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This feels like the equivalent to the busywork example in the article. Instead of sweeping the already clean floors just to appear busy, we're scurrying to show

This feels like the equivalent to the busywork example in the article. Instead of sweeping the already clean floors just to appear busy, we're scurrying to show frequent progress towards the impetuous goals set from the previous demo, for the sake of showing visible, arbitrary progress. It would be like an architect and builder assembling a shoddy movie set facade of a house without a proper foundation or framing, just to please a client who expects to see visible, street-facing progress on a steady and consistent basis. Perhaps it falls to engineering to educate management on setting proper expectations, and creating a proper timeline with milestones. But much like an employee at Tim Horton's isn't often in a position to tell the boss that time spent physically recovering will be far more useful than cleaning an already clean floor, we're often put in a position of enabling improper client and management expectations, with an implied "or else".

ornornor 4y ago
> Perhaps it falls to engineering to educate management on setting proper expectations This has been a consistent recipe for burnout for me. Don’t do it. Nothing will change because “you’re not paid to think about these things”. You’ll spend your energy talking to a wall and become a target because you’re threatening the status quo. Better spot this kind of environment early and leave as soon as you get a whiff. It’s not worth your health and they’re not interested in improving anything.
- mgkimsal 4y ago
  Frustrating to read that, because while I've seen enough to generally believe that, there's always a few counter-examples to prove that "no, see, they're listening and really want to change. how can they change/improve if you won't even voice your concerns?" And yet I've seen it happen relatively rarely that trying to find that needle-in-a-haystack is often not worth it, as you say. Just take note and make plans to move on.
  - ornornor 4y ago
    Never happened to me in my 10+ years in industry. Things usually get that way for a reason and that reason is that no one who matters is interested in fixing things. And those who suffer these inefficiencies usually have learnt helplessness and made themselves ok with the situation (or left after the polite amount of time, 6–24 months depending on the country) Even then, the chances of the org being open to change are very slim as we both seem to have experienced. Do you really want to put your health on the line for a small chance at fixing a company that’s not even yours and isn’t very likely to reward you for the waste reduction anyway? I know I don’t and quit rather than try to fix.
    - mgkimsal 4y ago
      I'm going back closer to 25 years, and a lot of my experience has been in smaller orgs (less than 50 people). I think I've seen this work once in a larger orgs (>1000 people) but the core issue at stake was overall pretty small in the scheme of things.

ornornor 4y ago

> Perhaps it falls to engineering to educate management on setting proper expectations This has been a consistent recipe for burnout for me. Don’t do it. Nothing will change because “you’re not paid to think about these things”. You’ll spend your energy talking to a wall and become a target because you’re threatening the status quo. Better spot this kind of environment early and leave as soon as you get a whiff. It’s not worth your health and they’re not interested in improving anything.

mgkimsal 4y ago
Frustrating to read that, because while I've seen enough to generally believe that, there's always a few counter-examples to prove that "no, see, they're listening and really want to change. how can they change/improve if you won't even voice your concerns?" And yet I've seen it happen relatively rarely that trying to find that needle-in-a-haystack is often not worth it, as you say. Just take note and make plans to move on.
- ornornor 4y ago
  Never happened to me in my 10+ years in industry. Things usually get that way for a reason and that reason is that no one who matters is interested in fixing things. And those who suffer these inefficiencies usually have learnt helplessness and made themselves ok with the situation (or left after the polite amount of time, 6–24 months depending on the country) Even then, the chances of the org being open to change are very slim as we both seem to have experienced. Do you really want to put your health on the line for a small chance at fixing a company that’s not even yours and isn’t very likely to reward you for the waste reduction anyway? I know I don’t and quit rather than try to fix.
  - mgkimsal 4y ago
    I'm going back closer to 25 years, and a lot of my experience has been in smaller orgs (less than 50 people). I think I've seen this work once in a larger orgs (>1000 people) but the core issue at stake was overall pretty small in the scheme of things.