> they believe they're the only one who can solve an issue. Have you ever been in situations where you really are the only person who can solve the issue? Or,

> they believe they're the only one who can solve an issue. Have you ever been in situations where you really are the only person who can solve the issue? Or, at least the only one who can solve it a) in a reasonable time frame and b) without creating multiple other problems? I've been in those situations before - not all the time, but it's happened. First time I sort of liked it - seemed like a bit of 'prestige'. But then ... I took a 3 day vacation. Flew hours away. Checked in to hotel. Light on the phone in the room was beeping with a message to call the office, because there was a bug no one could figure out. Even though I was at a 'big company', I was (literally) the only person on the project, and couldn't have 6 hours away without the world crashing down. Really poor management on everyone's part. I've been in a couple other situations since then where I'm the only person who can do X, and I recognize it, and lobby for someone else to be able to step in. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've also had a couple of situations with competent team mates who all started before me, and had a wide diverse set of skills, supported each other, and I was not expected to be some sort of 'superhero'. I appreciated those environments more as an older person who's previously experienced the 'superhero' environments. These "many other people can do what you do" teams I've been a part of have been nice, but also comparatively rare.