Even though I've never worked with "suits" who actually wear suits, I'm familiar with another aspect of the dynamic.
If you don't put some stamp on a project, something that is identifiably yours, no matter how small, then you're sending the message that you aren't necessary. You're a step away from getting laid off.
I'm not kidding. This may be the most dominant dynamic driving corporate life in the 21st century. Not that you can blame anybody for trying to keep their job.
Maybe they're very good at other aspects of their job, but unless you have something to contribute all the time, you're replaceable. Or so the logic goes.
Since nobody likes a yes man, you have to be a NO man if you want to keep your job.
It sucks for anyone downstream, but I gotta tell you, it's even MORE frustrating if you're in house. You know The Big Fight is coming, maybe just The Big Favor, so you have to keep your powder dry until you really, really need it. It means that you suck it up and put your name on work that you hate.
The frustration is knowing that the team effort should be for the good of the project. It's not even that "the boss always wins," because a whoooooole lot of these projects are undertaken by peers from different teams. They ask, what gives you the standing to tell me my idea isn't good/good enough, whatever? And the answer is, well, I don't have any standing at all, but this is why I say it....
It's the nature of consensus to sink to the lowest common denominator. High-impact efforts are rarely possible. The stakes are too high -- get shot down by the bosses a couple of times, and you no longer have any weight with them OR your peers. A new boss comes in, and the laser sight is between your eyes for a whole new batch of reasons.
Any similarity to any company of any size currently undergoing reorganization is strictly coincidental.
But this is also said in full sympathy. Decisions that look arbitrary re: creative decisions may in fact be artbitrary re: creativity....but not at all arbitrary for very real needs....that have little to do with the job at hand.
If you're a contractor, your longevity depends on smiling as you take the money. It's harder than it sounds, but it's a whole lot easier from the outside, trust me.
Sounds like a grim Monday observation, but from this side of the fence, hap hap happy!
Enjoy the dough. Feel free to spend it all in one place if you want. LOL
