[nine_zeros]

I was recently berated and given negative performance ratings for rolling something out 2 weeks late. The reason I rolled it out 2 weeks late was because we were in holiday season and the company CTO had asked people to exercise caution during holidays. But lo and behold, my management didn't like that I was cautious. They gave me a negative rating.

I asked, "Why was the 2 weeks so important? Are there any customers waiting for it? Is the company going to lose money? Why is the CTO saying one thing and you are saying something different?"

There was no clear answer to it. Turns out, the managers have designed a game where they assign percentage points for things completed by the end of the quarter. My manager was getting lower points because I was exercising caution - as requested by the CTO.

It is these BS management games that made me realize that the industry is broken beyond repair. I no longer hustle to make managers look good.

Quiet quitting on exploitation is a fair trade. I ain't sacrificing my personal life for BS games.

[throwaway2203]

Same here.

We're always getting mixed signals... "if you need to delay, delay. you're the best judge of that." And "we have commitments we have to hit at the end of the quarter."

[digitalsushi]

Half of us can discern corporate messaging and half of us cannot (let us say).

The cynic, the street smart corporate bilinguist hears those two messages and understands plainly that only the latter is true.

The person who takes things at face value is perplexed: They have been told not to hurt themselves, but also told that if they hurt themselves the company will be pleased. How bizarre, to be told opposing requirements, and that half of people are not also perplexed.

[nine_zeros]

> The cynic, the street smart corporate bilinguist hears those two messages and understands plainly that only the latter is true.

It is true that the only message you need to follow is the one said by your own manager (and their manager). But remember, if you follow the manager's message and something fails, this manager will throw YOU under the bus.

The real street smart corporate bilinguist recognizes that blindly following your management makes you vulnerable to become the sucker, fall-guy, doesn't-really-need-promotion-guy.

If your management is dishonest, the only real game out there is a game of dishonesty.

[jacquesm]

I hope you left that place in a hurry. And told them why. What an idiocy.

[nine_zeros]

> And told them why

I didn't tell them directly since I knew I was being targeted. But I left breadcrumbs of truth within the team so that next time, someone else identifies this same pattern and calls them out again.

[pc86]

How do you make the leap from this one company doing stupid management nonsense - 100% accurate in this case, it sounds like - to "the industry is broken beyond repair?"