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I wonder if this is all of it though. When we're talking about incompetence, what I think of is people who are incapable of doing something. For people who can'

I wonder if this is all of it though. When we're talking about incompetence, what I think of is people who are incapable of doing something. For people who can't do things, they need to ask others to help them. Initially, when they are not leaders, they become good at asking for help. This becomes a form of training someone to be good at delegation. Something I see a lot in IC's is that they are very good at doing, but they don't like or know how to delegate. I think this comes from a sense of pride in their own work, and a desire to do it themselves. There are also cases where they aren't good teachers, so prefer to do it rather than take the time to train someone else. I know for me it's always been hard to delegate to others; for various reasons I always want to do it myself. So I guess the question I ask is, "does incompetence help teach delegation techniques?" That being said, the best managers I've worked with have been great engineers before, and don't BS their way through work, but have learned how to help their employees by passing on good advice based on experience and understanding the strengths of individuals on their team for accomplishing a particular task. I find that the incompetent managers only really survive in middle-management, where it is easier for them to cover up their lack of knowledge.

crandont 10y ago
"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do." - Andrew Carnegie I feel you found a good explanation for the incompetence/confidence paradox. You really can get far if you just talk about things you think you can do with confidence and conviction. I actually think everyone who's successful has experienced this. Sometimes you just have to bullshit, but do it confidently. However, the reason many people fail in regulating this disparity is that they don't know they're incompetent (Dunning-Kruger effect). They can't actually do; only speak. Truly successful people have enough self-efficacy to know when they're not good at something. They have just the right amount of self-doubt. But that's not enough. They must also have the drive and humility to correct their shortcomings. This goes along with your thinking, because the obvious response (in a workplace) by someone who doesn't know how to do something is to find someone else who can do it. That being said, delegating isn't the key. Recognition of your own incompetence is. Delegating, and edifying yourself, is the proper response though. Early on in my career, I wanted to do everything myself. And I did. I would do stellar work on a few projects, then eventually I'd take on too much and things would fall on the floor. Some superiors saw this as incompetence. Now I confidently accept too much work, but I'm not afraid to say "I need help with this." At my current company I've gone from doing solitary projects to having 3 other developers work on my projects under my direction. I'm not a manager, or even a lead. Hell, I don't know half the things I'll need on a particular project I accept, but I know the other developers have that knowledge.

crandont 10y ago

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do." - Andrew Carnegie I feel you found a good explanation for the incompetence/confidence paradox. You really can get far if you just talk about things you think you can do with confidence and conviction. I actually think everyone who's successful has experienced this. Sometimes you just have to bullshit, but do it confidently. However, the reason many people fail in regulating this disparity is that they don't know they're incompetent (Dunning-Kruger effect). They can't actually do; only speak. Truly successful people have enough self-efficacy to know when they're not good at something. They have just the right amount of self-doubt. But that's not enough. They must also have the drive and humility to correct their shortcomings. This goes along with your thinking, because the obvious response (in a workplace) by someone who doesn't know how to do something is to find someone else who can do it. That being said, delegating isn't the key. Recognition of your own incompetence is. Delegating, and edifying yourself, is the proper response though. Early on in my career, I wanted to do everything myself. And I did. I would do stellar work on a few projects, then eventually I'd take on too much and things would fall on the floor. Some superiors saw this as incompetence. Now I confidently accept too much work, but I'm not afraid to say "I need help with this." At my current company I've gone from doing solitary projects to having 3 other developers work on my projects under my direction. I'm not a manager, or even a lead. Hell, I don't know half the things I'll need on a particular project I accept, but I know the other developers have that knowledge.