I ran into this issue a few times so far: I need to solve a problem. 2 senior people (could be engineers or managers) tell me to use different solutions. They do not talk to each other directly. I'm the middleman, bouncing back and forth between solutions. Getting blocked at the PR level (sometimes before that too) by either stake holders. It's demotivating, I do not get things done quick. What should I do?

Instead of being stuck in the middle, and having to ferry messages between various people, you should instead become the owner of the decision. Gather all the relevant information and stakeholders in one place, and be clear about next steps. The format of this will depend on the company (Slack, email, Workplace), but you should write a summary of the various approaches, the pros/cons of each, and what you plan on doing next. Don't just parrot what the senior people told you, do a bit of extra thinking to move the discussion forward. If you are clear about the current state, and invite feedback, you'll be able to move forward much more efficiently while building up trust. As a follow up, make sure you give people thanks:

How to satisfy multiple stake holders?

Anonymous User at Taro Community3 years ago

Communication

Productivity

Senior Engineer

Working With Your Manager

I ran into this issue a few times so far:

I need to solve a problem.
2 senior people (could be engineers or managers) tell me to use different solutions.
They do not talk to each other directly.

I'm the middleman, bouncing back and forth between solutions. Getting blocked at the PR level (sometimes before that too) by either stake holders.

It's demotivating, I do not get things done quick.

What should I do?

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33 Comments

Discussion

(3 comments)

4
Rahul Pandey
•Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
3 years ago
Instead of being stuck in the middle, and having to ferry messages between various people, you should instead become the owner of the decision. Gather all the relevant information and stakeholders in one place, and be clear about next steps.

The format of this will depend on the company (Slack, email, Workplace), but you should write a summary of the various approaches, the pros/cons of each, and what you plan on doing next. Don't just parrot what the senior people told you, do a bit of extra thinking to move the discussion forward.

If you are clear about the current state, and invite feedback, you'll be able to move forward much more efficiently while building up trust.

As a follow up, make sure you give people thanks: https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/GWW7hvRcgGhbXimw5b3J/how-to-build-work-relationships-faster-giving-deeper-thanks/
3
Rahul Pandey
•Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
2 years ago
Sorry for the delayed response! Yes, I definitely agree that discussion over the PR will be frustrating and take much longer. I'd start a group chat to get everyone on the same page.

If you feel like there's enough ambiguity in the project, you may also schedule a meeting among the people involved.

If you still feel like there's no agreement, I'd then escalate to your manager.
1
Anonymous User [OP]
•Taro Community
3 years ago
thank you for the advice Rahul!

To make the situation harder, in the current situation I'm facing both senior people are not letting me be the owner of the decision. I'm getting blocked at the PR level. Satisfying one person necessarily means not satisfying the other person.

And each of them knows the other person's point of view.

I don't want to offend either person and just want to move forward with my task.

I can be the owner but I need someone to approves of my PR.

I'm thinking of creating a group chat with both people holding me back and push for a decision between them, instead of letting the discussion play out slowly in a pull request.

What do you think?