This is a well worded blog post:

• You’re learning coping mechanisms rather than skills.

Every organization has their quirks that people find their way to work around. ... Over time, we learn to cope with these things – we set aside extra time for the reports, make sure we take the time to sell the political person on our ideas, or learn how to argue.

The trap: Sometimes organizations are (or become) sufficiently toxic that we’re investing more time in developing and refining the coping mechanisms than the actual skills. If your list of things to develop is really a list of things that you won’t have to do in a more functional environment, none of which will make you more employable elsewhere… it’s time to walk away. [emph mine -mfn]

Everything we do that doesn't make us "more employable" could be wasted time. I mean, having effort, eg, helps because you get better at estimating stories, and knowing what you need to know to get those high-quality estimates and "ready-ready" stories. That's not wasted time (even if I don't always love those meetings).

But if we're coping just to cope -- and when it's safe to say a decent amount of it won't translate to a "more functional" workplace -- that's a workplace smell.

Nothing earth-shattering, but I liked the "does this problem make me/us/whoever more employable?" and "do I spend more time coping than learning?" metrics.

Labels: business, development, Jobs