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Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

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131–140 of 176 posts

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#131

> 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 ke…

I would be in the same boat as you a year ago. But I since found myself in a job I was definitely not good at. It sucked very badly. Amusingly enough, most of the reason it sucked was because it was completely dominated by bad faith actors busy keeping their jobs at any cost. Fortunately, I was let go from that job before my probation period ended. Having been in a bad job, it truly feels terrible. It causes stress and you feel like you are always running to catch up but you will never actually make it. It is not difficult to see how this could lead to very negative feelings about the politics of one's workplace as well.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#132

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 think she's saying that it's odd to her, as someone who innately enjoys doing highly consequential work, that other people don't share in her enthusiasm. Similarly, coworkers must find it odd that she doesn't actively dodge such work or deal with it in a robotic, CYA manner, devoid of enthusiasm. Her realization about them and their realization about her are asymmetric in consequence. Even if she judges them it won…

Thank you, I had no clue what to get out of the story.

English is my second language and sometimes it feels like a lot of people go out of their way to make their texts long and convoluted because it's cool. Same in my native language but it's another barrier to get through when it's your second or third language.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#133
post #20

Fucking amazing. This was sitting right under my nose my entire life and I sensed it but didn't understand it. Now somebody finally wrote it down. I consider myself pretty courageous or at least indifferent to consequences (which may or may not be the same thing), but yeah that always seems to be the missing or limiting ingredient in every situation. Not that I'm biased or anything! Anyway this is going to be one of…

The conclusions are painted with too broad a brush in my view. People don’t split binary into thrill-seekers and conflict-avoiders, it’s more of a spectrum, and people can exhibit both qualities in different circumstances.

In my opinion the real difference in leadership style derives from theory x (top-down) vs theory y (bottom-up). If you haven’t read up on that you definitely should. I’ve noticed I can work with managers regardless of their risk profile, but I do not thrive under theory x leadership because it is too stifling.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#134

> 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 ke…

all of them know. some of them invent and believe intricate fantasies in which everybody is faking it, nobody is comptent, and is actually secretly behaving like them.. to justify their behavior.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#136

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…

This is a glorified text equivalent of an Instagram selfie post, moving on.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#137
Awesome article. Every now and then someone introduces a concept that helps me understand the world a little more. Shitty out of control managers running from anxiety and death. The idea that being in charge of a team where you can't control it being like being in charge of your life but not in control of it...amazing. How you deal with that inherant anxiety is key. Thanks.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#138

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 think she's saying that it's odd to her, as someone who innately enjoys doing highly consequential work, that other people don't share in her enthusiasm. Similarly, coworkers must find it odd that she doesn't actively dodge such work or deal with it in a robotic, CYA manner, devoid of enthusiasm. Her realization about them and their realization about her are asymmetric in consequence. Even if she judges them it won…

I've seen this happens in big companies as well. The bigger the company, the closer it resembles a small government. Bureaucracy is a function of size.

This is why we should focus on increasing economy decentralisation if we want less bureaucracy and less waste of resources.

The main problem is that, once you grow to a certain level, you're big enough too lobby the government into maintaining your market position and be bailed out by the government if you fail.

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#139

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 ladd…

> 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.

We're talking about Matt Cutts here who took what was likely a massive pay cut to work for the government after a long career at Google. Neither does this inference seem credible, nor does the characterization of him as "idiot manager" in the article

https://www.google.com/amp/s/searchengineland.com/matt-cutts...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Cutts

Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The missing piece of the puzzle is that we never meet the idiot manager in the story. She's in an organizational situation where her team has oversight over a team in the government implementing on a project but does not have the ability to directly set policy, constrain goals, or otherwise apply direct managerial leverage. The idiot in the story is the guy charging full speed ahead with a deployment of a product tha…

>The missing piece of the puzzle >the software was compromised by domestic terrorists and the threat was real The missing piece to me is that she says, specifically, that it was under attack by white supremacists. If you know anything about WS types, they are profoundly anti-intellectual. Anyone who has the technical chops to compromise software would almost certainly be labeled a secret jew/antifa/etc. Frankly I fin…

What on earth is this? Are you serious?
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