The clue in your description is that you are a software engineer in management. I would guess that most if not all the other managers are from non-technical backgrounds. Thus they are directly or indirectly indoctrinated into MBA and/or McKinsey Management Consulting group-think. Only the insecure and their sychophants would instigate the sorts of practices that you describe.Hate to put it bluntly, but you are attempting to swim against the tide by attempting any form of debate and examination of dissent. The management team around you have played their hand. It appears that you are vastly out-numbered.
You have two choices: go with the status quo; or the highway.
slantyyz|5 years ago
People with MBAs come from a pretty broad set of backgrounds, and there isn't such a thing as MBA group-think.
I'm not saying that there aren't MBAs who are McKinsey types, but they don't represent the entire population of people with MBAs, not even close.
If you see a common pattern of behaviour from MBAs in the companies you've dealt with, it's more likely that the companies hiring those people were looking candidates with those characteristics.
jbn|5 years ago
On the contrary, even coming from varied backgrounds, people going for MBA (and therefore MBA holders thereafter) are surely self-selecting for some characteristics. Also, "management by objective" and other nonsense that doesn't apply to creative work, that's surely resembles MBA group-think.
As always, these things are not clear-cut, but there are nuggets of truth there.
anonymous_smile|5 years ago
marcinzm|5 years ago
As the replies to this Ask HN show many people disagree. These are logical and practical solutions to the problem of coordinating large groups of people. Public dissent amongst decision makers tends to be very toxic and lead to very unpleasant work environments. That is very different than private and upwards dissent.