I am a computer geek, at a large international company, in a central services group. I am but a small cog in a big wheel (sadly not a “Big Wheel” (TM)).
I am your typical technical person: there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things; if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well; information should be shared, not hoarded; power games are sub-optimal; and all that.
I try to gently push the things I’ve learned in 20 years of being a sysadmin. Document, share, keep people informed, track, use tools.
It’s frustrating to be having such trouble convincing others to do good — do a good job, do interesting things, do things well. It seems to be especially difficult when the team leader’s only apparent motivation is to keep asses covered, and avoid any possibility of blame if something ever goes wrong.
Yup — that’s the safe way. But walking around all day ducking, kowtowing, and reflexively saying “Yes Sir!” to anyone further up the food chain seems like not a good way to spend the day.
Oh well. There’s dumb stuff everywhere, you just choose the dumb stuff you’re willing to put up with.