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Stop Avoiding Politics – Terrible Software

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Say the word “politics” to most engineers and watch their face scrunch up like they just bit into a lemon. We’ve all been conditioned to believe that workplace politics is this dirty game played by manipulative ladder-climbers while the “real” engineers focus on the code. I used to think the same way. For years as an engineer, I wore my hatred of politics like a badge of honor. I was above all that nonsense. I just wanted to ship. Politics was for those other people, the ones who didn’t have what it takes technically. Now I think the opposite: politics isn’t the problem; bad politics is. And pretending politics doesn’t exist? That’s how bad politics wins. Politics is just how humans coordinate in groups. It’s the invisible network of relationships, influence, and informal power that exists in every organization. You can refuse to participate, but that doesn’t make it go away. It just means decisions get made without you. Think about the last time a terrible technical decision got pushe

Stop Avoiding Politics – Terrible Software Skip to content Stop Avoiding Politics Say the word “politics” to most engineers and watch their face scrunch up like they just bit into a lemon. We’ve all been conditioned to believe that workplace politics is this dirty game played by manipulative ladder-climbers while the “real” engineers focus on the code. I used to think the same way. For years as an engineer, I wore my hatred of politics like a badge of honor. I was above all that nonsense. I just wanted to ship. Politics was for those other people, the ones w

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