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I wish there were blunter / more direct responses to choose from.

That’s interesting! I definitely defaulted to 'Diplomatic/Safe' options for this version.

Was there a specific turn in the conversation where you really wanted to just give a hard 'No' or call them out, but felt restricted by the choices?

I would have liked to tell the VP "No, we're not doing this and I don't appreciate being bypassed like this. Don't do this again." or something like that that. In my view, VP the Sales has no business meddling with my juniors.

I'm not a manager and have no interest in becoming one but I have often wondered what is going through a manager's head when they cave to egregious horseshit from executives. I find this simulation really interesting and maybe it might help me empathize my manager more.

Yes, because the manager is not paid anymore to do code and code review but to preserve political capital, manage team and other stakeholders as well. Glad that it provided a perspective and see your manager with more empathy.

Well, I'm not sure this particular example helps me see my manager with more empathy. I think the manager in your example is too concerned with people pleasing.

"Political capital" is irrelevant and only exists when we permit it to exist.

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