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I think "debate everything" comes from: 1. Uncertainty. People haven't done X before, and are concerned about the outcome, so they delay, by debating. They don't know whether they're right or wrong. They're really just trying to figure out their own opinion. So they will bring up objections, even if they don't actually have a concrete reason to object. They just literally don't know if something is valid, so they pose a hypothetical. Another form of uncertainty is lack of trust. If somebody has trust that an outcome will be acceptable, then they can deal with any fears they might have about whether a given approach will have the outcome they hope for. If they can't trust the process, or people, they'll bring out road blocks. 2. Ego. Let's face it, we work with people with big egos. People who are smart, and capable, and know it.If their egos don't feel adequately compensated, they will debate until it is. I think "just tell me what to do" is easier to understand: 1. Apathy. It's a real killer, and it can hit any organization. Sometimes people care too much; if they don't feel like they can affect change, that turns into caring too little. Or perhaps they've just been burned too often at this job. Frustration builds until the stress or friction is too much, and they compensate emotionally by disconnecting. Some people carry this from job to job, like a form of PTSD. 2. Inexperience. When you have a lot of experience, you mostly know what to do already. But if you're working on something very new, or the organizational hierarchy isn't clear, or goals aren't clear, or processes, or you just don't have a lot of professional experience, you can be lost in a sea of uncertainty, not sure what to do. Maybe you have ideas of what to do, but it's not clear how to decide on it. So you relent, just waiting for someone to give you some guidance. In each of these cases, the missing component is: leadership. There must be good leadership to help people do their best work and keep the ship sailing. Bad leadership, or the absence of leadership, will lead back to these problems. |
I have tried to explain to my therapist why I have developed something like PTSD around peer reviews... yes, we all say "you are not your work" but that does not excuse being (dare I say) abusive in comments on PRs.