Listener question: optics over impact

In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

1. Hey Dave and Jamison,

   Big fan of the show — listening from Portugal! (Proof that even across the Atlantic, software politics are universal.)

   I’m a tech lead, and lately I’ve noticed a culture where people seem to care way more about how things look than what actually gets done. It’s like the appearance of productivity matters more than real impact. Honestly, it drives me nuts!!

   I know politics are part of any organization, and way more in a leadership role, but this feels excessive. As someone who values substance and solid engineering, how do I deal with or influence this kind of culture without losing my sanity (or turning into one of those “optics-first” people myself)?

   Thanks for all the insights and laughs. Kudos from Portugal!

2. Listener Charlie says,

   I’m fresh out of college at my first software engineering job. Several months ago I was appointed the accessibility champion for my team. I proposed a few items in the quarterly planning session, but I think it wasn’t enough. My project manager called out our whole team, but I think it was mostly aimed at me.

   I’ve been struggling with creating Jira cards, shaping with the team, writing a11y guidelines, etc. It’s tedious and I’m not really familiar with this kind of work. How can I get better at the “other stuff” besides just writing code?

   P.S. I volunteered for this responsibility 😩