Espionage was not in the job description

Lily’s onboarding plan? Hit the ground running. Bart’s plan? Monitor her calendar like it’s a live-action thriller. From week one, it’s all tension, mixed signals, and a staff engineer just trying to do her job.

This episode follows the slow-motion implosion of a tech team where one EM’s insecurities create a ripple effect of firings, confusion, and eventually, some pretty unconventional tactics from leadership. There’s a spy, some corporate melodrama, and a reminder that being good at your job can really tick off the wrong people.

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Highlights:

• Spy Games: When leadership plants someone on your team just to confirm your EM is the problem
• Calendar Chaos: Lily tries to onboard, Bart tries to control every meeting she has
• Skip-Level SOS: Why going around your manager might’ve saved this entire mess earlier

Jump into the conversation:
(00:00) Intro
(00:13) Bruises, burnout, and beach dreams
(01:46) Lil Instinct lands the job, kinda
(03:11) Bart shows up weird from day one
(04:53) Trusting your gut when it’s sus
(07:11) New gig, same mess, calendar police
(09:30) Bart micromanages like it’s his hobby
(13:52) Being helpful somehow makes it worse
(18:52) Should’ve gone skip-level yesterday
(26:36) Surprise! The new guy was a spy
(29:45) Bart’s gone and finally, peace returns
(34:38) Tech trauma is real, but so is recovery