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Also alignment with upper executives is pretty critical. Pay careful attention to what they say at All-Hands and which teams they're spending their time with,
by nostrademons 5y ago
Also alignment with upper executives is pretty critical. Pay careful attention to what they say at All-Hands and which teams they're spending their time with, and try to get on those teams. Try to be in the room when major decisions are made; understand the thought process that went into these decisions. If you can simulate your VP's thought process and predict what they're going to value next, you're at a huge advantage over most of your peers in the department, and you can also leverage that to help your management look good.
- bluGill 5y agoTry to be ahead of that - figure out what project they will care about next and be the leader of that one. Sometimes you need to risk a couple years on an unknown project before it breaks out to get the attention. Just be careful, it is a risk: if it works you are aren't just on it, you are the leader of it, but if it fails you are the leader of a project they never cared about. An even better way to figure out what project is going to be important, sabotage it on a way that you can pull an 80 hour week at the last minute to rescue it. (I strongly encourage leaders to NEVER reward someone on a project for pulling long hours at the last minute - an outsider who steps in fine, but someone who was on the project should have prevented it in the first place. I've never seen a leader pay attention to this)
- MattGaiser 5y agoWe praise the fireman, but hate/mock/are annoyed by the fire marshal.