8 ms·
Every complex project lives and dies by a relatively small group of true believers. From the outside, we don't know who they are, but sometimes we get a glimps
by protastus 4y ago
Every complex project lives and dies by a relatively small group of true believers.
From the outside, we don't know who they are, but sometimes we get a glimpse of their passion.
- polishdude20 4y agoI think it's more that most people are basically trying their best and that includes managers and top brass. Sometimes we get a glimpse when that shines through from the whole group.
- mach1ne 4y agoI don’t mean to be negative, but most people certainly don’t try their best. Many are only working for the paycheck and don’t attach their sense of success to their professional output.
- americanmotto 4y agoAgree. I've said for ~10 years now, that it seems the American Dream has transitioned from "Anything is possible as long as you work hard enough." to "Do as little as work possible to get the same paycheck." Something has definitely changed in the culture.
- dbingham 4y agoWhat could have possibly changed in the last several decades that might have affected someone's willingness to give their job there all? https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ Sorry for the sarcasm, but it is very frustrating to see people standing around wondering at this change as if it's a moral failing when people have been pointing out for decades that those at the top broke the social contract and that there would eventually be consequences.
- mcv 4y agoThe moral failing is definitely in how corporations are lead and how work is rewarded. I don't blame anyone for not being passionate about a job that barely pays a living wage. In fact, I think it's incredibly harmful for a country when work is not properly rewarded.
- eigilsagafos 4y agoI wonder if the tide will ever turn? That it would become a competitive advantage to build enterprises with values other than maximizing the returns to their shareholders.
- runarberg 4y agoI think majority of jobs are low wage with no future prospects, and quite a lot of jobs have bosses or—worse—shareholders taking away the profits for their own private climate devastating opulence. Why would you work hard for these people? Why would you do anything more than the absolute minimum? I think this supposed American dream was only ever a ruse, a Hollywood propaganda. If it ever existed it only applied to a certain demographic and was never actually a possibility for majority of Americans. In the past decades (since the late 70s at least) Hollywood has slowed down it’s propaganda machine in favor of more independent film making (or the propaganda has shifted elsewhere; mainly the military during this century), so the illusion of the American dream is slowly but surely wearing off. In the meantime our jobs suck just as much as before, possibly even more, and are paying even less.
- Aeolun 4y ago> Why would you do anything more than the absolute minimum? For personal satisfaction? You are going to be there anyway, you might as well do a good job. I’m not saying to put in more hours than contracted, but those hours should be high quality (or as high as you can make them, under the circumstances).
- TurkTurkleton 4y agoPersonal satisfaction, like exposure, is not legal tender.
- gorgoiler 4y agoWhile this is obviously true, the long term effects of a positive, growth mindset are more likely to have an effect on your net worth than if you cannot or will not take pride in working hard and doing the best job you possibly can.
- runarberg 4y agoThis reads like its from a questionable research paper funded by an HR group with the sole aim of gaslighting workers into working harder for less money. I’m not buying it.
- behringer 4y agoSorry but this sort of drive is a two way street. If the company's not going to promote me and will drop me as soon as they've burned me out, I'm most definitely not going to "give my all" to the company. The company needs me, I don't need them for my self gratification. I just need a paycheck.
- girvo 4y agoCompanies no longer reward loyalty or working hard on the whole, so I'm surprised that you are surprised. Those at the top reap entirely outsized rewards, the company does stock buy-backs, and the workers get table scraps. We're insulated somewhat from that in our industry, we're well compensated, but I don't blame others in other industries for responding to how companies focus their resources today.
- mensetmanusman 4y agoExecutives from corporate America led by people like Welch treated workers like cogs, which eventually taught employees to treat employers transactionally.
- losteric 4y agoMBAs instead of promote-from-within. Bringing along egotistical bean-counter superiority with typically vastly inferior performance. Seeing this trend in big tech has me very bearish - the non-tech MBAs just can't execute on long-term big bets that require the deep understanding/cross-cutting coordination that comes with career insiders.
- rocqua 4y agoIs the problem of outside MBAs their lack of deep understanding? Others here have argued that the promotion of outsiders erodes loyalty and passion of the workforce towards their jobs. I could imagine good outsiders who have the skills for long-term big bets are quite common. But then the erosion of the community inside the company could still foil such bets. As an aside, this alternative narrative seems more palatable to MBAs then your version. Hence it might be more easily accepted.
- mordae 4y agoActually, MBA schools actively teach people to be shitty to their employees and instill a sense of superiority. It's a scheme of sorts.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- whydoyoucare 4y agoI don't think "working for a paycheck" necessarily implies one is not trying his/her best. Also the sense of success may not even depend on "success at work". Being successful and trying their best is far more nuanced than usually made out to be.
- eyelidlessness 4y agoThis is one of the more excellent comments I’ve ever seen here. Thank you.
- avgcorrection 4y agoFor sure. Whatever happened to hired guns putting their hearts and souls into maximizing profits for the shareholders? I mean, not to be negative or anything.
- MomoXenosaga 4y agoI know a Japanese expat who moved from America to Europe because he didn't want to work himself to death. There is more to life than career and money. Sure he earns less now but he actually has the opportunity to spend it!
- dmatech 4y agoIt happens with a lot of people who get burned out and just want to put their kids through college. There's nothing inherently wrong with that outlook, and those people can do good work keeping the lights on. But if you're at all driven or ambitious, it can be seriously frustrating to work with (or especially for) someone like this.
- waynecochran 4y agoI find it highly unlikely that any manager would have anything to do with easter eggs.
- colpabar 4y agoJust because you don’t like your manager(s) doesn’t mean we’re all bad :)
- RHSeeger 4y agoMy manager sends me videos of particularly challenging video game things he's accomplished. And links to fun games. Managers are people, too; there's plenty of good ones.
- waynecochran 4y agoNot that you're bad ... you just love Jira tickets and spreadsheets and don't want to be accountable to anything that could come back and bight you.
- xp84 4y agoi highly doubt an IC could make something like this happen without approval from somebody. It would be a huge risk. Also relating to easter eggs, anecdotally I think there are far fewer of them in software these days for just that reason: when a developer puts in an easter egg, it's hard to prove categorically that its addition wouldn't have some unintended effect, and possibly very embarrassing to the company if a major issue was traced back to some joke added by a developer for lulz. Uncomfortable questions would be asked. Imagine if adding an easter egg to Windows ended up leading to the grounding of all flights, or caused a life support system to behave improperly. etc. I know MS specifically banned easter eggs a long time ago on these grounds, I think it's a fireable offense but could be wrong.
- kibwen 4y agoThis goes for human organizations and communities in general. If you want something to persist and excel, find a way to empower the people who truly Give A Shit.
- dwohnitmok 4y agoPain ensues when you have two or more people/camps of people who Give A Shit but are in conflict with each other. Then often the organization just rips itself apart or collapses. The tricky bit is how to empower people who Give A Shit while maintaining alignment.
- agumonkey 4y agoInteresting, I'll make a note to keep my GAS levels around 80.
- afandian 4y agoSeriously, I think the answer to this isn't about intensity of feeling (although 100% is never healthy for anything, ever). It's about channelling the GAS into principles, tightening them up, and agreeing on what matters. Then putting that energy into being flexible about everything else.
- agumonkey 4y agoKinda agree. I like to raise GAS levels as high as possible but by balancing the fun, effort level and importance.
- graphe 4y agoHow true is this? In civilizations past such as the Romans you could cut off the heads like the emperor and it would be unchanged for millions. In china when the communists defeated the Manchus, some villagers were amazed these people defeated what they thought was the Ming dynasty. Khomeini was killed, Trump isn't president anymore and Iran's military and the right haven't died. In tech, Bell Labs is 'demonopolized' yet it's parts have become stronger. I disagree that the it dies with true believers. It decays and reforms and even gets stronger.
- pmontra 4y agoKhomeini was killed is news to me. It's been a long time and I don't remember the details so I checked Wikipedia. It seems he died by hearth attack in hospital at age 89. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini
- johntiger1 4y agowhen did the communists defeat the manchus? do you mean the KMT..?