This, so much this.

When I think about what limited my performance in the last year it was mostly:

• Having to get 5 signatures before I am allowed the budget to install some FOSS software on my work PC that the corporation has already approved for use on work PCs
• Spending 8 months working on a huge feature that was scrapped after 8 months of development
• Being told that no, we cannot work on another large feature request (of which there are many in the pipeline) because our team said we can only fit that scrapped feature into this year and we are not allowed to replan based on the fact that the feature we were supposed to work on got scrapped by business

And then they tell us to return to office and use AI for increasing efficiency.

It’s all an elaborate play performed by upper management to feign being in control and being busy with something. Nobody is actually interested in producing a product, they all just want to further their own position.