> If this person worked on my team, they wouldn’t any longer.
So, literally, if you found that a member of your team was the one who posted this question, you would work to get them out of your team? Fired, managed out? No discussion? No, for instance, conversation about how things could improve?
No, not in the slightest. I’m not one to hunt people down. I would tell the author that here’s what we do, why we hired them, if that isn’t in alignment then we wish you the best and will gladly offer a referral towards your next endeavor. Jesus. I’m not toxic. I’m also not going to let toxicity ruin my team(s). Such as baulking at requests for timelines. If you don’t know, say you don’t know to your manager and let the manager, manage. The author doesn’t understand their place in the business just like you don’t understand that you can have hard conversations without playing office politics or being a toxic manager. Hunting people out that don’t believe in the mission. I never work to get people fired. They usually do that on their own.
My point about them not being on my team is that I don’t run a daycare. I also don’t run a research firm with endless cash. I pay you a ridiculous salary to deliver business value. I get paid a ridiculous salary to deliver business value. Anyone in our profession needs to understand this. $150k+ salaries aren’t necessarily normal elsewhere. I’ll pay top dollar for top value but you have to deliver. Does that make sense?
Non-sequitur. These are obvious statements that don't have bearing. I hope you never actually say "I'm not running a daycare" in front of your team. It's like having a sign in your fancy restaurant that says "No spitting". Your clientele will slowly but surely become the kind of people who needs such direction.
Empathy, transparency, psychological safety are critical for software engineering teams, as well as daycares, to operate well. This is well known in contemporary practice. OP is obviously suffering under some kind of mismanagement. Whether it is fixable mismanagement depends on whether his managers respond well to feedback.
As for estimations, the most accurate estimations I've ever seen are when the team goes over the task together and then each member estimates with blind votes, and then discuss outliers together if any. Better are scrum "stories". The least accurate estimates are when a producer wanders over to the desk of the distracted developer and secures a commitment. Which does happen unless there are explicit mechanisms in place to prevent it.
Is this Twitter where janitors get fired because they don't add "business value" and we have to all bring our own toilet paper?
Maybe there's something wrong with this concept of business value then. There's more to it than just a feature = $x. Can you add a new window to your house just by adding $x?
So, literally, if you found that a member of your team was the one who posted this question, you would work to get them out of your team? Fired, managed out? No discussion? No, for instance, conversation about how things could improve?