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>psychologically safe in a world with climate change, cancer, random attacks of violence, earthquakes, etc? Obviously, "total" in this context means in the wor
by pyjug 5y ago
>psychologically safe in a world with climate change, cancer, random attacks of violence, earthquakes, etc?
Obviously, "total" in this context means in the workplace. Also, psychological safety essentially means "ability to express yourself and make mistakes without the fear of negative consequences" - it has nothing to do with shielding yourself from cancer, climate change etc. Ironically, the Buddha, who was quoted in the OP grew up with "total psychological safety" as you defined it, and you know where that led him.
> just like it's possible to have a reasonable level of physical safety while driving a car
Again, this is not a comparable analogy at all. If you're unable to in no uncertain terms say "this project is going to hurt users" out of fear of getting fired/looking like not a team player, that is not even a "reasonable level" of psychological safety.
- TheTrotters 5y ago> If you're unable to in no uncertain terms say "this project is going to hurt users" out of fear of getting fired/looking like not a team player, that is not even a "reasonable level" of psychological safety. We're talking about software engineers in big tech companies, right? They're extremely well paid and would have no problem finding a new job.
- strken 5y agoExcept for the ones on visas, interns, and recent grads. Anyone who doesn't want to or can't cram for four hours of consecutive leetcode is also going to struggle.
- munificent 5y agoI have told my managers many many times "I think this feature/change is bad for users" without fear of negative repercussions. If the entire existence of the project itself is user-harmful, then you have bigger problems than psychological safety.
- pyjug 5y agoFair enough, good for you. I'm not sure if you're a Googler, but nevertheless, my point was that this luxury isn't afforded to the vast majority of people in tech. I highly doubt it's even afforded to the majority of Google engineers either (based on my acquaintances), but that is beside the point. Somehow whenever you mention Google in any context, a bunch of people come forward to defend Google culture -- so, my mistake that I sort of pulled Google into it.