> Some software companies can turn even the simplest tasks into a grueling series of processes, endless meetings, and joint work across a big number of “stakeholders”. These companies will take the joy and productivity out of programming and replace it with a series of rituals and set of language that people use to go through the motions every week so they can collect paychecks.

god - this is so true at my last company. Any attempts to decrease meetings, remove unnecessary process are met with heavy resistance. Getting shit done was nearly impossible. People had no responsibility for their work. Only wanted "stories" and "subtasks" assigned to them. Doesn't matter if the story was trash/useless/no-op, they just wanted it to pump their numbers because the quarter is ending. I shouldn't have tried so hard to make changes. They probably ended up getting reverted by the next person or manager.

Pro tip: if the company you joined tends to hire new people then retain them. Then fucking run. During the first "all hands" in that company, nearly 80% of people that worked in the organization were hired in the past 1 year or so. It ticked "red flags" at the time but I ignored it because honestly I needed the money at the time (just graduated college)