Dysfunction Junction
Happy companies are all alike; every unhappy company is unhappy in its own way. (Apologies, Leo Tolstoy!)
In over 40 years, I’ve worked at startups and established companies. I’ve worked for big, I’ve worked for small. Some have been exciting, nurturing places that “got it right.” Most, though, were stumbling through without a clue. Here are some tell-tale signs that you’re in the wrong place.
We’re <the old company>. We don’t do that here.
This is often what you hear after you join after the acquisition. It comes from the belief that your company was bought because you do everything right. That is in no way true. They want your product. They want your knowledge. They don’t want the shitty way you track projects on a whiteboard or your Friday bar-be-cues.
Sooner or later, you will do it their way because it works. Show them your way works better, and you can succeed in their sandbox.
We don’t need planning tools.
You never know where you’re going if you don’t know where to go. At one small company, there was planning in development and marketing. In User Documentation…well, there were end dates that kinda-sorta meshed with the latest date to deliver documentation. Everything was a first draft. Any mistakes would get fixed at a later revision. Here’s what happened — it never got fixed.
I’m only here until I retire.
I get it. You see it just ahead at the end of the year. But that’s not something you, as a manager, tell your staff who need you to champion them to other departments. You’re also a mentor. Your attitude affects junior staff.
Don’t worry — nothing will change.
Don’t believe it. Everything changes.