How to politiy decline tasks from other teams who didn't recognized my work in past

Question

I was hired as a developer in a Team-A. I needed inputs from another team so I didn't have much work to do for long time. But during this time I voluntarily started contributing in another Team-B. Eventually over a period of a time, I was the one who developed almost all parts of the solutions. But this Team-B hired a new employee and made him owner of the solution I developed.

I was disappointed but I stopped working for them at all. They tried to pull me many times but I refused it directly. Also my manager at that time was not supportive.

Meanwhile my manger also changed. I got the job in another company but the new manager asked me to stay and gave me good topic to work. We also had an verbal agreement that I will not work for Team-B at all. Everything become good but after a while, my new manager started pushing me to work for the Team-B again. I don't want to work for them as they never appreciated for my contributions. What should I do now. Thanks

Answer 1

First of all, just because it's work for the other team, doesn't make instructions from your manager any less valid. Which you may know, but I want to get out there.

You say you were never appreciated or compensated. Well, appreciation is nice, but you shouldn't get extra compensation, unless you did this outside of your regular working hours.

If your manager is asking you to do work for the other team, that is the person that you need to have a conversation with. Don't get into arguments with members of the other team, or send emails declining to work. You'll make the situation worse.

You need to have a conversation with your manager.

As soon as you can, you need to outline to your manager what you believed was agreed upon and how your expectations are that that would continue. You also need to go into that conversation with a firm idea about what you will accept. It would be good for you to show a little leeway.

It's worth considering what would make you happy to do this work. What could be changed. Your manager will likely keep pushing, because it's obviously important work for the organisation. Your manager in a way, is in a similar situation to you. He may not like the fact he is losing some manpower. So figure out what changes would work for you.

If there is nothing, and your boss is insistent, then you need to either accept it, or start looking for work elsewhere.

Answer 2

I want to address a facet of your question:

But during this time I voluntarily started contributing in another Team-B. Eventually over a period of a year, I was the one who developed almost all parts of the solutions. But this Team-B hired a new employee and made him owner of the solution I developed.

You should not get upset at this. This is what Team B should be doing and should actually be commended for it. Keep in mind, that solution is their group's responsibility and you don't work for that group!

It's nice that you helped contribute, but at the end of the day, you're not part of Team B. Imagine something goes wrong with the solution you developed, and things aren't processing correctly... but when they go up to you, you're in the middle of doing some very important Team-A stuff. And your manager tells them, "Hey, Has is working on something for me - they can't help you out right now". Team B is up a creek. Which is why they're actually hiring a resource to be responsible for that solution.

To be honest, there are a lot of developers that would kill to be in your shoes right now. You're getting to do the greenfield development, and then hand over the maintenance to someone else while you work on more new development.

Answer 3

You asked,

What should I do now

To be perfectly blunt, I think you answered your own question a few sentences before that:

my new manager started pushing me to work for the architect team again

When at work, you should do what your manager tells you to do. Unless they're directing you to do something illegal or otherwise inappropriate, which doesn't seem like the case here.

Unless your manager explicitly gives you leeway to decide what to work on yourself (which is rare), you need to do the work you're assigned. Of course, if that means you'll be sad, disappointed, under-appreciated, or otherwise left feeling unfulfilled with your job, you can always have a conversation with your manager and try to solve those problems. But that should be separate from deciding how to spend your time.

And if you can't resolve the source of your disappointment, you basically need to decide to either suck it up and do the job (which can be a valuable lesson in and of itself - all of us occasionally have to do work we don't like) - or you need to find another job. And if that's the route you take, you should make sure you put effort into identifying the root of your disappointment, so you can ask questions or research it at new employers, and avoid getting into the same problem again. For instance, if you decide you're happier working in a certain type of team you should look for a job with that structure.