{"id":323,"date":"2025-09-26T23:09:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T17:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/logz.darxite.com\/?p=323"},"modified":"2025-09-26T23:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T17:39:19","slug":"why-do-i-take-this-surviving-q4-planning-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysteriousdiary.com\/logz\/2025\/09\/26\/why-do-i-take-this-surviving-q4-planning-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do I Take This?: Surviving Q4 Planning Chaos \ud83d\udd25"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p>So, it&#8217;s been a very hectic week. Klaus was being, well, Klaus. And this time, he managed to trigger so many people &#8211; our scrum master, even his own peers. All over Q4 planning, of all things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-epic-disaster\">The Epic Disaster \ud83d\udcca<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s what happened: Klaus added 13 epics to our Q4 roadmap. Thirteen! His peer had mentioned a couple of days before the final presentation to remove a few since it&#8217;s the Christmas quarter with lots of expected vacations. When she brought this up, I was presenting and Klaus was on leave. We had maybe 10 epics at that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But instead of removing any? He added 3 more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mentioned to him afterward that we should remove some, and he kind of agreed at the time. But nothing changed. It seems like he doesn&#8217;t have any real work to do and he&#8217;s acting all crazy. He used to have few departments under him, but now that&#8217;s gone. He&#8217;s left with just ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe he&#8217;s trying to penetrate inside our team. It&#8217;s too much, man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-communication-nightmare\">The Communication Nightmare \ud83d\udcac<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t understand what he&#8217;s expecting. Most of what he talks doesn&#8217;t make sense &#8211; it&#8217;s all gibberish. And it&#8217;s even worse when he types messages. He writes like he&#8217;s completely lost it: &#8220;What do you do all day?&#8221;, &#8220;I&#8217;m angry with you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seriously? This is a professional environment. I just stepped into this role &#8211; you don&#8217;t start with 5th gear right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"finding-my-leadership-philosophy\">Finding My Leadership Philosophy \ud83c\udf31<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I told him the other day to reduce the tasks because it&#8217;s time to build the team&#8217;s morale. The old PO left the org, and usually when a good lead leaves, the team goes into a little black hole. They need time to adjust to the new system, to me as their new PO. They should feel comfortable with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s better to give some breathing space, show them everything is alright. Klaus should be supportive of the team, of me, of all these changes. But that&#8217;s not happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-pattern-im-seeing\">The Pattern I&#8217;m Seeing \ud83d\udd04<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s what really gets me: Klaus holds himself together during calls &#8211; acts all cool and professional. But then he types these weird, mood-killing messages afterward. It&#8217;s like dealing with two different people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This week, I felt again like maybe I should give up because Klaus was being such an ass. But I&#8217;m not giving up. At least not yet. I need to see this through and work through this challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-kind-of-leader-i-want-to-be\">What Kind of Leader I Want to Be \ud83d\udcaa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I know what type of leader I need to become. I will not micromanage the team. I want to pick people who are crazy and passionate about the work they do &#8211; that&#8217;s really important to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My approach? Tell them what I&#8217;m expecting this quarter, and that&#8217;s it. Set them free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You see, team matters a lot, and for an amazing team, you&#8217;re supposed to give them freedom. I feel like my team is like that &#8211; you hold them too tight, they don&#8217;t like it. They do amazing work and exceed your expectations when you let them be free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if the team isn&#8217;t performing, then yeah, you have to micromanage. That&#8217;s just reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"moving-forward-despite-the-chaos\">Moving Forward Despite the Chaos \ud83d\ude80<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This whole situation with Klaus is teaching me what I don&#8217;t want to become as a leader. The constant pressure, the unclear communication, the mood swings &#8211; none of that builds a strong team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m learning that sometimes the biggest challenge isn&#8217;t the work itself, but navigating the personalities and politics around it. And right now, that&#8217;s exactly what I&#8217;m doing &#8211; one day at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until next time, Keep It Raw, Keep It Real! \ud83d\ude0e\u270c\ufe0f\ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">\ud83e\udd16 This blog was written with the help of AI. The ideas and thoughts are mine, but the writing was assisted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, it&#8217;s been a very hectic week. Klaus was being, well, Klaus. And this time, he managed to trigger so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-po-diaries"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Do I Take This?: Surviving Q4 Planning Chaos \ud83d\udd25 - Mysterious Diary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysteriousdiary.com\/logz\/2025\/09\/26\/why-do-i-take-this-surviving-q4-planning-chaos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Do I Take This?: Surviving Q4 Planning Chaos \ud83d\udd25 - Mysterious Diary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So, it&#8217;s been a very hectic week. 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