Implementing the Bureaucratic Black Arts? 376
bildungsroman_yorick asks: "Many unlucky workers in their careers have encountered the bureaucracy, the careerism, the project death march and the office politics that hold people back from performing to high standards of work. In some office environments that I've encountered half a supervisors workload involves giving your workers room to operate and protecting them from the bureaucracy and politics. I have come to realise that it's the natural way of business culture to behave this way and the only way I can let my workers be productive is to be one step ahead of the politics, even if that means breaking the rules. So what I'd like to ask some of the more savvier Slashdot denizen: What are some of the bureaucratic black arts that you've performed in your workplace to work around the office politics and get your work done on time and to a high standard?"
don't even bother -- there is no solution (Score:5, Insightful)
I worked 21 years for my company. I was good at what I did. I was also unconventional. I worked my way to the highest position in the technical ranks. My salary was out of band (never asked for that, btw) because of my accomplishments. I received the highest technical achievement award possible from my company. I wrote an application that saved (hard dollars) my company 10's of millions of dollars, and kept them out of legal hot water. That program is still being used today and is a core technology there.
A year ago I was told in an effort to "cut costs", it was time for me to go. Done. Finito.
Whatever you do, take care of yourself. My (admittedly anecdotal) experience says there are no friends out there. There is no reason to strive for excellence based on your company's desires. Turns out that doesn't matter.
Make yourself happy. Set your own standards.
The business world is a fucked place, and if you ever try to make sense of it, you're pumping oxygen needlessly to those brain cells.
I think for me the crime in all of this was I used to want to do as much for my company as possible. There was hardly an evening on my way home at night I wasn't thinking of ways to make my company a better company. And, I was pretty good at contributing to that. I'm still good at what I do, but I don't think I'll ever have an ounce of good will for a company. Bottom line, companies evolve to where people who like and want power become the ones running the show, and generally speaking they are fucktards whose acumen is inversely proportional to their salary.
Beg forgiveness later (Score:3, Insightful)
Act first, the paperwork will follow.
Timecards reflect essential truth, if not literal truth of when work is done.
Delegate to those with better bureaucratic kung-fu.
Ash Nazg Durbatuluk... (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Volunteer.
Yes, yes. We all know that nobody likes extra work. However, you'd be surprised how many simple little things one can get through this-- like, for instance, one can acquire extra passwords and keys, because they were needed for whatever job, and the person giving them out figures that you might be needed again. Useful.
2) Subvert.
It is often hard (it sure is for me) to remember that power structures need not be crashed *through*. If you can afford the time-- and it usually isn't much, even when you're working under deadline-- you might try simply wedging underneath whatever structure it is. For instance, instead of simply stating that you're the boss, they have to do your will (even though it may well be true), come up with the most roundabout way of doing something, that doesn't involve them. Next time, you can use a less roundabout way... shortly, those higher up, and those lower down, from you will know you so well, you can implement solutions (of whatever nature) more effectively than anyone, and the people who you didn't like dealing with, are shoved off to the margins. Helps to shed a crocodile tear as they are pink slipped (if you're in the workplace) or merely go smoke pot, discontent with their newfound uselessness.
3) Bash.
Of course, once in a while, things that have to be done, have to be done *now*. And that is the appropriate time to simply tell people to get the heck out of your way. But the most important thing is to keep track of how *often* you're doing this. Apply the first two provisions generously, and you can *maybe* get away with this once a month. Not as generously, and it might have to be once a year, if you don't want people to hate you. What's important here is not the *actual* proportion of times you use this technique, but the *perceived* frequency. And the latter is nearly always higher than the former.
Of course, if all these techniques are too complex, well, then, I wish you luck, as you'll need it. But careful application of these ideas can lead to... great rewards.
Always get it in writing! (Score:5, Insightful)
management ideas? (Score:1, Insightful)
first the meeting room, AND THEN THE WORLD. D:
seriously though, i think that little book has every minute detail of how to work effectively and powerfuly every imagined.
There is no spoon (er gold watch) (Score:5, Insightful)
Everyone is disposable and in the revolving door of upper managment at most companies, noone with any power is going to recognize YOUR accomplishments past the next board meeting.
Having loyalty to your employer is laudible but generally misplaced. Your primary loyalty should be to yourself. Generally that means working hard and looking out for the company in that this generally results in raises and promotions for you in the long run. However, you can never forget that at the end of the day, you are just a cog in the company wheel and in terms of upper managment, one cog is as good as another.
As long as you don't lose sight of this perspective, you'll do fine. But, as soon as you start seeing yourself as the 'guy that saved the company millions of dollars' you are heading down the wrong road. Corporate memories are very short these days--they have absolutely NO loyalty to you, even if you single handedly have kept the company afloat for the last 21 years.
Dale Carnegie (Score:5, Insightful)
No one likes a complainer. No one likes the negative guy.
Be positive. Suggest good things. Don't get your panties in a bunch if things don't go your way.
Remember that everyone has an opinion and it's quite possible to be equally valid to your's. And that's what politics is: managing people and everyone's desires to some degree of consensus.
Good post (Score:4, Insightful)
There should be a required course at universities that warns students of the dangers of becoming too committed to your job. I can just imagine the howl that would shortly ensue from the corporate community if such a policy were put in place.
Re:There is no spoon (er gold watch) (Score:4, Insightful)
You're generally correct, but it's also important to keep in mind that looking out for the company isn't always the same as looking out for your managment and the latter is much more important to keeping your job than the former.
what's best for the company is a secondary concern (Score:5, Insightful)
They don't give shit #1 about you or your staff.
Make sure that you and your staff remember to have a life outside of work. It is generally a lot easier to get a new job than a new family, or new friends.
Make sure that you and your staff are always growing new, marketable skills. Don't get you or your staff stuck in a technical dead end. Always be thinking about and preparing for the next gig.
Ultimately, remember that working enables lifestyle, not the other way around. Companies and their management will work you and your staff to death to line their own pockets at your expense if you will let them.
Live for yourself, not for someone else's business.
Obviously, this all goes out the window if you are self employed.
Re:It takes some practice (Score:1, Insightful)
The part of the brain which allows you to quickly shift your focus of attention is underdeveloped, damaged, stunted, constricted, or otherwise too small.
This lends itself to technical jobs, where you stare at a screen all day and think about the same problem for long stretches of time, but it also makes it almost impossible to "read faces" well, which means you will be both a bad liar, and also have a hard time fitting in to social situations (because you don't always pick up the subtle cues which should tell you that you are annoying somebody.)
It's not a super-power, it's a (very minor) disability. It is still entirely possible to have the syndrome, be terrible at lying, and yet still be as dumb as a bag of hammers.
Re:There is no spoon (er gold watch) (Score:5, Insightful)
Neither one is imporant. What's important is being perceived to be looking out for the company and management. No matter how effective you are, if you are not seen or heard, you do not exist. While this observation of mine may appear to be a bit sardonic, one should pay keen attention to it -- and the larger the company, the keener the need for the attention...
C//
Re:There is no spoon (er gold watch) (Score:4, Insightful)
Nothing misplaced is laudible.
No one would ever say, "Ignoring the force of gravity is laudible but generally misplaced."
Why? Because ignoring the force of gravity can get you hurt. Likewise, having loyalty to your employer can get you hurt. This is not to say that you shouldn't do good work for what you are paid, but it is morally wrong to give loyalty that is not reciprocated.
Re:It takes some practice (Score:2, Insightful)
Actually you can apply this to everything, even government. There you've found an easy explanation for the present day situation: spinnin' and lyin' to keep the economy from evolving past today's biggest "easy buck" schemes.
Re:It takes some practice (Score:2, Insightful)
Luv,
Your PHB
A "Good Attitude" (Score:5, Insightful)
Taking care of them, writing them nice emails, taking 5 minutes out of your day to say "how are you doing?" is worth more than you can ever imagine. When I need anything out of the system, I now have "go to" folks that will help me navigate the system, exploit details that are not commonly known, and even bend the rules a bit.
When I cash in a favor I make sure and replenish the deed by dropping off donuts for the team, contributing to birthday gift funds, etc. Believe it or not, most of these folks are actually nice people that are trying to navigate the same mess you are. Be nice to them and you'll get far "in the system".
With respect to what another poster said about protect yourself -- that's true no matter how big or little the company. Make sure you take care of yourself. A good relationship with all the staff is a good way to accomplish that.
Re:Beg forgiveness later (Score:3, Insightful)
Timecards measure inputs, not outputs. Measuring inputs and assuming they serve as adequate surrogates for outputs is bad engineering and bad management.
Case in point: at Three Mile Island the control room systems reported that a given valve was closed when in fact it was locked solidly open. The problem was that the system was designed to measure current running to the motor that controlled the valve, which has an extremely weak relationship to the movement of the valve. Both mechanical and electrical failures could decouple the input and the output, and did.
So one of the most important things about dealing with suits is to make sure you measure outputs, and make sure the suits know that your team has good outputs for the inputs (ie. high productivity.)
If you're challenged on your team not having low enough productivity (ie. not working long enough hours) it is important to have the latest output measures at hand, and to point out that maximum productivity is achieved at around 35 hours per week. It is also important to be able to cite the extensive studies across many industries that back up that uncontroversial fact. If anyone ever talks in a meeting about the number of hours they work, or their team works, as if that was a good thing, cut them off immediately with "On my team we focus on outputs, not inputs..." NEVER let anyone get away with pretending that long hours are anything other than low productivity.
I am an extremely quantitative manager, and the people who have worked for me love it, and the people who I have worked for hate it. It shorts out all their monkey heirarchy circuits by actually focussing on what the business is supposed to be doing (being productive) rather than on what it is actually doing (stroking the monkey egos of managers and execs.)
Lest anyone think this is an anti-business rant, I should point out that I think these problems are universal human problems. They can be found in political parties, labour unions, charitable organizations, you-name-it.
Re:My needs (Score:3, Insightful)
If I EVER find an employee dropping backdoors into a system his ass is grass.
Re:My needs (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The Art of War (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:don't even bother -- there is no solution (Score:3, Insightful)
No, you worked 21 years at someones else's company.
Time to really work for YOUR company.
Re:My needs (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, yeah, it sounds like a shitty place that you worked at -- I make it a point to let my *team* find solutions for things like bug tracking and whatnot, because they are the ones who have to use it, and not me. Unrestricted and unmonitored web access, of course, because if you can't trust your programmers and sysadmins, who can you trust? And I even provide VPN access (via IPsec), albeit with more restricted privileges than the local network.
But if one of my guys were to throw a backdoor into SSH on one of the dev servers, or just go off on his own because he didn't like what the rest of the group was using, he'd get a reprimand the first time, a much more severe reprimand the second time, and an invitation to find another job the third time. Because, even though it sucks, working with other people is just a part of The Corporate World, and one can't just start stopming around in other peoples' areas of responsibility.
Take responsibility (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, manage laterally. Whenever possible, cultivate good relationships with managers who are at your level in the hierarchy. At many organizations, top level managers like to play off the subordinate managers against each other. If you can establish solid quid pro quo relationships with your peers, if top management tries to screw with you, they'll be more likely to help you out in some fashion, even if it is not direct.
Cozying up to the boss, as some people have suggested, is not really a good idea imho. Bosses, like mid-level managers, come and go. It's better to have a reputation for doing good work and being easy to work with, than for toadying up to the boss. Many times when a management change happens, the first thing the new boss does is clear the deck of people who are seen as partisan.
Remember that politics of any kind is not about implementing a system and staying with it religiously. Your tactics will have to shift as circumstances dictate. Don't be too rigid, but always remember that you have to face yourself in the mirror. If you get too enmeshed in playing the game, you may wind up being one of the very people you don't want to be.
Re:don't even bother -- there is no solution (Score:3, Insightful)
My experience in the last 8 years in various levels in one of the 3 largest banks in the U.S., moving up from front-line development to group VP: sheltering your team from politics may improve efficiency for a time, but you are doing them no favors personnally. As a manager, you need to bear the brunt of that BS, but keeping your team informed and involved at appropriate levels will help prepare them for the impending re-orgs (oh yes, they're coming), hopefully give them some perspective to "think like an owner", and help them understand the "whys" behind the "whats"...when I was writing code, I always appreciated those things, and it helped me feel more like an important member of the organization and less of a cog, and being prepared for the political stoms can give you additional tools to be productive (read: independently working toward organizational goals) in times of change (in 8 years I have had 16 direct managers, two of them I never met or spoke to).
Re:The Art of War (Score:5, Insightful)
"When dealing with management, be insincere. Tell them what they want to hear."
All other of your points I generally agree with (good stuff), but on this one I have to differ.
I've always dealt straight up with management for two reasons:
The caveat is that you have to start this from the very beginning. You can't lie about status and then 'fess up at the end after it's gone all furball on you.
That has paid off very well for me in my career. Of course you can't be a whining ass hat about telling the truth. Be tactful, stick to the facts, and focus on freakin' solutions to the actual problem(s) , not pointing fingers.
Nearly everywhere I've worked I've acquired a reputation as a straight shooter who simply solves problems. Early on you may take a few hits from the weasels, but it's like investing - small consistent gains leading to longterm wealth, as opposed to trying to strike it big with shortcuts and shenanigans.
Playing the weasel's game just adds to the noise. In time I found I could just bring up a topic and share my thoughts, and the things I'd addressed would be handled.
Not only that, but the weasels no longer bothered when in my turf. They learned it was wasted effort since they couldn't get away with it, plus that I wasn't going to stab them in the back. I'd be happy to stab them in the chest, mind you! But never in the back. ;-)
Which brings up the issue of effectively sticking up for yourself and your people. Like you say, "being nice" is like having a big target on your back. "Being nice" and being professional and constructively forceful ("rabid yet friendly") is the only effective route. When people see that heads roll when they screw with your crew, they tend to leave your crew alone.
All of that hinges on your reputation as an honest, upfront straightshooter with solutions. Anything else just makes you another whining child on the playground in their eyes.
And if you have so many weasels in your management chain that this isn't possible, your resume better already be on the streets.
Other tips (Score:5, Insightful)
In a place large enough to support rich company infighting and politicing, you'll have to make some. Think of this as one part parlimentary coalition building, two parts personality cult. You need an effective coalition to show results, and you need to make sure you're teamed with the winning side of any given fight.
Some places you'll get fired as an amoral asshole for doing things that are expected parts of proving your value other places.
This should be fundamental, but if you can't keep your people productive, you'll be out on your ear eventually.
By whatever means you can. Well placed kindness and help, genuinely forming friendships (to a point), making them dependent on you, etc. If you're in a weak position, offering loyalty to an exec can work, but make sure they're a winner. Frequently, this ends up with you following them to other firms when they aren't, and nobody bats 1000. Make sure you can handle that if you go this route.
If they don't, you're doomed sooner or later. 'nuff said.
Re:There is no spoon (er gold watch) (Score:3, Insightful)
If you maintain a low profile, by doing your job well and smoothly handling whatever gets thrown at you, the presumption among upper managers will be that your job is easy and that you can be replaced by someone cheaper, or simply fired and not replaced at all thereby saving your salary and bennies. It was startling to me when I realized that upper management at many corporations, unless it is qualified technically and makes the effort to make distinctions, is often completely unable to make proper value judgments among employees. Frankly, as an engineer myself I'd wouldn't consider myself competent to analyze and report upon a corporate vice-president's performance, and no-one would expect me to be. On the other hand that self-same VP, who probably knows even less about my field of expertise than I know about his, may very well be the one to make similar value judgments about me, and those like me. In such an environment, the kind of behavior you describe is to be expected.
Mind you, I'm not advocating that a worker create problems just to be seen solving them. What I am saying is that if you're a good engineer, you solve problems for a living. Just make sure that those in power know that. It helps to document, document, document. Send emails to your immediate supervisor when a task has been completed successfully. Keep copies. Document any significant problems that cropped up, and how you resolved them. Document any effective solutions you dreamed up. I've dodged a number of corporate bullets along the way, often without even being aware of it until much later, simply because I made the effort to keep management informed. Don't make your immediate superior have to work to justify your continued presence on the payroll: if he can't just point to a stack of documentation that states clearly and unequivocally to even the thickest upper manager that "this person needs to stay" then you deserve what happens to you. And believe me: when management goes on a cost-cutting rampage your supervisor will get asked who he can live without. Several years ago the engineering manager at my company (my boss' immediate superior) asked me to come up with a one-page bulleted list of what I had accomplished in the past year. I knew what that meant, and I handed him the sheet I had already typed up for just such an occasion. Never heard another word about it.
The flip side: if you cannot support your case in such a manner, then you should expect to be on the short list and should probably be looking for another job.
Re:A "Good Attitude" (Score:3, Insightful)
These are the people that idiots and managers walk on all the time. Of all the people to have permanently pissed at you, these are the worst. I'd rather have the owner not like me than his secretary.
Being on good terms with these people gives you so many benefits that it's ridiculous. They have 50 people that need something. If you are on good terms with them, you can get that something whenever you want, put yourself at the front of their queue. When you get to know them, they may even anticipate your needs and adjust their schedule ever so slightly to help you. Not everyone in this position works that way, but many do, and they are quite happy to put in a little extra effort to those that treat them civially. I'm not saying to take advantage of them, but you can work smoother with anyone you are getting along with, and these are actually very important people to have a good working relationship with. Spending 2 minutes chatting with one of these peopel at lunch could translate into them spending 10 seconds of their afternoon looking through the stack of paper with your name on it to do first, advancing your schedule by maybe an hour. Being good to these people can pay you back in spades.
I have seen this effect work in my favor and to the favor of those that I know on many occaions. Secretaries, receptionists, janitors, maintenance staff... all underappreciated and often grateful to those that show them respect or even basic acknowledgement that they are just not used to getting from anyone.
Re:Ash Nazg Durbatuluk... (Score:3, Insightful)
You're right on the button with this one. One (the proverbial "one", not you) can be very, very surprised at how credibly a confident person with a plan can be taken in by -- well just about anyone. They don't call it "confidence man" for nuthin'. The competent executives (these are the confident ones with plans, generally) will often be taken in by you by affinity; the softy-incompetent ones will be taken in by need (they need your confidence and plan), and hard-ass-incompetent ones (these are those who easily feel threatened and attempt to build turf) will become your tacit enemies.
Other posters who say to make sure you have the stomach for this are right. You have to have the nerve, ability to sideline people (some of whom consider themselves to be important, without a doubt).
C//
Re:The Art of War (Score:4, Insightful)
gotta disagree with this one.
I wrote most a long post and just deleted it. really what it sums to is:
Be honest
As long as you are truly qualified for your job, I think honesty is the best path. Own up to whatever mistakes you make and be straight forward about your disagreements. When you've earned management's trust your word will be treated like gold when compared with the coworkers busy shafting one another. When management hands you a job that is not feasible, they'll at least stop and listen to why. Most importantly, when someone tries to push blame on you or your team, you can usually lay it to rest with a couple sentences.
Nothing beats being trusted.
You misunderstood the question (Score:3, Insightful)
He was looking for ways around the problem of office politics, not a beginers guide participating in them--and half your suggestions are just that. Specifically:
- Don't lie. It will always bite you in the end.
- Don't try to manipulate people. That just starts an arms race that ends in madness.
- Don't think in terms of Alphas and all that crap. Figgure out what your goals are and focus on them. Unless "being the alpha" is your goal, in which case you shook seek help.
--MarkusQRe:Ash Nazg Durbatuluk... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah... I kind of forgot to mention something about my little theory here: where it will fail. This "taking authority" business can work with normal workers (who aren't really the problem anyway) as well as mere bureaucrats. Even the really incompetent people who might get annoyed and angry, you won't have to worry about them if they're very incompetent (because they're too incompetent to do anything about it). However, you will run across people who are snotty and anti-authority who will be prone to do the exact opposite of whatever you say. You'll also run into people who are dumb and ambitious, those who hate successful people and who will blame their lack of success on your success.
And occasionally, every once in a while, you'll run up against someone who sees straight through your little charade. That, however, is exceedingly rare. Plus, if you're really doing a good job at the "taking authority" thing, and you're doing good things with the authority, then the people who understand what you're doing will usually be smart enough to just let you keep doing it.
Re:The Art of War (Score:5, Insightful)
> Re-orgs are a way of life where I work.
I feel for you, but while you have adapted to your environment, I'd get out if reorgs were that frequent in my workplace. They happen everywhere, but it sounds like they happen far too often in your workplace.
> Don't think you can take the high road and have your career survive.
Disagree completely. See next item.
> If someone's playing dirty, don't try to overlook it, deal with it.
VERY true. But you don't have to get down in the mud to deal with dirty players. You can respond in a fair and high-minded fashion, but firmly. The high road doesn't have to mean being a pushover. Those who take the high road can fight hard and with intent to -destroy- the enemy, if necessary, and still retain their own moral sense.
I like the way MooseByte phreased it in his reply: "...I wasn't going to stab them in the back. I'd be happy to stab them in the chest, mind you! But never in the back.
I will note that taking the high road doesn't mean you always win, but neither does taking the low. And taking the high road is particularly difficult in a poisonous environment.
> Perceptions count for a lot. Manage perceptions.
VERY true.
> When dealing with management, be insincere.
Can't agree. You can, and should, tell the truth. -How- you tell it is important; always, ALWAYS phrease things neutrally, leaving egos out of it, and always offer management a fair choice of options.
Lying can bite you far too easily. Others have replied well to this point, so I won't belabor it. I'll just point out that one reason lying bites people is that it's hard to keep consistent.
> If another group is reducing your effectiveness for reasons of overlapping
> turf, jealousy, history, whatever, try make an accomodation with them
If you can. If you can't, see if you can get someone in power on your side to neutralize them. This may involve different things in different workplaces. Rather than crack the whip on them, your ally might just politely ask them to leace your folks alone until a project is finished, or divert the person elsewhere for now.
> Watch out for the agendas of underlings.
Underlings, peers, superiors, customers...basically everyone. Trust, but verify .
> If you have a politically motivated person working for you, get them gone.
There are a lot of types of people you might be better off without. If someone is a real problem in any way, talk to them, make it clear what behavior you want to change, and if they don't change it, get them gone.
> Maintain the avenues of communications. Don't allow someone to bypass you in
> either direction.
Or soften, alter, change, corrupt, or screw-up the message. I recall how shocked I was the first time my boss completely changed a status report from me when he delivered it to his boss. The nasty part is I was called on to verify the complete bullshit he just handed out. Got out without making him look too bad or lying, but it was an unpleasant few minutes.
> Use dog psychology when dealing with people; reward good behavior, punish bad
> behavior, be consistent.
That's just good psychology, not dog pyschology.
> Maintain perspective...Be prepared to move on and leave the work and project
> behind.
Leave it at work at the end of the day, as well.
Transparency and Chain of Command (Score:4, Insightful)
First, make sure that you're clear on what you're doing, and why. You should always be able to explain why what you're working on is important and why you have prioritized it the way you have. Keep records of how you spend your time. When you're up for review, this is critical for justifying your raise/continued employment. Similarly, when someone is complaining about how you're not solving their problem, you need to be able to point to all the other higher-priority problems in front of theirs. Periodically review what you're doing with your boss to make sure that it's what (s)he thinks you're supposed to be doing.
Second, never lose sight of the chain of command and responsibility. Your boss is the one who's responsible for what you do or fail to do -- that why (s)he is the one who gets to tell you what you're doing. Resist any attempts at the creation of "dotted lines" (i.e, situations where you're answerable to more than one person); failing that, make sure that you document who allowed the dotted line to be created. If anyone tries to get you to do something that's not already covered by what you're supposed to be doing, have them talk to your boss and get his/her approval -- you are your boss's resource, no one else's. If someone higher up in the chain wants you to do something, push back
Why cope, when you can simply opt out? (Score:2, Insightful)
Reading the posts here is amazing. Why would you think that spending 50% of your time on counterproductive deception and bullshit is a reasonable tradeoff?
Why spend at least half your waking hours being treated like a child, or, worse, a wageslave?
For what? At the end of the day, is the cost-benefit balance really worth it?
Work for yourself. Work for a small company where people care about each other. Work on an Open Source project--spend the time you would spend battling bureaucracy finding funding so you can do it full-time. Work for a non-profit doing some good for the world--certainly the skills you have are in desperate demand where they make the most difference. Work as a consultant - corporations will give you much less crap if you come in from the outside and they are paying for your time--and you'll probably work half the hours and make the same net, at least.
If what you are doing doesn't make a difference, why do it? We all have finite lifespans on this Earth - why waste half of them on bullshit? I just don't understand. I left corporate America twenty years ago and never looked back. I read these posts and just shake my head.
It's not just a waste of your time. It is the root of our political problems, too. Corporations train us for passivity and helplessness. They train us to compromise. Like frogs in slowly heated water, they train us to adjust, to adapt, to think that warm crap is an airbed.
It is this kind of passive aquiescence to useless authority and wasted powergames that makes for passive citizens who put up with governments that are just as useless and wasteful. We don't blink at corrupt, greedy politicians looking out for their own, because we spend most of our productive energy working for corporations led by corrupt, greedy executives.
And folks think an MBA is a good qualification for political leader, and the marketplace is a good model for government.... No wonder we're in the mess we're in!
Tricks I learned (Score:3, Insightful)
That's easy . . . (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Good post (Score:3, Insightful)
Your career belongs to you. Your job belongs to your employer. Don't confuse the two.
Bonuses (Score:2, Insightful)
What happened? First, I started getting burned out, and found that the effort I was putting in was not only not being recognized, it was actually being actively denied by my manager, who continually insisted that I wasn't "putting in 100%". This to say nothing of the peach of a mood I was continually in with my family.
All the time I was being promised that, if the project were successful, "the year-end bonus would make it all worth it". But when I figured that I was almost working two weeks per week, plus commute time, the bonus would need to be nearly the same amount of my yearly salary to even allow me to break even on my time worked, and so, so be "worth it", it would need to exceed my yearly base by a substantial amount. Otherwise, I'd just be being paid for my time, or less.
Bonuses are very seldom worth the time. Yeah, they're nice, but show me the money now. Why? Bonuses don't always come. They're not only contingent on your own performance, but on the whim of your boss and his boss. I've been told many times that it would be 'worth it' at the end of the year, worked like crazy, and found that management has a different definition of "worth it" than I do.
Through hard experiences, I've found that:
1) Get over yourself. Never consider yourself irreplacable to a company.
2) Your boss will, at some point, probably play you for a pawn for his own purposes. Expect it, don't take it personally. If you're smart, you'll play along, and he just might help you out in return.
3) Don't expect him to help you out in return.
4) Don't fight management. Don't be the hero. Don't be the guy who's gonna change the insanity. I've tried this, and it just made me enemies with people who have vested interest in things staying the way they are. Go along, get experience, quit and go somewhere else. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
5) Set limits to the amount of work you are willing to do, make those limits known to your boss, and stick to them except for under emergency conditions.
Numbers 3 and 4 are the biggies. Play it cool, maintain your quality of life at all costs. There are more jobs out there, and losing the one you have isn't the end of the world. In fact, I make it a policy never to work anywhere for more than 3 years.
Eh - enough rambling from me. Just my random thoughts. Hope it helps.
Re:The Art of War (Score:4, Insightful)
That has paid off very well for me in my career. Of course you can't be a whining ass hat about telling the truth. Be tactful, stick to the facts, and focus on freakin' solutions to the actual problem(s) , not pointing fingers.
Damn! Wish I had mod points. This is one of my biggest gripes in general in work and especially in bureaucracies. People are more concerned in many cases when a problem arises with assigning fault and blame than with resolving the problem. Fault-finding environments get people to do a lot of CYA (and when doing that, not doing productive work) and it gets them to go full defensive not-my-fault whenever anyone asks them a question.
I find having to wade through that (by repeatedly beating it into their heads that I don't care whose fault it is and all I want to know is their recommendation for assessing and fixing the problem) means wasting time...eventually, you can get through to them, but it is much nicer to not have to work in that sort of an environment.
The reality is that the practice of not focusing on the problem gets you no closer to a solution. Most clients I know are more interested in solutions than post-mortem blame. They have a problem, they want it fixed. Fix it quickly, or at least assess it, get them the information, then fix it as quickly as feasible, and you win respect. Problems happen. Most people accept that. The full force push to inform clients and to handle the issue with vigour and efficacy wins you a lot of good cred. Dicking around wins you negative cred.
Problem focus! Assess, then fix. Then, if you need to do a post-mortem for the purpose of helping to avoid a similar issue in the future (NOT for chopping heads off, which is rarely useful) , then you can do that afterwards (and this is a good idea). I've convinced my company here to do project post-mortems and try to feedback lessons learned into process improvement.
Ultimately, you want to create a work environment where the people that work with you and for you and that you work for see you as a problem solver. They see you as focused on the problem, not trivia, and they know you won't headhunt but instead will correct and educate. Problems won't get repeated not because you've killed the messenger, but because you've helped everyone get better and avoid a repetition.
No, the paper trail is for *avoiding* battles (Score:3, Insightful)
True, but that's not what it's for. The paper trail is essential because you can use it tactfully to avoid the problem.
There are very few situations where you should be telling anyone they're "wrong" in the first place -- just clear up confusion for the good of the company. You should be using the paper trail all along the way, bringing it in *before* you put someone in a position where they might lie (or "forget") to get out of something, make their own job easier, cover their ass, etc.. The very fact that you always get email confirmation changes the dynamic, first of all. You could even give them credit for an idea, even if you thought of it -- that helps stop them backing out later. The trick is you have to *avoid* the situation where they'll lie about it, because then they'll lose face if they have to suddenly reverse. It's often already already too late.
Even when they say something completely opposite, don't contradict them (and accusing them of lying is the last thing you want to do!). Instead, become confused. Then give them more than the benefit of the doubt -- maybe they did forget what had been decided 2 weeks ago. Bring in the paper trail as you ask them to help you sort out what should be done. If they persist, ask for help explaining to the powers that be (or subordinates) why "we" are changing this now -- for instance, what specifically has changed in the situation that merits the change in course.
Always stay polite and logical, never get mad or impatient (or sarcastic - that's the end if you let that creep in), and just become confused when they aren't making logical sense. Confirm that you are working for the same goals, etc. as needed (even if this may be less than evident...). OF COURSE you trust them in every way, but you have to understand these decisions because a change now may have a serious impact on your project, and/or you have to explain them to your subordinates, etc. etc. -- have this line worked out beforehand.
Even worse case, if you suppose they've already told the "new" decision to other higher-ups, the paper trail (in a private conversation) shows who screwed up, and you can immediately offering to help them fix it. Of course, you're implying that *they* have to fix it, because they screwed up, but you're right there to offer support and suggest ways to explain the reversal. "Oh, you already told Dan we do that? Damn -- well, don't worry about it, we can fix this. Of course there's no room in the project schedule, it's impossible -- maybe you can just say you were looking at an old schedule? We did have that big cushion in the schedule from last month before we..." Etc. You're on their side, but it's their problem, not yours. Don't budge, ignore pressure, just be patient and logical.
This isn't rocket science (though often anti-instinctual), but it's amazingly effective... and you can get what you need/want while often *gaining* respect, instead of making enemies.
Re:There is no spoon (er gold watch) (Score:5, Insightful)
A few rules taught to me by another consultant:
No free work. Work hard while you are there, don't begrudge sometimes coming in for long hours, but get paid. You don't have to bill every last minute, but don't do eight hours unpaid work a week. That doesn't show up on radar and won't help them predict the next job any more accurately. Stay focused, deliver, hit deadlines, warn well in advance if you can't and provide good estimates of what you can manage and for the stuff that won't make it, when it will be ready. Give bad news early and be up front about it. Honesty. Honest work and an honest invoice.
And when you do an extra thing outside your normal taskings (don't let it eat much time, because you're paid for X, do X or get permission to do Y), get credit for it. Make sure your successes and extra efforts are visible. Don't be afraid to bring quiet attention (I don't mean be a self-aggrandizing ass) to your work. Some seemingly offhanded status updates ("I just finished X, and since it didn't take long, I also fixed Y which was going to cause us big problems in the next release...") can be one method for letting your management know what you've managed. Always keep in mind your audience - the project money/time guy doesn't necessarily need technical details as to why something will take more time, beyond a general comment. OTOH, your technical leads and architects will want to know if a team isn't going to hit its marks. Figure out what it is your boss needs from you (often times, he needs to give numbers/estimates/progress reports up the chain, so he needs dependable data and he needs to trust what you tell him - overestimation is the bane of this relationship) and deliver. Get him warnings in a timely manner if their are issues. Get him assessments of scope regularly for problems or work effort required. If he knows you can not only technically assess and issue and fix it, but also determine its scope and impact with a high degree of confidence (or identify clearly where you *can't* do this so he can be doubly cautious and allow more margin), then he's not going to hang his own nuts in the proverbial fire. So he doesn't get burnt, neither do you.
And most importantly, you work to live. I've broken this commandment many times and tried to live to work. If you're a born team-player and company man like I used to be, this is an easy stage. But at the end of the day, you are a resource. Maybe a good one, who likes where he works and likes the people, but when the economy crashes and there is no work, you're a resource without an income and therefore expendable. It isn't personal - its a business. Never burn bridges you might one day use, always go out if you can on a high note as one day that might be a good way to secure further work. Sometimes, the guy below you might one day be the guy above you (or vice versa).
And relax when you aren't at work. You need to let off the stress and let it wash out of you, or it'll wash you out.
Re:don't even bother -- there is no solution (Score:4, Insightful)
"Don't ever fall in love with anything that can't love you back. An institution is not capable of experiencing loyalty. The only thing worthy of your loyalty are people and relationships. Loyalty to an institution will only hurt you, because in the end it will just dump you when you're too old/slow/expensive/old-fashioned for somebody younger/faster/cheaper/more modern. And you'll have nothing."
This has always rung true for me. Especially in large corporations it's easy to get sucked in by the institutional culture (especially ones that have a cult-like group ethos, which many do) and end up feeling loyal to this vague amorphous institution. And the companies themselves play into this as much as you can, with everything from touchy-feely mission statements to executive personality cults, to better keep you from jumping ship the second you get a better offer.
Don't ever think that a company -- which at the end is driven by one thing and one thing only, and that's profit -- gives a shit about your loyalty to it. If you have feelings of loyalty to other people, that's your business, because at least you have a shot of judging them correctly and maybe they'll have similar feelings back. But a large organization will reward only performance, and at the end of the day your loyalty will just hold you back from seeing the writing on the wall when it's time to go.
Re:Because... (Score:3, Insightful)
you're kidding me; do you really think that going behind people's backs is going to allow you to keep your job?
You're missing the entire point - business is war and sticking your head up too much gets you shot. Played properly, this isn't viewed as going behind anybody's back. Instead, you're in favor of whatever squirrelbrained plan is being presented, but you can't go forward because of _fill_in_the_blank_.
From within a Fortune 50 firm... (Score:3, Insightful)
* Be honest, but not necessarily open and forthcoming, depending on the type of person and relationship to you. As Abe Lincoln once said, "you can fool some people all of the time, or you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Sooner or later, inconsistencies in your story will develop, people will catch on, and you'll have trust issues because of it.
That said, an earlier post made a good comment about technical vs. business people. I work with technical people all day, and they do appreciate the facts, unfiltered. Business people, in my limited experience, want to live in la-la land thinking that everything is just fine in the business. Usually, they also pay your salary, and if you want them to continue doing so, you'd best continue telling them that which lets them live in la-la land.
* A good manager handles your non-technical needs. You should not have to obtain software; that is your manager's job upon your request and his/her approval. You should not have to make the case for security approvals; that is their job upon your statement of need to your manager. You should not have to deal with business/financial people; that is your manager's job (or the job of *his* manager).
* Follow procedure. No matter how much bureaucracy sucks, going outside the bounds of bureaucracy is typically a fireable offense. Do as the company policy states, and when the money-men ask you why you're so inefficient, you can justify every one of your actions with policy they had set at the time of your action.
* Keep a factual, unbiased logbook/audit trail of bureaucracy. In the event that somebody with an incentive to reduce bureaucracy comes along, they may appreciate examples of bureaucracy and ideas for its reduction. Plus, it helps you to keep your facts straight when remembering how you followed procedure.
* The bureaucracy in your company is still not as bad as it is in your healthcare company.
* Most corporate bureaucracy is the result of government regulation. Sarbanes-Oxeley in particular has bureaucratized the financial sector like you would not believe! So let's not be *too* quick to blame it entirely on the business.
* Keep the ball in everybody else's court. Always make sure that you've done your due-diligence in responding to peoples' emails and that nobody is waiting on your decisions. That way, you can go into weekly status-update meetings and blame "the other guy" for being slow and wasteful, not you.
* Never underestimate the ability of the bureaucracy to surveill you; be paranoid. Always assume you have no privacy, assume that everything you say will be remembered or caught on a hidden microphone, and everything you write will be stored in offsite backups forever, and that all of this will be audited someday, either by the company or by the government. Always assume the boss knows exactly when you clock-in and clock-out. Assume that the toilets have sensors in the pipes to detect a variety of performance-reducing drugs, e.g. alcohol, marijuana, etc., and that there are tiny spy cameras in the bathrooms monitoring you. Always assume the company has an NSA-grade data-mining system solely for the purpose of combing the Internet looking for information written about the company -- proprietary information leaked by an insider, negative commentary, legally-damaging information, etc..
* Perceptions matter. See the clocking in/out issue previously: it doesn't matter that you're on salary; being salaried has absolutely *nothing* to do with setting your own hours, contrary to business idealists' belief and its original intent. Being salaried has everything to do with ensuring that t
Re:The Art of War (Score:3, Insightful)
"It's just a game, nothing personal..."
"It's just business, nothing personal..."
"Just because I lied to get ahead does not invalidate my personal integrity..."
Business politics simply appear to be more or less an extension of high school politics. I guess I have been right all these years. High school really doesn't ever end...
Nothing like stating the obvious I guess, even it I wish it weren't so...