March 22, 2026
Standups vs. standouts
"Collaboration" Is Bullshit
Commenters clash: teamwork saves projects—or hides slackers
TLDR: A viral essay claims modern “collaboration” tools create the appearance of teamwork while diluting accountability. Commenters brawled: some say great teams do exist and the war analogy is silly, others say big-company bloat is real—yet many agree that clear ownership and giving high performers credit is the missing piece.
An essay just dropped arguing modern “teamwork” is a feel‑good mask for doing nothing, leaning on a WWII stat that only 15–20% of soldiers fired their rifles and the 80/20 rule to claim most “collaboration” is a simulation of work. Tools like Slack, Notion, and Jira? The author says they create visibility theater while real accountability evaporates. Cue fireworks.
The comments went feral. One camp, led by igor47, says the author sounds traumatized by bad managers and insists elite teams exist—“Linux, AWS, the pyramids didn’t build themselves.” Another camp, like scuff3d, calls the war analogy cringe: comparing life‑or‑death combat to too many standups is a reach. Others, like vielite1310, confessed the post hit hard after moving from startup to big‑corp purgatory: meetings multiplied, output didn’t. A middle‑path crowd (esfandia) argues ownership matters to reward top performers and prune “dead wood,” but real collaboration is how juniors learn. And noduerme delivers the gut punch: the real rot is refusing to credit the 20% who carry the load.
Jokes flew fast: “Slack emoji isn’t a deliverable,” “Teams call that should’ve been an email—now a culture,” and “Jira: where tickets go to die.” Some defended the tools, blaming leadership, not apps. The thread’s split is sharp: is collaboration a shield for mediocrity, or the glue that scales? Either way, everyone wants clear owners, fewer apps, more shipping.
Key Points
- •The article cites S.L.A. Marshall’s WWII research that only 15–20% of frontline riflemen fired their weapons, highlighting uneven effort in groups.
- •It references IBM’s 1960s finding that 80% of computer usage came from 20% of features, reinforcing a pattern of disproportionate contribution.
- •The author argues the tech industry embraced collaboration and tool stacks (e.g., Notion, ClickUp, Slack, Jira, Monday, Teams) that generate activity without commensurate output.
- •The essay states transparency is often mistaken for progress, visibility for accountability, and inclusion for ownership.
- •Ringelmann’s 1913 experiments are cited to explain diffusion of responsibility and declining individual effort as groups grow.