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MBAs can be particularly useful at extracting value from an existing product / solution, fielding complicated legal / accounting issues, ensuring communication

MBAs can be particularly useful at extracting value from an existing product / solution, fielding complicated legal / accounting issues, ensuring communication within large companies has high (or at least respectable) signal-to-noise, executing M&A / partnerships, working with outside partners or services... There are well-defined scenarios where an MBA has some value. Agree with you that managing developers is typically not one of these scenarios, but I don't believe b-schools typically frame MBA programs as a means to teach management of people but rather management of well-known business problems. A good proportion of managers get promoted due to necessity rather than merit (as mentioned a the beginning of the OP). This issue is more conspicuous now that employees of fast-growing companies are more open about this issue and have time to blog about it (as growth has become somewhat more efficient). Would love to see the space of engineering management get "disrupted" by high-quality, community-reviewed, and freely available publications. Might not 'kill MBAs' but will help people decide if they even need an MBA.

msravi 11y ago
> MBAs can be particularly useful at extracting value from an existing product / solution, fielding complicated legal / accounting issues, ensuring communication within large companies has high (or at least respectable) signal-to-noise, executing M&A / partnerships, working with outside partners or services... As can engineers. Aside from the presumption that MBAs want to and are hired to do this kind of stuff, and will put in 100% of their time doing it, there's no exceptional value that the MBA education in itself brings, IMHO. Most of this is stuff that a reasonably smart person would be expected to pick up on the job. The MBA does not learn enough finance/accountancy to do a CFO/accountant's job, nor does he learn enough to do a lawyer's job...

msravi 11y ago

> MBAs can be particularly useful at extracting value from an existing product / solution, fielding complicated legal / accounting issues, ensuring communication within large companies has high (or at least respectable) signal-to-noise, executing M&A / partnerships, working with outside partners or services... As can engineers. Aside from the presumption that MBAs want to and are hired to do this kind of stuff, and will put in 100% of their time doing it, there's no exceptional value that the MBA education in itself brings, IMHO. Most of this is stuff that a reasonably smart person would be expected to pick up on the job. The MBA does not learn enough finance/accountancy to do a CFO/accountant's job, nor does he learn enough to do a lawyer's job...