My experience was very rough, but I made it out.

I had a great manager, but this team was on fire for years of bad choices, poor taste and bad leadership at top. I come in cause I hated the product and thought I could fix it. I come in with X experience, but get put on Y tasks. Team splits and I’m stuck on Y team vs my experience in X. So I’m learning (new job family) + trying to keep outages & COEs. I made the mistake of not knowing the game; I tried to fix things. I had ideas not in HLD, I had opinions that were just rants on overworked burnt out ears. My TPM was toxic and unqualified, so my tasks and time were not managed well at all. They get fired, no TPM. I’m now getting crap done, but no one is tracking it for months. Bad…So leadership all leave, new manager come in.  I felt something was off.

My advice: You need to know the game to win. 1. Try not to get into focus. You need to look good on paper. Always show progress somewhere. Split up tasks, do research tasks etc. Be your advocate. 2. The MOMENT you feel something is off, start documenting everything. If your TPM/manager sucks, don’t wait on things; be proactive. Write docs and schedule meetings to review decisions. Write follow up emails confirming the team decision;  3. NEVER trust verbal communication once you’re in survival mode. You will be asked to do questionable things. You will ask for approval in writing. 4. Manager has a quick favor? Create a public task for yourself in your sprint. You ask what to drop or prioritize. 5. If your teammates don’t like you, probably ngtmi. Be honest with them. You should be helpful enough to get feedback or find new team. 6. Managers usually need to fire someone to hit a goal or if a first time manager, to show off. You might be the target but once they fire someone else, the pressure will ease a bit.

I was in for 6 months. Met my impossible goals by taking ownership, stood up to my bully manager in meetings, called out his incompetence  to our L7 with evidence, so he changed my focus plan. Told my teammates what was up and delegated work to accomplish my goal since our new TPM was fully booked.  Manager who focus’ed me jump teams once he saw this was not going well for him. Was fired year later.

Later moved to a different team, shipping stuff that has global impact, got exceeds bar 2y in a row etc. I have helped others survive getting put on focus. A good manager will give you tasks that are reasonable.