[exodust]

The alternate strategy is loyalty to "the business" rather than any particular person.

When you're invested in the success of the business above all else, and you make that known, you'll carve out a position where you're valued.

Not because you went on a "carving out your importance" mission, but because your energy goes into your work, and the details and care for the long term business objectives. Also... you can then enjoy yourself more, which opens creativity which opens innovation. Sometimes this might mean disagreeing with managers or working on stuff nobody really knows you're working on right now.

> "So if you want to get something technical done in a tech company, you ought to wait for the appropriate wave"

No. That doesn't work. You have to start building it. Don't wait.

[YZF]

I agree with this. That's been my take throughput my pretty long career and was a recipe for success.

You still need to:

1. Be good at what you do.

2. Be good at politics/communication when that's needed.

3. Be in an organization that has good people and also cares. There are organizations where there's just a complete disconnect from the business for various reasons. Dysfunctional.

[rafaelero]

This is a good strategy, imo. I was following it for almost a year and I was having a blast working in a startup. Then a new manager came along and started to dictate how things should be done without much input from the technical team. I kept fighting for what I thought was good for the product instead of aligning with him. In the end it was just too stressful (the manager was not only an idiot but also rude). I resigned, but I wouldn't have done any other way. I simply can't be made to do dumb things from uncurious people.

[exodust]

It's a shame when resigning is the only way out. Before reaching that point, the usual strategies should be attempted:

  Picking your battles;
  Negotiate rather than fight;
  Be better at analytics and research than anyone else. So you have the data to measure or predict success about a particular feature or direction. 
  Armed with your data, you must carefully communicate findings without shaming others. 

It's a fine line between fostering a positive work environment in the face of misguided decisions, and being condescending or derisive towards other team members. There is no silver bullet, but a touch of self-deprecating humour never hurt. If you advice isn't taken, you'll have a non-snarky receipt. Any email written with an irritated tone, will look twice as bad months later.

[rafaelero]

I did create benchmarks and simulated impact following different scenarios (including the one I was advocating for). Unfortunately that was received in deaf ears. Even worse, actually; they thought I was being too pushy by adding the scenario I was proposing to the analysis. At this point I knew I had to leave.