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Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

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Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#31

Post by ajhurliman »

supernova87a wrote: post #17

Sorry, the story totally lost me after she was describing the interaction with the FBI. I did not easily take away some conclusion about what she had done wrong or what deep pile of shit she had just created for herself, or what on 2 paths she had just chosen incorrectly, or daringly? (The paragraph ending, "I trusted the FBI to be good at their jobs." The next paragraph jumps right to generalizations, and I didn't c…

Here's a summary that combines the two sections:

She has a manager who (apparently) has a low tolerance for risk. He probably got to where he is by spinning situations so that it's not his fault. He was upset that she contacted the FBI about a situation and took on more risk than he was comfortable with.

She sees herself as someone who enjoys the trappings of a job well done and doesn't mind her slow progress of ladder-climbing because she's brave and takes risks that her superiors won't reward with promotions.

I liked and identified with the writing in the second half, and it sounds like she had a good scenario to act as a substrate for her thoughts, but I don't think she did a good job merging the two.

Like you said, they feel like two distinct pieces which got bolted together. I found myself with the scroll bar near the bottom and wondered how she was going to tie back in to the original story, and was disappointed to see that she never did.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#32

Post by toomuchtodo »

markus_zhang wrote: post #30
toomuchtodo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US Digital Service (whom this person worked for) is under/within the Executive Office if the President. USDS folks have latitude others do not (this is from coffee with those who had a tour of duty and from interviews for a role within).

Sounds like dream job, close enough to authority to avoid beimg burned frequently, and have access to enough interesting stuffs.

It is equal parts empowering and exhausting is what was communicated to me. “Be The Change” as quickly as possible and then GTFO.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#33

Post by default-kramer »

> Fleeing death doesn’t just hurt the people they throw under the bus, it also hurts them. They want to be respected by their employees and often know they are not. They want to be admired and often know they are not. They also feel guilty screwing people over to survive.

Wow, I never considered there must exist some people who know they are bad at their job, feel bad about it, and yet have to continue doing it to keep paying the bills. This has to be true considering the sheer number of people employed by large organizations.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#34

Post by daseiner1 »

ryneandal wrote: post #15
vezycash wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question. How long before medium starts suing outline, archive.org and others?

Not sure. I do know it no longer works for NYT, and I imagine it's only a matter of time before it stops supporting other sites as well.

archive.is

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#36

Post by rdiddly »

supernova87a wrote: post #17

Sorry, the story totally lost me after she was describing the interaction with the FBI. I did not easily take away some conclusion about what she had done wrong or what deep pile of shit she had just created for herself, or what on 2 paths she had just chosen incorrectly, or daringly? (The paragraph ending, "I trusted the FBI to be good at their jobs." The next paragraph jumps right to generalizations, and I didn't c…

You have grasped all the points. Yes, there's a break at that point. Anecdote's over, time to go into the next part. No, she didn't do anything particularly daring or shitstorm-causing; in fact it was a fairly obvious thing to do, but things like that tend to be perceived by cowards as too risky, so she or someone like her always ends up being the one to do it.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#37

Post by felipemnoa »

patja wrote: post #19
jcheng wrote: post #6

Aww, after all that, we don't get to hear how the episode with the website and the white supremacists ends??

And who is the idiot? It was really interesting until it became extremely general and vague. It almost makes it sound like Matt Cutts is the idiot since he's the only specific manager mentioned.

>>And who is the idiot?

She kind of talks about it in the last paragraph. I don't think she was talking about someone specifically (although she may have somebody in mind) but in general.

"Eventually you end up spending all your time trying to look busy, avoid responsibility and save face by scapegoating others. "

"The end result of this is that it often feels like everyone at the top is maliciously incompetent."

This, according to her, is how you end up with an idiot running an engineering org.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#40

Post by _y5hn »

jmmcd wrote: post #25
supernova87a wrote: post #17

Sorry, the story totally lost me after she was describing the interaction with the FBI. I did not easily take away some conclusion about what she had done wrong or what deep pile of shit she had just created for herself, or what on 2 paths she had just chosen incorrectly, or daringly? (The paragraph ending, "I trusted the FBI to be good at their jobs." The next paragraph jumps right to generalizations, and I didn't c…

I know what you mean, but no. It wasn't that she had done something wrong, it was just amazing (to her manager) that she had done something so (apparently) brave as reaching out to the FBI. The point of the essay is -- some people are brave in this way, and some aren't. I'm not sure if it's a good essay, but what I loved was the way she described connecting people as "just" doing her job. She didn't see it as brave.…

Connecting people, she'll gravitate to being a natural leader. You could say she might already be a leader, and she even recognize people can act as a leader without having the position.

People are cut out for different things. You have "brave" teachers, and you have "brave" managers. We all recognize them, but don't appreciate them as people enough, even when these breeds are rare gems.

Even for someone shy, with experience and hard work, one might end up becoming a death-defying samurai.

What the text doesn't recognize is that many people just don't feel all that much or have that much empathy. So there's less of a spur to actually do the work to become a natural leader or go into enough depth.

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