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Very important point on good tech managers. Strong engineering orgs hire managers who could do and have done most of what their team does. Most TPMs at G, for
by awinter-py 10y ago
Very important point on good tech managers.
Strong engineering orgs hire managers who could do and have done most of what their team does. Most TPMs at G, for example, have CS degrees.
Non-technical managers have the organizational leverage to undo any amount of design & planning that skilled people underneath them set up. It's the brain equivalent of having ADHD -- your executive control shuts down and that sabotages long-term goals.
If you've never lived through this, watch the beginning season 3 of silicon valley where their new CEO wants them to 'just build a box' and gets angry when the conversation gets any more specific than that. (If you have lived through this, don't watch it -- it's too real).
- gmarx 10y agoAnother point WRT Silicon Valley episode that has lessons for the real world. Developer will do a much better job on a project they picked rather than one that was assigned to them. This might be a lot of the advantage tiny, new startups have over the giants.
- samnwa 10y agoThere's an assumption here that the amount of design and planning is the correct amount of design and planning. Your statement suggests you want your cake and to eat it too. You want freedom from management, but then want exact specification when advised to "build a box." There is likely a happy medium and I would suggest that your manager probably understands that dynamic more completely than you. Edit: Agree that technical managers are best suited to evaluate the level of design and planning.