[bumby]

Eh, I think it depends on how engaged your supervisor is. One of the last people I want to work with is the “it’s not my job” guy. I want to work with people who see a problem and offer a solution, whether it’s in their job description or not.

If you’re not being recognized for your work that’s a leadership problem. Stiff arming work feels like a way towards an ossified lumbering work culture.

[fridder]

My pushback isn’t the credit part it is when they try to spring things on you directly instead of going through normal channels. A lack of planning on someone’s part is not automatically an emergency on my part. I see this far more often than credit stealing

[bumby]

I can see that. The counterpoint is that it can create bureaucratic bloat.

If the proper channel means coordinating with finance to allocate money, get it assigned to labor codes, and reflected in my bi-monthly time allotment, I think I'd rather just jump the job and get it done this week than get it properly assigned two months from now. It does require a certain amount of cover and trust within an organization, though.

[Arainach]

I've never worked somewhere where the proper channels meant "coordinate with finance", but "file a bug/feature request to track this work and time time spent on it" should be standard. If it's not worth 5 minutes for the requester to do that, it's not worth however long it would take me.

This makes it easier to query and show what you've done in a time period. It makes it easier to go through the list of your assigned tasks and understand where it fits in the priority order.

[bumby]

Sure, but the HN crowd cuts much wider than just people working on mobile business apps.

[boringg]

Startup vs incumbent

[argee]

Or, "we're in this together" vs "every man for himself".

Seems insane that the latter can even be a functional business, but monopolistic profit can enable all sorts of tomfoolery.

[calvinmorrison]

unless you're contracted (fixed bid) working on jobs then you're getting paid hourly, salary, whatever... boss tells you to stand around and shoot the shit, thats what you do. I dont know why people think 'not my job' is a relevant answer... the job is what they tell you to do...

[bumby]

I do agree with you, and most jobs have a "and other duties as assigned" for that reason.

But I'll equivocate by saying there are exceptions. If you work a union gig (technically a contract), you have to be careful to stay in your lane unless you want a grievance filed. If you are a licensed engineer and your boss tells you to design/stamp something outside your domain of competence, you have a duty to say no. But that kind of stuff is the exception.

[calvinmorrison]

Yes I sincerely doubt that the court of opinion, or the real court, would see the difference between "I use MySQL not MSSQL! you cant make me write this analysis" versus sometihng understandable like, you are a for example, a aging and lovable secretary who is being tasked to clean radioactive material from a jobsite because there are no calls coming in.

As for unions - yeah thats what got them kicked out of the convention center. Only certified electricians are smart enough to plug in laptops into sockets!

[bumby]

I don't think you need that dramatic of a strawman for the point. I think a more plausible one in a grey area could be a structural engineer who has experience in low rise commercial buildings being asked to quickly approve a steel scaffolding for a concert venue in the coming weekend. To the uninitiated, it may seem like a reasonable request but to those in the domain it's far enough outside the area of competence to be questionable.