[tinalumfoil]

I feel like I’ve seen this posted written multiple times by different people and it feels like it’s written in a very idealized world like somebody is at a place that values good management and thinks this type of thing is what most managers are.

Something I (cynically) learned in school and then relearned in the professional world is to get good marks there’s two steps (1) remove any excuse for the person to give you a bad mark and (2) make it easy to give you the good mark, ie you should be making your manager’s life easy and your manager’s life should only become easier if they give you that promotion.

There’s a post here talking about life coaching as management and if that the case then, sure, this type of communication hits on (2), but my experience has primarily been with results focused management and being able to solve assigned problems was the key for (2).

[paulryanrogers]

University taught me the same, especially in CS. Use professor's style, clear and readable code, don't be clever, turn in work early, etc.

Professional life is similar: be autonomous as much as practical, fill in when managers are gone, over communicate just a bit, complement their weaknesses, be humble.

[stochastastic]

This doesn’t seem cynical to me. Maybe it’s just that I’m too far gone, but I think it’s a matter of subtractive vs additive perspectives on work.