[cntlzw]

+ 1 Yes, things really changed for me once I started to ask why we implement things. Tried to understand the manager/customer/stakeholder what is their domain? What kind of issue they want to solve? What is the business case we are working on?

I know as a software developer you don't want to do that. More fun refactoring code than dealing with management. More fun writing that piece of SQL than sitting in a meeting. Easier to whine about missing specifications than to understand the big picture.

Once I stepped back from coding and looked at the software from a birds eye view, I had actually a much easier time programming features than before. More knowledge, less writing code.

[mr_tristan]

Good point: it's far, far better to be proactive, than wait for management to "recognize you".

Being a part of the early decision making processes has been a challenge for me as a remote employee. In larger companies, there are lots of meetings, discussions, and decisions that happen before anyone talks to the engineering staff is brought in. But, by basically being nice, asking questions, and really getting involved, I've been able to "weasel" my way into some of these discussions.

Once you get involved early on, there's so much more clarity around the one liner "requests" that often get farmed out.