> My advice is: Don’t scheme. Be diplomatic, but just ask for what you want and give the real reason that you want it.<p>Ummm...no. Then "Alice" in that example will eventually find out what I said and the manager and peers will think I am difficult to work with if my reason is not wanting to work with someone. A good manager has to read between the lines and understand these things without being told so outright. I can only recall one time where I complained about someone to a manager and only because I had no choice and it was affecting my work.<p>"Don't bring your manager problems, only solutions"
> Usually, your manager won’t have conclusive proof or just won’t feel like having a giant confrontation, so they won’t say anything. But they will remember<p>... which is often true even when you <i>aren't</i> lying. Almost everybody who claims to manage by data actually manages by "feel" - or, how much do they like you personally?
some good stuff here I guess but am kind of skeptical of the whole "you can be super-competent or super-pleasant" thing - not vouching for rudeness and people need to be professional but competency is a lot more important than being pleasant