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A comment on Why software projects take longer than you think – a statistical model. Parent comment

Re:Why software projects take longer than you think – a stat... by dboreham on Tuesday April 16, 2019 @12:48PM (#19675202)
It's important to realize that the workplace often involves being subjected to what is really a kind of psychological abuse. It is not, I think, a coincidence that we are learning that many "stellar managers" turn out to be abusers, e.g. guilty of sexual harassment. What you're describing is in psychological terms thought of as "maintaining boundaries" against a person who is intent on transgressing those boundaries for their own gain or amusement.

If you validate the invalid assertions of these abusers (e.g. that some unclear task can be estimated with certainty) then you're enabling the abuse.

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Re:Why software projects take longer than you think – a stat... by afarrell on Tuesday April 16, 2019 @01:26PM (#19675511)
I think “abuse” is an ill-defined enough term that I’m not sure it adds clarity to this discussion without setting out a definition. Its an important subject and might be a really important lens through which to view this, but as someone who has been searching for a really clear-cut definition of “emotional abuse” since my childhood, and who has seen a lot of acrimonious conversations about it since then...I worry that the framing adds more smoke than light to the discussion. :(

Do you have a good definition? One whereby a scrupulous person can confidently judge “am I acting abusively?” correctly?

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