Colleague “invited” himself to my assignment












1















I am in a team of 3 senior developers. In our current assignment we were supposed to analyze a certain project and identify key areas to work on. After that, each of us was supposed to take one area and focus on implementing certain amount of tasks from that area with our own respective teams.



From us three he (colleague A) is the one with least knowledge about the project. He did not make any choice of his "own" area to focus on during the meeting. The other colleague and I did choose corresponding areas and it was agreed upon during the meeting.



The same day, after the meeting, I have found out that colleague A went talking to people behind my back about tasks from my chosen area. This has led to him being invited to a meeting where we both would be briefed on the subject.



I have found out that right after meeting, he secretly had a discussion with my manager where he got approval for doing exactly that.



So now, instead of working on his own, he "invited himself" behind my back to interfere with my work.



The manager told me that although that area is mine, for a "pre-discussion/pre-briefing" we might have multiple people sitting in meetings (including him) to "be able to understand all details" of what has to be done.



That colleague has a record in my projects of hijacking/softly taking-over our common work in the past or position himself as the number one contributor, even if our efforts were around 50/50.



He never did that right away. Rather he did it gradually with time. I am afraid that this is another case of such behavior now.



What can be done in such cases against this behavior? The manager is a very "hands-off" type with high turnover, cases of blind favoritism and bias. So, I have no idea how to react now.










share|improve this question

























  • Now that he's doing your work, would it be possible for you to switch to something else?

    – Stephan Branczyk
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    That is a field I have previous knowledge about and it was simply logical that I take it. Also, if I start discussing that option with the manager, it will lead to questions. Our manager pretends that everyone works fine with each other and workplace conflicts are a fantasy. I'm sure he'll label me as a conflict person or unreliable, who promised to take the project and then refused.

    – Eval
    3 hours ago






  • 2





    Personally, I'd pick the troublemaker label, because I'd say something like "I do not want to work with him. Either you allow me to do something else, or if you really want me to do that project, you let me do it on my own."

    – Stephan Branczyk
    2 hours ago











  • I guess I'll go with that. I will tell my boss how suitably qualified my colleague happens to be for that task. So... perhaps, now that we have someone for it who'd do it just fine, I could concentrate on something else.

    – Eval
    2 hours ago













  • @Eval I would take a different approach. After all, if you overly own the code, that approach might work for a while, and then gets fixed by management backing exactly what is happening to you. Figure out a way to collaborate with him, preferably winning together.

    – Edwin Buck
    1 hour ago
















1















I am in a team of 3 senior developers. In our current assignment we were supposed to analyze a certain project and identify key areas to work on. After that, each of us was supposed to take one area and focus on implementing certain amount of tasks from that area with our own respective teams.



From us three he (colleague A) is the one with least knowledge about the project. He did not make any choice of his "own" area to focus on during the meeting. The other colleague and I did choose corresponding areas and it was agreed upon during the meeting.



The same day, after the meeting, I have found out that colleague A went talking to people behind my back about tasks from my chosen area. This has led to him being invited to a meeting where we both would be briefed on the subject.



I have found out that right after meeting, he secretly had a discussion with my manager where he got approval for doing exactly that.



So now, instead of working on his own, he "invited himself" behind my back to interfere with my work.



The manager told me that although that area is mine, for a "pre-discussion/pre-briefing" we might have multiple people sitting in meetings (including him) to "be able to understand all details" of what has to be done.



That colleague has a record in my projects of hijacking/softly taking-over our common work in the past or position himself as the number one contributor, even if our efforts were around 50/50.



He never did that right away. Rather he did it gradually with time. I am afraid that this is another case of such behavior now.



What can be done in such cases against this behavior? The manager is a very "hands-off" type with high turnover, cases of blind favoritism and bias. So, I have no idea how to react now.










share|improve this question

























  • Now that he's doing your work, would it be possible for you to switch to something else?

    – Stephan Branczyk
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    That is a field I have previous knowledge about and it was simply logical that I take it. Also, if I start discussing that option with the manager, it will lead to questions. Our manager pretends that everyone works fine with each other and workplace conflicts are a fantasy. I'm sure he'll label me as a conflict person or unreliable, who promised to take the project and then refused.

    – Eval
    3 hours ago






  • 2





    Personally, I'd pick the troublemaker label, because I'd say something like "I do not want to work with him. Either you allow me to do something else, or if you really want me to do that project, you let me do it on my own."

    – Stephan Branczyk
    2 hours ago











  • I guess I'll go with that. I will tell my boss how suitably qualified my colleague happens to be for that task. So... perhaps, now that we have someone for it who'd do it just fine, I could concentrate on something else.

    – Eval
    2 hours ago













  • @Eval I would take a different approach. After all, if you overly own the code, that approach might work for a while, and then gets fixed by management backing exactly what is happening to you. Figure out a way to collaborate with him, preferably winning together.

    – Edwin Buck
    1 hour ago














1












1








1








I am in a team of 3 senior developers. In our current assignment we were supposed to analyze a certain project and identify key areas to work on. After that, each of us was supposed to take one area and focus on implementing certain amount of tasks from that area with our own respective teams.



From us three he (colleague A) is the one with least knowledge about the project. He did not make any choice of his "own" area to focus on during the meeting. The other colleague and I did choose corresponding areas and it was agreed upon during the meeting.



The same day, after the meeting, I have found out that colleague A went talking to people behind my back about tasks from my chosen area. This has led to him being invited to a meeting where we both would be briefed on the subject.



I have found out that right after meeting, he secretly had a discussion with my manager where he got approval for doing exactly that.



So now, instead of working on his own, he "invited himself" behind my back to interfere with my work.



The manager told me that although that area is mine, for a "pre-discussion/pre-briefing" we might have multiple people sitting in meetings (including him) to "be able to understand all details" of what has to be done.



That colleague has a record in my projects of hijacking/softly taking-over our common work in the past or position himself as the number one contributor, even if our efforts were around 50/50.



He never did that right away. Rather he did it gradually with time. I am afraid that this is another case of such behavior now.



What can be done in such cases against this behavior? The manager is a very "hands-off" type with high turnover, cases of blind favoritism and bias. So, I have no idea how to react now.










share|improve this question
















I am in a team of 3 senior developers. In our current assignment we were supposed to analyze a certain project and identify key areas to work on. After that, each of us was supposed to take one area and focus on implementing certain amount of tasks from that area with our own respective teams.



From us three he (colleague A) is the one with least knowledge about the project. He did not make any choice of his "own" area to focus on during the meeting. The other colleague and I did choose corresponding areas and it was agreed upon during the meeting.



The same day, after the meeting, I have found out that colleague A went talking to people behind my back about tasks from my chosen area. This has led to him being invited to a meeting where we both would be briefed on the subject.



I have found out that right after meeting, he secretly had a discussion with my manager where he got approval for doing exactly that.



So now, instead of working on his own, he "invited himself" behind my back to interfere with my work.



The manager told me that although that area is mine, for a "pre-discussion/pre-briefing" we might have multiple people sitting in meetings (including him) to "be able to understand all details" of what has to be done.



That colleague has a record in my projects of hijacking/softly taking-over our common work in the past or position himself as the number one contributor, even if our efforts were around 50/50.



He never did that right away. Rather he did it gradually with time. I am afraid that this is another case of such behavior now.



What can be done in such cases against this behavior? The manager is a very "hands-off" type with high turnover, cases of blind favoritism and bias. So, I have no idea how to react now.







colleagues employer-relations






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share|improve this question













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edited 3 hours ago







Eval

















asked 3 hours ago









EvalEval

373




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  • Now that he's doing your work, would it be possible for you to switch to something else?

    – Stephan Branczyk
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    That is a field I have previous knowledge about and it was simply logical that I take it. Also, if I start discussing that option with the manager, it will lead to questions. Our manager pretends that everyone works fine with each other and workplace conflicts are a fantasy. I'm sure he'll label me as a conflict person or unreliable, who promised to take the project and then refused.

    – Eval
    3 hours ago






  • 2





    Personally, I'd pick the troublemaker label, because I'd say something like "I do not want to work with him. Either you allow me to do something else, or if you really want me to do that project, you let me do it on my own."

    – Stephan Branczyk
    2 hours ago











  • I guess I'll go with that. I will tell my boss how suitably qualified my colleague happens to be for that task. So... perhaps, now that we have someone for it who'd do it just fine, I could concentrate on something else.

    – Eval
    2 hours ago













  • @Eval I would take a different approach. After all, if you overly own the code, that approach might work for a while, and then gets fixed by management backing exactly what is happening to you. Figure out a way to collaborate with him, preferably winning together.

    – Edwin Buck
    1 hour ago



















  • Now that he's doing your work, would it be possible for you to switch to something else?

    – Stephan Branczyk
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    That is a field I have previous knowledge about and it was simply logical that I take it. Also, if I start discussing that option with the manager, it will lead to questions. Our manager pretends that everyone works fine with each other and workplace conflicts are a fantasy. I'm sure he'll label me as a conflict person or unreliable, who promised to take the project and then refused.

    – Eval
    3 hours ago






  • 2





    Personally, I'd pick the troublemaker label, because I'd say something like "I do not want to work with him. Either you allow me to do something else, or if you really want me to do that project, you let me do it on my own."

    – Stephan Branczyk
    2 hours ago











  • I guess I'll go with that. I will tell my boss how suitably qualified my colleague happens to be for that task. So... perhaps, now that we have someone for it who'd do it just fine, I could concentrate on something else.

    – Eval
    2 hours ago













  • @Eval I would take a different approach. After all, if you overly own the code, that approach might work for a while, and then gets fixed by management backing exactly what is happening to you. Figure out a way to collaborate with him, preferably winning together.

    – Edwin Buck
    1 hour ago

















Now that he's doing your work, would it be possible for you to switch to something else?

– Stephan Branczyk
3 hours ago





Now that he's doing your work, would it be possible for you to switch to something else?

– Stephan Branczyk
3 hours ago




1




1





That is a field I have previous knowledge about and it was simply logical that I take it. Also, if I start discussing that option with the manager, it will lead to questions. Our manager pretends that everyone works fine with each other and workplace conflicts are a fantasy. I'm sure he'll label me as a conflict person or unreliable, who promised to take the project and then refused.

– Eval
3 hours ago





That is a field I have previous knowledge about and it was simply logical that I take it. Also, if I start discussing that option with the manager, it will lead to questions. Our manager pretends that everyone works fine with each other and workplace conflicts are a fantasy. I'm sure he'll label me as a conflict person or unreliable, who promised to take the project and then refused.

– Eval
3 hours ago




2




2





Personally, I'd pick the troublemaker label, because I'd say something like "I do not want to work with him. Either you allow me to do something else, or if you really want me to do that project, you let me do it on my own."

– Stephan Branczyk
2 hours ago





Personally, I'd pick the troublemaker label, because I'd say something like "I do not want to work with him. Either you allow me to do something else, or if you really want me to do that project, you let me do it on my own."

– Stephan Branczyk
2 hours ago













I guess I'll go with that. I will tell my boss how suitably qualified my colleague happens to be for that task. So... perhaps, now that we have someone for it who'd do it just fine, I could concentrate on something else.

– Eval
2 hours ago







I guess I'll go with that. I will tell my boss how suitably qualified my colleague happens to be for that task. So... perhaps, now that we have someone for it who'd do it just fine, I could concentrate on something else.

– Eval
2 hours ago















@Eval I would take a different approach. After all, if you overly own the code, that approach might work for a while, and then gets fixed by management backing exactly what is happening to you. Figure out a way to collaborate with him, preferably winning together.

– Edwin Buck
1 hour ago





@Eval I would take a different approach. After all, if you overly own the code, that approach might work for a while, and then gets fixed by management backing exactly what is happening to you. Figure out a way to collaborate with him, preferably winning together.

– Edwin Buck
1 hour ago










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