In America, there is an overwhelming focus by the media on national politics which leaves people jaded to the concept of politics. I would argue that you should still be involved in local/state/national politics but that is not what this post is about. As a result of this association, politics is often a dirty word in the software development world and most software developers actively seek to avoid it. This post is about work politics and that is something that software developers should not only be cognizant about but also actively involved in.
However, being involved in politics does not solely mean going full "et tu, Brute?" on your colleagues. It is also the art of cultivating relationships with people at work and, maybe, over the course of multiple weeks/months/years, serendipitously leveraging that relationship to have a positive impact on the team, company and, of course, thy own self.
Dwight Schrute on workplace politics
Software development is not just about writing code, it’s about telling the computer exactly what you want it do and then making sure that the output of this effort works for people in real life. From my experience in startups, consulting and big tech, the people part is the toughest nut to crack for software developers. But the advice and training given to software developers is also to blame for this situation. Throwing terms like "build trust" and "cultivate relationships" is pretty much useless without context.
If you’re part of a software development team, and, are generally nice and helpful to people that is a great start. But this niceness and helpfulness could also mean you get leveraged by other people when it’s advantageous to them and not reaping the benefits (source: my personal experiences as a nice and helpful guy). Also what about working with people outside the team and with customers?
This is where it helps to identify and classify people, particularly ones that can help boost the impact of your work. I first read about connectors, mavens and salesmen in Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point. My distaste for Malcolm Gladwell had grown over time because of his love for using anecdotes as evidence but his classification of people is still on point. Identifying the connectors, mavens and salespeople is key to doing politics at work.
Connectors spark the intro
Connectors are people, as the word suggests, who are ultra-connected within an organization. An easy way to identify this type of person is to seek out someone who often uses terms like "to solve X problem you should probably talk to Y person". A connector who volunteers this information freely is often the helpful kind and someone who you can go to with general problems. Once you cultivate a relationship with a connector, remember that you become part of their network and they may direct someone to you. So make sure you do not treat this as a single lane road, if you ask for help, be willing to help.
Mavens are the librarians of your organization
Mavens are people who connect you with information, instead of people. Mavens are the people who often know what was said in the company town hall or know where to find obscure information regarding the organization, product, or project. They will actually read the internal documents and the monthly update emails. A helpful maven again will be seen volunteering this information and is definitely someone you can go to in order to figure out how to obtain information. Again, this is not a "take only" relationship, you should be willing to voluntarily share useful information to a maven like updates in their area of interest that they may not know about yet.
Salespeople use Jedi mind tricks to get everyone to agree to their proposal
Salespeople in an this hierarchical context are persuaders. They have this magical ability to get others to agree with them without resorting to nastiness or pulling rank. An example of a salesperson would be someone who is excitedly talking about new product/technology the team should try and fast forward few weeks and the entire team is using it. What happened was the salesperson used their superpowers/Jedi mind tricks to push their agenda but also made us feel excited about adopting it. This archetype of person is harder to find in a software development setting. So once you find one, put the proverbial ring on it and never let them go. Salespeople do have a reality distortion field around them and as such we should exercise caution to make sure it does not turn into a "give only" type relationship where you’re the one giving all the time.
And finally, remember to both give credit if you benefit from one of these folks and also, that it is always OK to help these people and others in a pinch without expecting anything in return. Go forth and be political at work, o’ developer of the software.
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