Ask HN: Stories of political intrigue in large companies | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Stories of political intrigue in large companies

25 pointsbrutus12139 comments

I work in a large corp and have been a manager for a few years. I just got massively outplayed by a group in a different part of the organization. They were supposed to be working with us, but rather just ended up copying key aspect of my team's work, and delivered it into production.

When I realized this, I was pretty bitter and contemplated quitting. After being angry for a few days, I started to smile. Over my career, I saw some other people being secretive and protective of their team's work, and I always thought those people acted in a silly way. I just realized I now understand why those folks behaved in that manner!

So this was clearly my first corporate knife fight and I got bruised (and who knows, maybe my team and I get buried). I am very fascinated by the political intrigue itself. There was lying, there was delay tactics, communication BS, and so on by the other party. I'd like to learn more about such tricks, not to use them, but frankly to catch onto them in the future faster. Any stories people have to share or pointers to material (books/videos)?

This does not answer your question. But it helps to understand the overall structure of such games by grouping people into 3 categories:

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...

It's not perfect, but useful. The most useful insight is to turn it from a game over project success into a game of personal success, however that person sees fit to define success, because to a large degree the earlier is accidental/irrelevant (project success), while the latter is deliberate (personal success).

#1 - Executive Suite, 1954 starring William Holden is great. Back-stabbing, dissimulation and betrayal abound. Also starring June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Louis Calhern (The Asphalt Jungle), Dean Jagger (Bad Day at Black Rock) and Shelley Winters. "When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice presidents vie to see who will replace him."

#2 - Margin Call

As a distant third I'd also include Blackberry (2023)

Besides all good references you see here, try to understand human beings as selfish creatures. Cooperation comes into being when you need to play with the same person/team many more times, that is, iterative games. If other party, say, X just works with you for one time, X can use you and dump you, while being nice at the same time. However, if you and X are forced to work together many more times: X and you have to cooperate.

It is easier to backstab than being openly inimical. Being openly inimical has both emotional and political costs; backstabbing is easy.

The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene

48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

BigCo shenanigans will never look the same!

Oh man so many books from my personal collection showing up here!!

Haven't read it so caveat emptor, but I've had this recommended and it seems potentially relevant: Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers by Robert Jackall.

Try playing Diplomacy.

So, which messaging app did your team work on, at Google? ;-)

This guess is definitely wrong, because Google has never felt the need to choose between messaging apps - the more the merrier! They’ll die off on their own in a few months anyways.

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