Team Lead: Anyone has any concern on their tasks? I'll see what I can do to help.
Me: Yeah I'm afraid I would not be able to finish my task on time because of its complexity.
Team Lead: Try harder.

What's the point of asking?

Your team lead needs to learn the fundamental rule:

Never ask a question that you don't want the answer to.

How long will it take you to fix this car?

1 week.

Well I need it in two days. Can we do this? Can we make it work?

Umm...no. That's not even physically possible. It will take 1 week.

What if we give you 4 additional mechanics? We can get any equipment you need tomorrow. We can pay you whatever you want; work all night.

Um, well I'm not going to work all night, that's not safe and ... it literally cannot be done in less than a week.

--

This is the problem with software. Managers say they "try to push back" but then agree to the 2 day timeline anyway. That's fucking dumb. If it can't be done, don't say it can and force people to work long hours. Fuck that nose.

A diplomatic response in such situations is: „are you suggesting I am not doing my best already?” Bonus points if you ask this in a meeting in front of his boss.

@matste Someone has seen Uncle Bob's talk where he obliterates higher-ups for using expressions like "try harder" or "can you at least try"? 😄👍

@LordPeeve whose uncle Bob? the C# guy?

@kesy this guy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

And the talk i was referring to is here
https://youtu.be/eisuQefYw_o

The whole piece is interesting and in the last 5 minutes is the "will you try" trick

@LordPeeve interesting! i'll listen to it while coding hehe

@djsumdog they talk, we work hahahhahahhaha

it is your TL's duty to ask for concerns, not to help.

@matste I love that. Will use it definitely! I don’t think my TL is prepared to answer those questions, or at least will think about it. Highly appreciated, honestly.