At some point, a team I worked closely with got unexpectedly fired. The entire team, including manager, just gone one day. Not for financial reasons, but because they were “not performing well.” (There were multiple people on the team who had consistently good performance reviews.)
I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out why that happened. Obviously if that could happen to them (fired despite good feedback), it could happen to anyone.
As far as I could tell, it’s because the CEO or CTO didn’t think the type of work they were doing was worth doing, and also didn’t think they were making a difference.
It’s good to be a self-starter, to advocate for best practices, and to keep users in mind. But at the end of the day, if that doesn’t fit into what your bosses expect from you, you’re done.
That’s why it’s important to communicate with stakeholders. Your boss needs to understand why spending time on preventative maintenance pays dividends on the long run. You can’t spend 75% of your time on stuff that doesn't look productive (which is subjective) and also not be proactive in being on the same page as your stakeholders about what’s important. At some point, they’ll get confused about what you’re actually doing day to day, and your job’s on the line.