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Here's the truth about office politics: it's a rat race trap. You spend your life away jockeying for attention, resources and org chart positions. You go throug

Here's the truth about office politics: it's a rat race trap. You spend your life away jockeying for attention, resources and org chart positions. You go through immense stressors, let others down and get let down, swallow your mental peace - only to jockey for a higher position in the ladder. Every rung of the ladder is just being more and more assistant to your boss. You just CANNOT have your boss think badly of you. It's an abusive attachment. You grind and grind away, only to get laid off because some distant boss wants it to happen. Imagine a video game where monkeys spend their lives climbing an imaginary rung, only to find that reaching the top rung is the same as falling from a middle rung - both are "game overs"

nosefurhairdo 3y ago
The point isn't to play politics at the expense of your happiness. Awareness of the political reality allows you to more effectively reach your goals. I used to do great work without caring whether I got recognition, because I just like to keep my head down and write code. However, I've learned that by showcasing my work, collecting metrics, etc. I am able to gain credibility that allows me to sell management on projects I'd like to take on. Playing a little bit of politics has made work more enjoyable.
- nine_zeros 3y ago
  What you are engaging in is a double edged sword. In your case, what you have is incompetent management that needs some BS (metrics) to be constantly fed to themselves. The quarter you don't feed BS metrics to them will be the quarter they try to manage you out. An alternative system is one where management is responsible for understanding the business value of the work and being ok with the outcome e.g. being ok with good metrics vs poor metrics both - whatever the outcome. It was the path they charted for some objective. They need to own the objectives.
  - tdeck 3y ago
    As an individual, it's very hard to avoid incompetent managers. There are so many different ways a manager can fall short, and it's often very difficult to assess before joining a team. Even if you have a personal connection to someone on the manager's team, they may not be very observant or may not even realize something could be better. Also, there's a practical limit to how many times you can change managers. This means it's important to learn certain communication skills even if you wouldn't need them with an ideal manager.
  - nosefurhairdo 3y ago
    If I had your attitude about this my work life would be significantly less enjoyable. I like my team, I like my manager, I like the product, and playing the game just a little bit makes my life much easier. It doesn't actually matter whether the game is bullshit.
    - nine_zeros 3y ago
      > If I had your attitude about this my work life would be significantly less enjoyable. I like my team, I like my manager, I like the product, and playing the game just a little bit makes my life much easier. It doesn't actually matter whether the game is bullshit. It's not so much about not playing a BS game at all. Play it all because that makes the $$. But, it is very important to keep the BS in mind at all times.
      - nosefurhairdo 3y ago
        Totally agree. I'm naturally BS-averse so it took awhile to figure out how to deal with it.

nosefurhairdo 3y ago

The point isn't to play politics at the expense of your happiness. Awareness of the political reality allows you to more effectively reach your goals. I used to do great work without caring whether I got recognition, because I just like to keep my head down and write code. However, I've learned that by showcasing my work, collecting metrics, etc. I am able to gain credibility that allows me to sell management on projects I'd like to take on. Playing a little bit of politics has made work more enjoyable.

nine_zeros 3y ago
What you are engaging in is a double edged sword. In your case, what you have is incompetent management that needs some BS (metrics) to be constantly fed to themselves. The quarter you don't feed BS metrics to them will be the quarter they try to manage you out. An alternative system is one where management is responsible for understanding the business value of the work and being ok with the outcome e.g. being ok with good metrics vs poor metrics both - whatever the outcome. It was the path they charted for some objective. They need to own the objectives.
- tdeck 3y ago
  As an individual, it's very hard to avoid incompetent managers. There are so many different ways a manager can fall short, and it's often very difficult to assess before joining a team. Even if you have a personal connection to someone on the manager's team, they may not be very observant or may not even realize something could be better. Also, there's a practical limit to how many times you can change managers. This means it's important to learn certain communication skills even if you wouldn't need them with an ideal manager.
- nosefurhairdo 3y ago
  If I had your attitude about this my work life would be significantly less enjoyable. I like my team, I like my manager, I like the product, and playing the game just a little bit makes my life much easier. It doesn't actually matter whether the game is bullshit.
  - nine_zeros 3y ago
    > If I had your attitude about this my work life would be significantly less enjoyable. I like my team, I like my manager, I like the product, and playing the game just a little bit makes my life much easier. It doesn't actually matter whether the game is bullshit. It's not so much about not playing a BS game at all. Play it all because that makes the $$. But, it is very important to keep the BS in mind at all times.
    - nosefurhairdo 3y ago
      Totally agree. I'm naturally BS-averse so it took awhile to figure out how to deal with it.