throwaway_54

It can work well and the people further up the hierarchy can be happy about it, and could share this happiness with you with bonuses and other perks. If this would happen, I'd be more inclined to be invested in the thing, even if it were not especially the pinnacle of human altruism.

I had zero emotional investment at first, but the parts I work with most grew on me. I also care a lot about the people around me. And I care a lot about the tools I am using too, I love my setup, and I'm also active in the community within the company, that's built around that toolset.

If I had to prioritize the above, I care about my team the most, the tools second and the actual product third.

To value people's care about the product, can be either very idealisic, totally misguided, or perfectly legit, very highly depending on the circumstances. Me with my team herd cattles basically, large website and infra, features come and go, tickets come from business people who themselves get orders basically. But if I were to gather people around me for the startup I'm about to start, I'd like to have them to believe that we're doing something good.