Sign in

Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition

@mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social
22 followers 63 following 104 posts

An unauthorized sequel to the Office of Strategic Service's Simple Sabotage Field Manual. Updated for the modern era. First target: sabotaging tech startups... (Icons thanks to icons8)

PostsRepliesMedia
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
To really mess with a company: Shroud performance-based terminations in ambiguity, e.g. citing “needed structural changes”. The less clarity around performance expectations, the more uncertainty and hesitation will spread across the organization.
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
It legit sometimes feels like the way to improve your job security as a senior exec is to maximize demands during the job offer negotiation - the more you extract, the more painful it is for the company to let go of you.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
So many ways for a senior exec to sabotage a company. e.g.: as a senior leader, avoid submitting administrative tasks or status updates promptly. This delay is evidence of your focus on higher-impact priorities, reinforcing the message that you are indispensable and overburdened.
001
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Another tip for middle managers wanting to sabotage their company: provide opportunities to ask strategy questions at every possible opportunity. Paradoxically, the more frequently you ask if ppl have open-ended strategy questions, the less likely people are to ask
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
If you're a middle manager, an easy way to sabotage your team is to demand to review all output from your team before it is shared. This demotivates your team, creates bottlenecks, and provides an excuse for delays - a super-effective tactic!
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
"Strategy" is a great tool to use for sabotage. Regularly ask any senior stakeholder about their strategy, rewording the question over time. Always respond with mild confusion, keeping the conversation going under the guise of seeking clarity. Keep doing this over time.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
If tensions arise, claim you feel “gaslit,” even if the justification is weak. At the time of writing, this term appears to be triggering for managers and is difficult to counter.
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
In meetings with your skip-level, ask questions about the company's or your team's strategy. This subtly throws your direct manager under the bus.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Remember: follow the letter of the career ladder, never the spirit.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
An effective way to sabotage your manager: express, in many contexts, "wanting to know what excellence looks like" and "wanting to make a greater positive impact for the company". Watch them squirm as you try to get answers to these questions over time.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
A company's per diem budget is always a goal, not merely a limit.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
If ever trying to stymie somebody making a request, try invoking a "x or y" (quality vs speed) or "3 pick 2" (quality vs speed vs cost) framework. It'll drive them crazy.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Playing games with annual planning, Part 5: If you're in Marketing and being held to a CAC goal, debate endlessly what counts as CAC. There’s no right answer, and the Marketing vs. Finance battle is well-known so no one will fault you.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Playing games with annual planning, Part 4: Always ask for more budget, especially if you're in marketing. If the company doesn't give it to you, then you have an easy excuse for missing any target. This is true even if the company gives you a lower target for a lower budget.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Playing games with annual planning, Part 3: Writing a long document explaining, in way too much detail, your plan is the easiest way to filibuster any objection. Nobody's going to read it all.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Playing games with annual planning, Part 2: Whenever plausible, claim that you need resources from the Data or BI team in order to come up with a solid plan. Those teams are always bottlenecked.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Playing games with annual planning, Part 1: Ask for clarity on KPIs at every level above you. If any level is skipped, call out “misalignment” and insist it’s blocking your planning.
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
A fun, albeit 'kamikaze', strategy to sabotage your company: make yourself a strong “culture carrier" - chime in on public channels, join ERGs (or even run them), get yourself on the company website, publicly praise the company's mission, etc. Then let your performance decline...
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Gossiping is a powerful tool for sabotaging your company. The safest place to do it is in 'coffee chats' - up to 2 a day usually doesn't arouse suspicion. If ever asked, the coffee chat is simply to "strengthen collaboration and relationships across the company".
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
A fun way to sow doubt among your colleagues: in team or all-hands meetings, ask sharp questions about strategy. Point to a path *not* taken, then highlight dire consequences of ignoring it.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
To sabotage your manager, always ask what it would take to get a promotion. But, always couch it in terms of "wanting to know what excellence looks like" and "wanting to make a greater positive impact for the company". It's an easy way to back them into a corner during reviews.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Don't be modest! This seems more legitimate than all those "Fortune 500 Most Innovative Company" awards anyways :)
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
History really is more cyclical than we think
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Goes to show - the difference between a hacker and a consultant is merely in a few lines of a contract. (Does DOGE even have a contract...?)
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Would love to be a fly on the wall in the interesting conversations with the Head of HR stemming from this...
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
To sabotage the company as an exec, practice layered leadership: Appoint a subordinate leader for each team under you. These people are the scapegoats for underperformance. Maintain a narrative that only you possess the expertise to hire top talent
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Ways to weaponize a company's review process, tip 4: If the company does not use a curve, lobby aggressively for its introduction under the guise of fostering a “high-performance culture.” If implemented, watch performance reviews become doubly painful for everyone.
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Ways to weaponize a company's review process, tip 3: If writing a review for someone you dislike, critique a behavioral “vibe”—something subtle and difficult to pin down. Claim it's hard to pinpoint specific examples, but the behavior happens frequently.
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Ways to weaponize a company's review process, tip 2: Before each performance cycle, preemptively send your manager a detailed slide deck or document outlining why you deserve a promotion. Do this every cycle, even when it is unreasonable for you to be considered for promotion.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Colleagues not reading something they're supposed to? Le gasp
120
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Ways to weaponize a company's review process, tip 1: Take an excessive amount of time on reviews and encourage your reports to do so as well. Emphasize the importance of thoughtful feedback, justifying spending anywhere from one to five hours on every review.
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Developed in our labs, the post-mortem is one of the most highly effective yet low risk ways to undermine a team's effectiveness. Run a post-mortem on every project. It will likely be "blameless". Nonetheless, make sure that for any point raised, everybody knows who f***ed up
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Who is running this PR team, who decided on a discussion about vaccines in a burger joint?!
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
You, good sir, are pure evil
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Funny how that emoticon also basically represents my level of understanding of what this command does
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
But: it's a pretty classic company HR move to avoid talking about RIFs as much as possible. Best to try to get everybody to move on as quickly as possible. (Which, of course, always backfires)
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
I hope, somewhere, the 20 year old social media intern controlling get their account is getting a smirk and a pat on the back from their manager.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
To throw a wrench into things at work: Rely heavily on your function’s principles, e.g. if you are a designer, on your company's "design principles". If no such set of principles exists, advocate for creating it. This exercise always consumes significant time and energy.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
This feels like a consulting interview question gone wrong...
010
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
To lean into willful negligence as an employee: Reduce the amount of hours you work per week every couple of weeks until you receive a sign that somebody has noticed.. This is called finding the lower inflection point of your "elasticity of effort" (trademark pending).
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
One tactic to sabotage a project: demand serial execution over parallelization. Insist that dependencies must be solved in sequence, never concurrently. If pressured to parallelize, claim that Step A could impact Step B in unforeseen ways - even if you can't provide an example.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Which is more terrifying nowadays: reading the news for the first time after a week away, or catching up on your work inbox after a week away?
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
What can we say, America's good at poaching top talent from other countries
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
This is a classic corporate politics move: agree with the outcome, disagree with the methodology. Regardless of what happens, you come off as having mostly supported the end state, so nobody can blame you for sabotaging the effort.
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
I dunno, my social media is full of puppies I would've otherwise missed so I'm pretty pleased
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
"dipping sauce"
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
See? Who says paperwork doesn't generate value
020
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
We prefer the term "presenting a more compelling total compensation and benefits package"
020
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
I think in the corporate world this is called "PR"?!
000
Modern Simple Sabotage: Startup Edition @mdrnsimplesabotage.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Now now, no need to malign all corporate layoffs by associating them with DOGE
100