expect the IT director to be a moron at this point, and I had been trying to roll with the punches. However, my work has been going missing, and I got in trouble for it. He denied losing it, then he blamed the database for his incompetence. I was so angry I was awake for 3 days straight cross referencing everything. The lost data wouldn't have even been a problem if he had just told me within a day or two. I only find out it's missing when we try finding it weeks or months later. Then I have to waste my time doing a forensic investigation in to the scope of the problem. The most annoying this is that the last person in this role never had any of these issues because nobody ever audited our data. I have managed to instill the idea that data can be 100% correct, and we should always be checking our data to make sure it's right. So now I get blamed anytime information is missing or incongruous.

user5994461 10y ago
Seriously, you guys SHOULD stop sending book-long blames around your companies. All it can do is hurt yourselves.
- Declanomous 10y ago
  That's good advice in general. I know that otherwise well-reasoned emails seem like a rant once they reach a certain length. I kept the body of the email to 500 words, and included a pdf of supporting documentation. I let the email sit for a week before I sent it, and had another manager read it as well to make sure the tone was alright. My entire argument was contained in the body of the email. I knew that was all it would take to get my boss on my side. The PDF was aimed at HR. The IT director has a lot of power under the IT policy, and he has used it in a retaliatory manner in the past. My goal was to stop the IT director from retaliating so I could do my job while I look for a new one. I write my emails as if they could be leaked to the general public at any time, and I'm certain that the email wouldn't reflect poorly on me, even out of context. Maybe there was a better course of action, but I don't think I did much to hurt myself.
cookiecaper 10y ago
As unfortunate as it is, most people, especially us engineering-types, are not good at seeing what drives peoples' decision making. That means we do things like this that only make us look worse under the belief that they will help (including the belief that if it doesn't help now, perhaps it will later; this is slightly more likely, but still extremely unlikely). The important people often see those things, assume it's an incoherent screed from a disgruntled piece of crap, and delete it without reading (I know from personal experience; such completely accurate and valid diatribes have gotten me fired on the 3rd day of my 2-week notice and, on a separate occasion, a running joke among the big shots for months after my departure, where one would specifically talk about how the email came in while he was on the toilet, at which point he cackled and promptly deleted it without reading). To anyone non-technical, that letter is all mumbo jumbo. It seriously might as well be in a foreign language. They are not going to check a few of the cross-references and see that you're obviously right. Even though you might hope they'll do this just one or two times, they won't. They are not going to ask the people called out in your letter to account for your accusations. They are going to write you off as an unhinged, angry, and worthless nothing-tier employee/student/whatever, make fun of you for a long time, and then forget all about it. Humans base their decisions on personal trust/credibility. The way to win against an evil IT director is to obtain far more trust/credibility in the eyes of his bosses than he has, and then to use that credibility to your advantage. That's a lengthy and difficult process, especially when you start out as a subordinate and the boss has a lot more access and ability to frame your efforts to his advantage. I personally have never had the patience to undertake such political subterfuge seriously and I find such undertakings both incredibly frustrating and soul-crushingly phony and hypocritical, but I am now convinced it is the only reliable way to get real career success and mobility. Thus I accept that any career success I enjoy will be lucky/accidental. Employment and career IS a popularity contest. Good software is somewhere between the 10th and 20th most important career concern for a developer. The number one concern for anyone trying to make it in white-collar America is to be as well-liked and popular as possible. Most of the time, love of colleagues and love of bosses are symbiotic and they feed off of each other (as long as you're sycophantic efforts aren't TOO obvious), but to the extent that a situation arises wherein someone's love has to be preferred, prefer to get the love of the bosses. This is the sure path to career success. Disregard truth, objectivity, and practicality. No one cares about you or what you think, they don't care about what you judge to be practical or wise. They didn't really hire you for your experience or insight even though they want to pretend they did. They hired you because they thought you would make them feel and look good. Not only bosses, but people in general, care only that your presence and actions are generating pleasant feelings for them. Do this reliably, disregard everything that is not this, put only as much energy into the tasks required by your actual job description as you must to be passable in the unlikely event of a performance audit, and pour the rest of your energy into social development. If you're going to make it as a company man, that's the only reliable path.

user5994461 10y ago

Seriously, you guys SHOULD stop sending book-long blames around your companies. All it can do is hurt yourselves.

Declanomous 10y ago
That's good advice in general. I know that otherwise well-reasoned emails seem like a rant once they reach a certain length. I kept the body of the email to 500 words, and included a pdf of supporting documentation. I let the email sit for a week before I sent it, and had another manager read it as well to make sure the tone was alright. My entire argument was contained in the body of the email. I knew that was all it would take to get my boss on my side. The PDF was aimed at HR. The IT director has a lot of power under the IT policy, and he has used it in a retaliatory manner in the past. My goal was to stop the IT director from retaliating so I could do my job while I look for a new one. I write my emails as if they could be leaked to the general public at any time, and I'm certain that the email wouldn't reflect poorly on me, even out of context. Maybe there was a better course of action, but I don't think I did much to hurt myself.

cookiecaper 10y ago

As unfortunate as it is, most people, especially us engineering-types, are not good at seeing what drives peoples' decision making. That means we do things like this that only make us look worse under the belief that they will help (including the belief that if it doesn't help now, perhaps it will later; this is slightly more likely, but still extremely unlikely). The important people often see those things, assume it's an incoherent screed from a disgruntled piece of crap, and delete it without reading (I know from personal experience; such completely accurate and valid diatribes have gotten me fired on the 3rd day of my 2-week notice and, on a separate occasion, a running joke among the big shots for months after my departure, where one would specifically talk about how the email came in while he was on the toilet, at which point he cackled and promptly deleted it without reading). To anyone non-technical, that letter is all mumbo jumbo. It seriously might as well be in a foreign language. They are not going to check a few of the cross-references and see that you're obviously right. Even though you might hope they'll do this just one or two times, they won't. They are not going to ask the people called out in your letter to account for your accusations. They are going to write you off as an unhinged, angry, and worthless nothing-tier employee/student/whatever, make fun of you for a long time, and then forget all about it. Humans base their decisions on personal trust/credibility. The way to win against an evil IT director is to obtain far more trust/credibility in the eyes of his bosses than he has, and then to use that credibility to your advantage. That's a lengthy and difficult process, especially when you start out as a subordinate and the boss has a lot more access and ability to frame your efforts to his advantage. I personally have never had the patience to undertake such political subterfuge seriously and I find such undertakings both incredibly frustrating and soul-crushingly phony and hypocritical, but I am now convinced it is the only reliable way to get real career success and mobility. Thus I accept that any career success I enjoy will be lucky/accidental. Employment and career IS a popularity contest. Good software is somewhere between the 10th and 20th most important career concern for a developer. The number one concern for anyone trying to make it in white-collar America is to be as well-liked and popular as possible. Most of the time, love of colleagues and love of bosses are symbiotic and they feed off of each other (as long as you're sycophantic efforts aren't TOO obvious), but to the extent that a situation arises wherein someone's love has to be preferred, prefer to get the love of the bosses. This is the sure path to career success. Disregard truth, objectivity, and practicality. No one cares about you or what you think, they don't care about what you judge to be practical or wise. They didn't really hire you for your experience or insight even though they want to pretend they did. They hired you because they thought you would make them feel and look good. Not only bosses, but people in general, care only that your presence and actions are generating pleasant feelings for them. Do this reliably, disregard everything that is not this, put only as much energy into the tasks required by your actual job description as you must to be passable in the unlikely event of a performance audit, and pour the rest of your energy into social development. If you're going to make it as a company man, that's the only reliable path.