Internal politics for software engineers and managers: Part 2

“Politics” has a bad reputation in tech companies. What is it, why is it important, and how can you get good at the “right” type of politics?

Q: I’m a tech lead but I feel like my voice is often not heard, and my team members are often ‘rolled over’ by more influential teams during decision-making. I want to get better at internal politics, but without being labelled as ‘political.’ How can I navigate this minefield of internal politics?

This is the second and final part in covering internal politics. In Part 1, we covered:

1. What is internal politics?

2. The “bad” type of politics.

3. The importance of influencing others.

4. How to influence people in your organization.

5. Expanding your network.

In this article, we cover:

1. The importance of politics as an individual contributor (IC).

2. Political situations as an individual contributor.

3. Becoming ‘influential’ an IC.

4. Internal politics, as a manager.

5. Building up political capital, as a manager.

6. Avoiding the “political” label.

1. The importance of politics as an IC