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TIFU my life

TIFU by making myself obsolete at work

I've been working at a small company in general operations for ~5 years. When I started, there were less than 12 of us, so I handled supply chain, logistics, and eventually warehousing and fulfillment. The company and team grew, and I got tired of doing the same things - even with a full team of warehouse folks and a warehouse supervisor that reported to me, I was still having to be hands-on with unloads and some day-to-day things. I had manager in my title, but I didn't do much managing.

I was given the opportunity to grow the team, so I did just that. I picked a bright warehouse guy that wanted to do more, and I developed him for supply chain and logistics. It took a while to get going, but with a lot of training and help he grew into his own and was fully self-sufficient other than one-on-ones and occasional direction from me.

Next up was the warehouse supervisor. I have maybe 15 years of experience in warehousing and fulfillment, so I taught her everything I know. How to optimize work flows, how to coach and develop her own team, how to do performance reviews and have her own one-on-ones with the team.

I kept doing things that good bosses do and removed roadblocks for them, provided support and guidance, gave input on matters when they needed help, and helped them get projects across the finish line. I used the extra time I had to do some higher scope projects, developed a lot of reporting, analysis, and data infrastructure that we were lacking. I found ways to automate a lot of my own tasks and helped other departments achieve the same. I became something of a process expert and I really got a lot of things running smoothly to free up the sales and marketing teams to do more.

Here's where things started to turn-

The company hired an operations director. I got him trained up and he more-or-less took over my role as operations manager and I was no longer needed. I got moved into marketing, managing one of our sales channels that needed help. We've had some serious inventory issues over the last year (tariffs) and the channel has been falling behind. We don't have a runway of inventory inbound so I don't have much to work with.

I got thrown into that role with no experience, no training, and no support "just figure it out, you're smart." 2 weeks later I get pipped (performance improvement plan) for lack of results and I have 2 weeks to somehow turn it around. I'm clearly being worked out despite years of great results and the entire team going to bat for me. This is likely the end and I'm currently looking for a new job.

TL;DR - I developed and promoted most of my team, I automated a lot of my tasks, and I trained someone who would eventually take my position. I got put into a new role with no support and am likely to get fired in the next couple of weeks.

Wish me luck on the job hunt 🥲

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