Way back in college, I am annoyed that Political Science is a mandatory in an Engineering course and I think I found the reason why.

I was often asked by my friends if office politcs occurs in IT where everything is black and white. Well, sadly it does.

Normally a company have a task tracking system such as Bugzilla, redmine, backlog, excel and etc. All the task are recorded; who created the task, who do the coding, who tested and who closed it. The estimated and actual hours are all recorded. By all means, it is black and white. Where does the politics came in? Well, if a task can not be accomplished by a dev, it is redirected to another person and the task will be closed for good. Where is still the problem? Whatever the tracker system you are using, it’s information stays inside your team. The product owner normally do not have access on that tracker because it is none of their concern. The management can access the tracker but it is also none of their concern. As long as project is delivered, everybody is happy. Do you see where is the fault now? Yup, it’s on the manager; the last line of defense.

Office politics kicks in if someone is not doing their job properly but can get away with it because they have a close relationship to the manager or the boss.

It is a normal theme as long as humanity exist and there are some ways to avoid it.

1. Keep it to yourself.
Sadly, you can not do to much even you have all the evidence to back you up. Your manager have the last say to it. Whatever you will say will be use against you and you may end up loosing your job.

2. Keep it cool
Just think that it was your gain because you learn something new. Treat it as self accomplishment that you can do it while the other person can not. Never reply in an email if you are angry. Sometimes even you are not angry, your email is interpreted as personal attack by the other person. Practice minimal messages as much as possible.

3. Karma
If there is a question or modification in the future, you will be the contact person since you are the one who code it and knows it’s business logic. The client will know you and be appreciated. sometimes even your boss will not believe that you know the system more than anyone else.

If you reach a breaking point, you can always resign. I do not want to brag about it but once I resigned to a company after some disaster. After a week, the HR ask via email if I can consider to come back and be an official trainer for the company. I did not reply because that is my karma doing its things.

I remember the final exam in our Political Science. The essay is only one question:

“Why politics is evil?"

Nobody gets the answer right. The professor gives the answer:

“Politics is evil because it is use as personal use.”

You maybe working hard because you want to finish the project but some people are just there for their personal interest like promotion or higher salary. You are fighting in a different battle field as the other person that’s why you will never win.

I am still encountering office politcs then and now and we can not avoid it. It’s a curse of being great at work.

I even joke one time to a friend when he ask what I do in the office?

I replied

“My job is to drink a glass filled with muddy water but I do not taste.”