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I regularly re-read the opening few pages of the Pragmatic Programmer as a mantra to myself, because what you have written here is very relevant. > It is your life. You own it. You run it. You create it. > Many developers we talk to are frustrated. Their concerns are varied. [...] And the answer we give is always the same. > "Why can't you change it?" > But, for some reason, developers seem to resist change. They hunker down, and hope things will get better. > [...] > So here's the most important tip in the book. > Tip 3: You Have Agency > Does your environment suck? Is your job boring? Try to fix it. But don't try forever. As Martin Fowler says, "You can change your organization, or you can change your organization." When I read the situation you describe, the best thing would be to acknowledge where the tech lead is emotionally, and sympathize, because it sounds like they simply wanted to sound off about it, not actually change it at all. It's always easy to say no to why something won't work, and it sounds like a classic drama triangle situation, with someone coming in as a persecutor, you stepped in as a potential rescuer, then you became a victim because obviously your suggestions won't work. You, however, don't need to accept the situation, and you can try to change it if you wish. Too many people (including myself, hence why I always re-read those few lines) fall into the trap of thinking that someone else should make this or that change, make a decision, or that you require approval or authority. This is far less true than people believe. As someone who has stepped into a software manager role for the first time from being a software engineer for most of my career, my view is that I'm not always there to solve the problem, but to give space for people to solve the problems themselves. It helps if I know what's going on, or understand the issues, but I trust my team, and those I work with, and would rather get them together with the right people to discuss it through, and work out a way forward. I appreciate I don't know the situation at your organization, the battles you fought, the things that have been said. Change is never easy, and there's always resistance, but you do have agency, as does your tech lead. Never forget it. Good luck. |