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0 pointsjustin_oaks4y ago0 comments

I once was a team lead for an team of outsourced software developers. It was the worst part of my career. The whole outsourced team was awful. Wholly incompetent.

I had the responsibility of delivering a product, but I didn't have the authority to fire these folks who were a net negative on the project. I would have been happier with implementing the whole project myself, which I mostly did.

I too was unmotivated, but the stress of being responsible was unbearable.

Perhaps some people disagree that "most organizations" give responsibility without authority, but I've seen it happen a several times in my career.

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throwaway65324y ago

I have also been bitten by this and I also ascribe it as the worst part of my career.

A warning to anyone who hasn't experienced this, if you're ever tasked with doing this the correct answer is "no" followed by "goodbye".

EsotericAlgo4y ago

I’ve left positions for similar reasons.

Another strain of this is forcing some COTS application to work via a million hacks and integrations (usually via consulting resources) when a fundamental architecture or application change is needed. Responsibility coupled with the resource and authority to execute is stressful in its own way but it at least allows one to more easily own their failures.

hackerfromthefu4y ago

You know what they say, if you can't change your workplace .. change your workplace!

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