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by ferrumfist 1262 days ago
People pleasers can cause people to dislike them in a workplace, ironically. Being a people pleaser in software dev very often means you will over-burden yourself because you'd rather say "yes, I can do that for you" than "no, I don't have the bandwidth for that".

I'd rather a teammate who is honest about their current limitations than someone who tells me what I want to hear. If someone admits they are stretched thin, it's now an "us versus the problem" to find why you are so overtasked. If someone consistently takes on too much (because they can't say no) and causes the team to miss deadlines, it's now an "us versus you" problem.
2 comments
senbrow 1261 days ago
10000%.

The most hated guy at my old job would start every request with an elaborate hand-wrung introduction to make sure no one could possibly be offended by what he was asking for.

Because of this, everyone had to read one or two paragraphs of niceties before they had any idea what he actually needed.

It was incredibly annoying and actually quite selfish in practice since it wasted so much time.

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Nihilartikel 1261 days ago
A good manager would have broached the subject with the employee and gently moved them in the direction of adjustment and likely some therapy.

That sort of people pleasing behavior can easily come from a past where asserting even a minor need or boundary was met with abuse from caretakers or peers.

Not saying it's not maladaptive and irritating behavior. It is! But they probably came by it honestly.

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senbrow 1259 days ago
I totally agree; unfortunately he was a contractor hired through an agency, which meant his management resources were poorly defined and somewhat diffuse across the two companies' reporting chains.

I'd imagine if he was strictly an FTE he would have been getting that guidance and support, but I guess the politics of trying to do so across company boundaries made it too much of a career risk for the "manager" he was assigned from my company.

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xupybd 1261 days ago
Totally, that has been me in the past. You also burn yourself out and start underperforming.
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