The author seems to be doing the classic mistake of thinking how to use technical means to solve what amounts to political problems. All the Dereks I’ve met ov

The author seems to be doing the classic mistake of thinking how to use technical means to solve what amounts to political problems. All the Dereks I’ve met over the years (I know terribly anecdotal) are aware of the position they’re in. They are desperately scared of those nosy engineers that can prove with data how bad they are and try hard to put them in positions where that is not possible. The portrayal of Michael Scott in “The Office” was sometimes too painfully real. But knowing that, I’ve found its actually possible to use it to your own if not advantage, then at least peace of mind. The way one does it is to get to know your Derek as a person, become his confidant - a surprisingly large amount of the “stupid jira tickets” those people generate are usually because of of very stupid requirements and policies that they have to follow. After one understands the deep reasons for the busy work and inefficiencies - be it other bosses and hire ups or inadequate policies, one can work with their Dereks to sideline / fix them. The former being way easier than the latter of course. Then you can approach the hire ups and understand why they put those policies in the first place, slowly getting a deeper understanding of the bigger picture. Cause there usually are reasons for all the madness, it just takes civility, patience and empathy to get to it. “Why bother” one would ask? Well in the end you get known by all those people as “the guy to go to, to get shit done” and start being pushed into very interesting and consequential projects. People trust you, at least on a personal level - and even if you don’t manage to solve the political issues that frustrate you, you still have the peace of mind of being productive and friendly with your environment.