Quote from Transitioned on February 20, 2022, 3:21 am

Situation (from a couple of years ago): Evil Empire (EE) consultant Deepani  is trying to take control through her sprint machinery.   Basically implement fake agile where they control the plan and sprints are used for endless tracking, forming cells of their guys and intelligence to place their people/upsell.  

Trying to get me to do the planning and go along with 'all work goes through the sprints'.  I’m in a BA/doer role so this is an incursion on my manager.   If I'm not careful I could end up with an extra manager who doesn't see eye to eye with my boss and my boss wouldn't think I'm very clever.

Planning should be my boss John's job so I’m pushing back and asking her to sort it out with the bosses.   John has embedded me in an operational/software dev team run by Patricia.  I’m trying to stay in Patricia's team, not have all my work allocated by EE as she’s hardworking and nice and EE will stab you in the back to place another one of their resources.   BTW all major consultancies train their staff in manipulation under the banner of 'engagement skills' .  They use 'double bind/fools choice' all the time - that must be taught on day 1.

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Deepani:  "So I actually sent you an email based on the comment you made on the JIRA. So I’ll give you the gist but you’ll see the email anyway.   So what we’re looking after is just if we can plan out for the next 2 or 3 sprints at least. "

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Analysis

Deepani came in with a tasking frame.   Her technique was 'assume the sale' - assume how you want it to be is already 'how it is' .  Assume I'm working for her and therefore she should be allocating me tasks.

But she didn’t know the key fact – that I wasn’t allocated fulltime to the project.  And yes she was making moves and trying to take control but  that's their default playbook - probably not particularly aimed at me.

In this case they were still trying to setup the sprint machinery and get backing for their big Agile approach in our business unit.  The hooks weren't in deep yet.

So I could try and override her frame without it being a suicide run.

My general approach with these random power grabs is to try and surface the players and their interests so we're not whispering in the dark and go for win/wins and collaborative frames.

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Suggested Response: Frame Override

I'm not taking the bait of discussing task detail - i.e. being pushed into her frame.  Instead, letting her know how it is for me and who I have backing from under the guise of giving her more info.  And pushing back on the assumption that I'm in her sprint team which would make me under her control.

Transitioned: "Thanks  Deepani sounds good (validating her request)  just before we get down to the detail of your request (reframing her tasking as a request and sounding like I will help her).  Could I just quickly share who I work with ('with' not 'for' and surfacing that I have support).  The agreement with John (who is high up) is I work for Patricia in her development team.  So the headline is I’m not a full-time sprint resource (..and you can't order me around).   Of course John and Patricia are working on Horizon, so I also help out with whatever John needs and keep Patricia across." (This is the beginning of the Olive branch.  Deepani works on project Horizon  and I'm saying yes I'll work on that for you but my first loyalty is to John and Patricia.)

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What does everyone think - is an initial frame override a good way to go?  And if so is there anything I could do better in my response, especially for power protecting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on February 22, 2022, 1:15 am

Hello Kevin, just a quick note that I'll get to this.

Might take a few days to give it proper attention, but it's something I want to do.

Quote from B on February 22, 2022, 11:33 am

Deepani not only seems to assume you must work for her, she also seems to use the "implied question" technique. She is not even tasking you clearly, but only hinting at you doing something based on the e-mail she sent, and is using impersonal language to not incur debt for asking you to do something.

So before clarifying that your responsibility is interacting / working with other people (i.e. surfacing the "I do not work for you" frame), it could make sense to first surface the "you haven't made any request" frame:

Deepani:  "So I actually sent you an email based on the comment you made on the JIRA. So I’ll give you the gist but you’ll see the email anyway.   So what we’re looking after is just if we can plan out for the next 2 or 3 sprints at least. "

You: "Thanks Deepani for involving me in the loop. I think you guys have all under control and the idea makes sense. So keep me informed."

If her email was more direct, the above conversation could even have the effect of a "frame reset", so that you don't even have to answer the email afterwards.

Then, she either has to surface the request to you, or back down. If she asks you directly, then you can go into clarifying your chain of work.

Quote from Transitioned on February 22, 2022, 9:36 pm

Thanks Bel.  Clever  You re 100 % right with the tone.

I shuld have given all the facts..   The email did directly tell me to come up with a plan and put it in Jira.  That s their style.  They keep everything indirect and corporate speak sounding casual and low pressure in person.  And then push you via emails and the daily team meetings.

I like your option.  I could ignore the email and just respond to her words.  Play dumb  Then as you said she d have to state her tasking directly.  Then I could act surprised a 'oh sorry I thought you knew' type of vibe.

Quote from John Freeman on February 23, 2022, 7:22 pm

Hello Transitioned,

to me it seems like (another) toxic workplace. It seems it's more about power than about the work. I think your answer is very good. I would just remove the "Could I just quickly share who I work with ('with' not 'for' and surfacing that I have support). "

It might sound as you are giving her a lesson. I would also remove the"Deepani sounds good (validating her request)  just before we get down to the detail of your request (reframing her tasking as a request and sounding like I will help her)." and replace it with: "Thanks Deepani for your request" which accomplishes everything you want to accomplish with a shorter sentence.

I would keep this:

Transitioned: "Thanks Deepani for your request. The agreement with John (who is high up) is I work for Patricia in her development team.  So the headline is I’m not a full-time sprint resource (..and you can't order me around).  Of course John and Patricia are working on Horizon, so I also help out with whatever John needs and keep Patricia across." (This is the beginning of the Olive branch.  Deepani works on project Horizon  and I'm saying yes I'll work on that for you but my first loyalty is to John and Patricia.)

An option (power move) is to CC John or Patricia (Preferrably her as otherwise it's too much higher-up CC) to let him/her know what is going on.

You could also add at the end that you are currently working on Project X as in: "I'm currently working on Project X and so far we are making good progress". To let her know you have already having your hand fulls without going full "I'm busy power move" as well as showing you're effective.

Cheers!

Quote from Transitioned on February 24, 2022, 1:08 am

Thanks John

Really interesting and useful.  Actually this workplace isn't toxic it's all about getting the work done.  It's just management consultants playing the games. Which is the nature of the beast

This was a bit weird setup.  I was partially ment to be working through the sprints but J the manager was planning and setting my priorities and putting those into the sprints.  So if I d accepted her tasking I potentially could have contact with my boss - the guy who signs off my timesheets.

 

 

Quote from John Freeman on February 24, 2022, 5:28 am

Alright. What are the sprints exactly?

Quote from Transitioned on February 24, 2022, 10:37 am

Correction: above should have read "conflict with my boss"

Sprints chunk work into 2 week blocks  Idea is there s a product owner who represents the business and negotiates with the team what and how much work goes into the sprint and the team commits to delivering that work.

Done well it can empower the delivery teams and spark some great collaboration with the business.  Problem is most places just turn it into a modern sweatshop.

 

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on February 24, 2022, 11:18 am

Overall it's good.

Both Bel and John have great points.

Surface the task in person

I'd surface the task in person indeed.
These games of "hey, hi, just came here to tell you there's an email" are a game of "getting a yes in person", and which puts you in a weak position as they weakly binds you to say yes to the email.

When you say "OK" in person, that partially extends to the content of the email as well.

Remove the "sounds good"

Agree with John.

That sounds like a commitment.

You can be equally warm with a "thank you for the heads up" or "hello X, I see, thank you for also coming in person".

Some other possible moves

Whenever you're not sure what's in store in those emails, these can serve to cover your ass:

• "I'm always open to help if there is availability (so I'll need to check the request and compare to my other work)":
• "I'm always happy to help if I'm not already busy helping John with Horizon"
• "Yes, is there anything you need help with? I'm with John on Horizon as priority #1 but if time allows or if tasks overlap, happy to help":

All of these reach the same goal:

Putting the decision-making power back on your corner.

Such as, you:

1. State your #1 priority first, so the frame becomes "I got this higher priority thing... "
2. State your #1 stakeholder: "...with this higher-up guy".

Stating the priority first gives you the power of saying "yes or no" depending on what's on your plate, while the higher-up boosts your power.
And it's also just something that any sensible people understand -especially politically aware management consultant-: if you're working for a high-up guy, then they know you need to prioritize his work.

And it's all delivered with a generally warm and collaborative tone.