Skepticism about tech/ideas that management likes.
I do this often. It never ends well, even if I'm right.
Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
21–30 of 83 posts
Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#22Most bosses are aware of the issues, so an engineer playing a rebel and bringing them up wins nothing. The only way to attract attention is to leave.
I once had a series of exit interviews that went all the way up to the vp of engineering. I think they all knew the issues but didn’t want to admit it. I was also being coached on what to say to the higher levels. I really did not appreciate that.
why did they think you needed to be coached? isin't the purpose of the exit interview to share your insights in order for the company to know about issues they were obviously missing or aoviding.
Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#23- That governance by fear is a sure way to kill motivation, creativity and to have passive employees who do not dare to fix things.
- That supporting a competitive environment between employees is a sure way to kill motivation and creativity.
- That the people going the extra mile to ensure a stable production environment gets acknowledged for their effort.
- That throwing people under the bus makes you look really incompetent as a manager.
- That having an island of free speech within a bad corporate culture will keep the good engineers around.
- That one of the prime objectives of a boss is to shield employees from insane and impossible demands from other departments.
Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#24At least at big corporations it should be about all the corporate double talk and broken policies/promises. Edit: why downvote? This has been my experience. If we dont talk about it, then it will never be fixed.
From the site guidelines, please don't talk about downvotes in comments. It never does any good, and it's boring. You can expand upon your original comment without that part, and let the votes fall where they do.
Screw the site guidelines - drive-by downvoting this comment is highly suspicious, and cowardly.
Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#25[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#26Feedback on how I am doing as your manager.
This isn't a dictatorship, it's a partnership. What can I do to change/help you?
Most of my team is quiet on this sort of thing. Perhaps it's cultural? (Is this common for individuals who grew up in eastern Europe?)
Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#27Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#28At least at big corporations it should be about all the corporate double talk and broken policies/promises. Edit: why downvote? This has been my experience. If we dont talk about it, then it will never be fixed.
From the site guidelines, please don't talk about downvotes in comments. It never does any good, and it's boring. You can expand upon your original comment without that part, and let the votes fall where they do.
I think the site also encourages discussion. I don't ask about downvotes if people have a comment response. If they are downvoting without any comment replies, this seems to undermine the spirit of the site.
Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the site guidelines, please don't talk about downvotes in comments. It never does any good, and it's boring. You can expand upon your original comment without that part, and let the votes fall where they do.
Screw the site guidelines - drive-by downvoting this comment is highly suspicious, and cowardly.
That may be, but the guidelines have a point. The original comment was interesting. Now it's just a distracting side conversation about downvotes.
Re: Ask HN: What do engineers never talk to their bosses about, but should?
#30- That governance by fear is a sure way to kill motivation, creativity and to have passive employees who do not dare to fix things. - That supporting a competitive environment between employees is a sure way to kill motivation and creativity. - That the people going the extra mile to ensure a stable production environment gets acknowledged for their effort. - That throwing people under the bus makes you look really i…
If you have to tell your manager this, they are not going to be the sort of manager who will listen.