Ask HN: Is there a book that teaches you dark patterns of office politics?
I've noticed who writes the best code doesn't matter and there're opportunities which no one will offer, u have to take them
Laws of prosperity:
1) Prioritize VISIBILITY
- ask ur way into bigger meetings show interest in biz/product side, biz start to trust u and u become the crucial bridge
- propose new ideas as question to whoever above u'd listen
- do value work. emergency fixes and high ROI projects. lots of PRs alone are of no value
- give presentations, move cards in trello. updates to manager his/her manager. ask 4 future plans
- bigger things udo, more biz and architecture knowledge gets locked up in ur head, more valuable u become
- propose & get entire project to yourself. leaving grunt work. massive visibility
- go hard on crucial proj. visibility is double edge sword. keep spacing
2) Socialize
- do this u're already beating most of engineering team. hangout, talk daily
- remember what ppl say
- talk about industry
- get to know their network in the company
- ask questions only they can answer
3) Get transferred to non-eng team
- u're THE engineer in marketing, adops...
- become go to tech person, do their tickets fast. eventually ask to join their team. u'll have so much industry specific knowledge.
4) Make it hard 4 others to encroach ur territory
- 4 new projects structure ur code differently than rest. no frameworks. big files. minimal comments. u get it done in 1 day.
- use new tech. most would be too lazy to pick it up and be totally happy to give that part of the code base to u. to mgmt, u're the owner of this code now = more valuable.
- use odd conventions & make sure every PR adheres to it. nobody will like that code.
goal is to do min work, max impact and have all the cards
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 133 ms ] threadhttps://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm
"A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it. Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach."
Dark politics affects our characters and peace of mind in the long run.
Another book of his is Tempo, which is more about understanding and manipulating the tempo of different interactions in business.
But definitely start with the Gervais Principle. It's wonderful.
Such a simple yet thought provoking question.
These behaviors will be quickly identified and managed out in any competently managed team. If they work, it means you’re in an office that rewards bad behavior. Instead of trying to play the game, work on finding a better job. You’ll be happier and healthier.
I’ve had to remove several employees over the years because they wouldn’t stop trying to play politics like this. It poisons the team and makes everyone unhappy, including the person playing the political games.
There are ways to play defensively in the face of such crap. I'm not suggesting you should just let yourself be victimized while imagining that's some kind of high road.
But your options don't boil down to "Be their victim or beat them at their sick game." If you believe that and choose that path, you are part of the problem, not just at the company but for the world generally.
We can't make a better world if we run around justifying our shitty behavior with "But they started it!"
It's the individual units that tend to be broken though, stuck in methods of working that are anywhere from 10 to 30 years out of date. Which results in some weird experiences, because some of the most technically simple things I do for them are the ones that get the most "OMG This is Amazing!" response. Which always makes me feel like I produced a kindergarten scribbling and someone's telling me I'm DaVinci. I'm always happy to have helped, but it's hardly a "pat myself on the back" situation. One of the most extreme examples was when I took 15 minutes of so to write a SQL query and use it to automate a crosstab report sent to a group on a daily basis. They were completely floored by it. Because, not knowing how to even do a pivot table in excel, they had literally just been sorting the raw data and counting rows by hand.
So, if you're in the "right" kind of broken-- but not toxic-- environment, you can still accomplish quite a bit. Even though only about 15% of my work has a high level of technical complexity, over the years it's saved my workplace tons of money, generated tons of money, and most importantly-- because this is a University-- greatly improved the experience & success of some of our students.
I’d say some of this isn’t necessarily politics and more just marketing yourself, which is key if you want to get ahead.
The more people know these things the more obvious and less effective they come and as you said it helps to smoke out potentially toxic members of the team.
Doing valuable things in secret won't help you. Doing visible things whose value others don't understand won't help either.
Point 4 is a joke. It is better developed here: https://github.com/Droogans/unmaintainable-code . Your time is better spent on the other 3 areas.
Exactly. And to the extent that I started to wonder if this whole post is an attempt to troll. The text speak only adds to the impression. With that said, a cursory look suggests the user profile of the submitter appears legit and has contributed meaningfully to other discussions.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0105V634A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_VWNM...
1) work on stuff that's important to the company, but build in public (inside the company)
2) get to know your team
3) work on stuff that's closer to the customer, and #4 cynical comments.
Honestly, most of the YC and PG writings will give you more examples of how to do this stuff. And to the extent that you work in a place that gets stuff done, you will find all of these behaviors serve you well.
It details a ton of DO's and DON'Ts about career growth, development, and struggles. It was a great read but stung in a few places where I realized my own mistakes. Odds are, you'll have a few of the same.
And to be clear, it details how to make yourself valuable in productive ways that benefit your team, department and company vs just being a pain in the ass.
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https://wallstreetplayboys.com/office-politics-it-only-gets-...
And keep low profile in office (and university). Cancel culture and meetoo is real. You never know what current correct opinion is. Or when you make your colleague uncomfortable.
I've worked with guys like this before. They make you not want to work in software. Build a black box around themselves, become unfirable, make sure to have a say in every design decision even if it is pointless. These types are parasites on any company, when you're the type that genuinely wants to bring value and contribute and learn and solve problems, the sorts of endeavors that actually generate revenue, these guys become needless obstacles. If I were a manager of a team and someone started doing things like this I'd fire them as soon as possible, because they deliberately create technical debt and wear on the rest of the team and erode productivity, and it's best to have them gone before they entrench themselves, which is their goal.
There is some good advice in there. Get to know your team and other colleagues. Take an interest in what they're doing. But these things make for a better life and work experience, they're not a means to an end.
The only thing that is kind of politicky that I'd say is good is to make sure your work is visible. People forget, take things for granted, it's human nature, so it isn't a bad idea to remind people around you in subtle ways the improvements you've brought. If you do that, you'll be judged in your merit, and if you genuinely bring value that is more than enough.
There are certain things I do that may or may not take away political capital, but that ensure you get likes by the people that matter. Number one is to show my genuine disdain for busybody work and inefficiency. Productive people share this sentiment. You might piss off a troublemaker or come across as complaining about something some higher up demands of your team, but you'll make friends that are productive and genuine and you'll create a culture of productivity by ensuring other people are not afraid to voice their concerns about stupid shit either.