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How to politely ask “pretentious†engineers to simplify language
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I spent a lot of time thinking on this question so that it can have an answer, so please inform me if it needs modification since I really need help with this problem.
I am one of 10 team leads for small teams of engineers that specialize in various products our parent company sells/makes. Each team is made of 4-6 engineers with a single team lead. The team lead helps/mentors the engineers under his lead, and maybe spends 10% of his time coding (i.e. mainly code reviews). There was a professional disagreement almost a year ago involving teams A through H (i.e. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) arguing with teams I and J on the best technical solution to a problem that impacts all teams. I manage team J.
The problem was escalated when team I put in a solution to the problem without first getting approval of teams A through H (my team and I agreed with I's solution).
In the end, team I made a solution that made their product easier to finish on time, but created a lot of extra work for all the other teams except mine (my team didn't really benefit from I's solution, but it didn't hurt us like it hurt the other teams, impacting their lead times and causing them to miss deadlines). The only reason I's solution was implemented was because their lead convinced senior leadership it was the "best" solution, and by the time teams A through H were able to escalate it, there was no turning back.
Now we have a problem: teams A through H are primarily Caucasian and and Latin American, and teams I and J are primarily Asian. The other teams have a much stronger command of the English language. Ever since this dispute "ended", teams A through H have been hostile towards teams I and J, won't help with simple tasks they are able to help with (i.e. they are the only people with knowledge of certain tasks and how to execute them), but most importantly, they use increasing complex English language. This includes uncommon words which I imagine most native English speakers wouldn't know (i.e. "Supercilious", "specious", "esoteric", etc.), and they are making our teams unable to complete certain projects due to the complexity of the language they use. We've asked them for clarification on certain requests in the past, but they reply "the requests are clear. Get a dictionary if need be". This feels very racist.
How can I raise this issue with them and/or HR? They're not technically breaking any company rules, but they are being intentionally not helpful.
management human-resources intervention
asked 7 mins ago
Xian
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up vote
0
down vote
favorite
I spent a lot of time thinking on this question so that it can have an answer, so please inform me if it needs modification since I really need help with this problem.
I am one of 10 team leads for small teams of engineers that specialize in various products our parent company sells/makes. Each team is made of 4-6 engineers with a single team lead. The team lead helps/mentors the engineers under his lead, and maybe spends 10% of his time coding (i.e. mainly code reviews). There was a professional disagreement almost a year ago involving teams A through H (i.e. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) arguing with teams I and J on the best technical solution to a problem that impacts all teams. I manage team J.
The problem was escalated when team I put in a solution to the problem without first getting approval of teams A through H (my team and I agreed with I's solution).
In the end, team I made a solution that made their product easier to finish on time, but created a lot of extra work for all the other teams except mine (my team didn't really benefit from I's solution, but it didn't hurt us like it hurt the other teams, impacting their lead times and causing them to miss deadlines). The only reason I's solution was implemented was because their lead convinced senior leadership it was the "best" solution, and by the time teams A through H were able to escalate it, there was no turning back.
Now we have a problem: teams A through H are primarily Caucasian and and Latin American, and teams I and J are primarily Asian. The other teams have a much stronger command of the English language. Ever since this dispute "ended", teams A through H have been hostile towards teams I and J, won't help with simple tasks they are able to help with (i.e. they are the only people with knowledge of certain tasks and how to execute them), but most importantly, they use increasing complex English language. This includes uncommon words which I imagine most native English speakers wouldn't know (i.e. "Supercilious", "specious", "esoteric", etc.), and they are making our teams unable to complete certain projects due to the complexity of the language they use. We've asked them for clarification on certain requests in the past, but they reply "the requests are clear. Get a dictionary if need be". This feels very racist.
How can I raise this issue with them and/or HR? They're not technically breaking any company rules, but they are being intentionally not helpful.
management human-resources intervention
asked 7 mins ago
Xian
1
New contributor
Xian is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
I spent a lot of time thinking on this question so that it can have an answer, so please inform me if it needs modification since I really need help with this problem.
I am one of 10 team leads for small teams of engineers that specialize in various products our parent company sells/makes. Each team is made of 4-6 engineers with a single team lead. The team lead helps/mentors the engineers under his lead, and maybe spends 10% of his time coding (i.e. mainly code reviews). There was a professional disagreement almost a year ago involving teams A through H (i.e. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) arguing with teams I and J on the best technical solution to a problem that impacts all teams. I manage team J.
The problem was escalated when team I put in a solution to the problem without first getting approval of teams A through H (my team and I agreed with I's solution).
In the end, team I made a solution that made their product easier to finish on time, but created a lot of extra work for all the other teams except mine (my team didn't really benefit from I's solution, but it didn't hurt us like it hurt the other teams, impacting their lead times and causing them to miss deadlines). The only reason I's solution was implemented was because their lead convinced senior leadership it was the "best" solution, and by the time teams A through H were able to escalate it, there was no turning back.
Now we have a problem: teams A through H are primarily Caucasian and and Latin American, and teams I and J are primarily Asian. The other teams have a much stronger command of the English language. Ever since this dispute "ended", teams A through H have been hostile towards teams I and J, won't help with simple tasks they are able to help with (i.e. they are the only people with knowledge of certain tasks and how to execute them), but most importantly, they use increasing complex English language. This includes uncommon words which I imagine most native English speakers wouldn't know (i.e. "Supercilious", "specious", "esoteric", etc.), and they are making our teams unable to complete certain projects due to the complexity of the language they use. We've asked them for clarification on certain requests in the past, but they reply "the requests are clear. Get a dictionary if need be". This feels very racist.
How can I raise this issue with them and/or HR? They're not technically breaking any company rules, but they are being intentionally not helpful.
management human-resources intervention
asked 7 mins ago
Xian
1
New contributor
Xian is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I spent a lot of time thinking on this question so that it can have an answer, so please inform me if it needs modification since I really need help with this problem.
I am one of 10 team leads for small teams of engineers that specialize in various products our parent company sells/makes. Each team is made of 4-6 engineers with a single team lead. The team lead helps/mentors the engineers under his lead, and maybe spends 10% of his time coding (i.e. mainly code reviews). There was a professional disagreement almost a year ago involving teams A through H (i.e. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) arguing with teams I and J on the best technical solution to a problem that impacts all teams. I manage team J.
The problem was escalated when team I put in a solution to the problem without first getting approval of teams A through H (my team and I agreed with I's solution).
In the end, team I made a solution that made their product easier to finish on time, but created a lot of extra work for all the other teams except mine (my team didn't really benefit from I's solution, but it didn't hurt us like it hurt the other teams, impacting their lead times and causing them to miss deadlines). The only reason I's solution was implemented was because their lead convinced senior leadership it was the "best" solution, and by the time teams A through H were able to escalate it, there was no turning back.
Now we have a problem: teams A through H are primarily Caucasian and and Latin American, and teams I and J are primarily Asian. The other teams have a much stronger command of the English language. Ever since this dispute "ended", teams A through H have been hostile towards teams I and J, won't help with simple tasks they are able to help with (i.e. they are the only people with knowledge of certain tasks and how to execute them), but most importantly, they use increasing complex English language. This includes uncommon words which I imagine most native English speakers wouldn't know (i.e. "Supercilious", "specious", "esoteric", etc.), and they are making our teams unable to complete certain projects due to the complexity of the language they use. We've asked them for clarification on certain requests in the past, but they reply "the requests are clear. Get a dictionary if need be". This feels very racist.
How can I raise this issue with them and/or HR? They're not technically breaking any company rules, but they are being intentionally not helpful.
management human-resources intervention
management human-resources intervention
asked 7 mins ago
Xian
1
New contributor
Xian is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 7 mins ago
Xian
1
New contributor
Xian is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 7 mins ago
Xian
1
New contributor
Xian is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 7 mins ago
Xian
1
asked 7 mins ago
Xian
1
1
New contributor
Xian is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Xian is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Xian is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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Xian is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Xian is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Xian is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Xian is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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