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Comment by OutOfHere | Hacker News Reader

Why bother. If the company doesn't want to respond in the affirmative to a valuable idea that has been communicated clearly, let it torpedo itself and dig its grave. Whatever the answer, the outcome will be righteous. In the bigger scheme of things, it is better to evolve companies that answer optimally. There is no need to ever bend over backwards to save a company that is not your own.

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I hardly think wanting to be more productive/efficient on your own behalf is "bending over backwards" to save a company.

It could be a project with a deadline, and you want to knock some things out earlier so that there is less crunch time needed in a few weeks.

Maybe you want to get some of your work done early so you can take it easier in near future where you anticipate yourself being preoccupied with other responsibilities.

Or, hear me out. You feel secure in your job position, and simply take pride in your work. You will be there working anyways. I would rather get stuff done and feel productive at work than to have meaningless down time twiddling my thumbs, waiting for a response.

I would rather just work at a place where my hands weren't so tied. The actions you noted only come in the way of it.

It’s quite a luxury to work in a company where every interaction is perfectly empowered.

Many of us have jobs that are on the whole very good, but where inter-departmentmental or inter-personal challenges come up from time to time. I’m definitely not one who’s willing to quit in search of the elusive perfect company in that case.

Startups often offer it, and it doesn't have to be so early stage that one has to work more hours either. Once a company gets older, it adds layers of damaging bureaucracy that comes in the way of innovation.

I’ve worked at several startups and I’m not at all sure the typical employee is more empowered. Yes, large companies have bureaucracy, but startups often have micromanaging founders who haven’t learned stuff like delegation.

You just may, at some point, find yourself in a situation where your goal is not to "evolve a company", but instead to work with the people at hand to get something done.

In that case, remembering that "it's easier to get forgiveness than ask for permission" is a valuable tool to have in your repertoire.

Sometimes the ask is something that you want to improve your own experience at the company. Let's say the ask involves improving the quality of the code that you work on every day. You know your boss will not say "yes" because refactoring does not have an apparent value. But you are confident that if you can some time to work exclusively on some refactor, it will be a benefit not only to the company, but to your future self. I think the advice in the article is a solid way to go about asking for that.

I would rather just work at a place where my hands weren't so tied. The actions you noted only come in the way of it.

Your career isn't going to go very far if you have no strategies to overcome roadblocks and deadweight employees in a large org. "Let it torpedo itself" and then what? Find a new job any time you encounter stupid obstacles? That's a new job every 4 months.

This is important wisdom.

It usually takes 2-3 years of bad actions for a team to torpedo itself, so no, 4 months doesn't relate.

Unless you have a limited pool of opportunities. If so, educate and demonstrate value. Maybe even if pool isn’t super limited.

Or, if your job is decent, don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

(Also, not every decision that you need to communicate up to your manager is going to have a significant impact on your company. Sorry?)

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