This hit so close to home for me. At my last two jobs, I've simply burnt out from hitting this sort of wall over and over.
Everything I suggested was just flatly
denied as impossible
[...]
I feel strange because I've seen this same thing
for my whole career and I still try fight for
what's right when others appear to moan and carry on.
For anybody (100% rightfully!) wondering if it's my fault: (1) I've been consistently praised in reviews as a good communicator (2) I always operate by the maxim "don't just complain -- instead, offer solutions" and I see that you do too. (edit: That's not to say that I couldn't be communicating things better. Certainly, I don't believe I've reached some level of perfection there)
I think the reality is that this kind of change can't originate from the in-the-trenches folks at the bottom of totem pole. Management will never let individuals waver from their short term goals.
The only times I've seen developer pain-points successfully addressed in a sustainable way, it's because there was a dedicated team allocated to that sort of thing: a "developer experience" team, or some equivalent.
(Although, the issues you ran into are kind of an org issue in addition to a developer experience issue)
I think the reality is that this kind of change can't originate from the in-the-trenches folks at the bottom of totem pole. Management will never let individuals waver from their short term goals.
The only times I've seen developer pain-points successfully addressed in a sustainable way, it's because there was a dedicated team allocated to that sort of thing: a "developer experience" team, or some equivalent.
(Although, the issues you ran into are kind of an org issue in addition to a developer experience issue)