4 ms·

I think you're glossing over a very important part of this: the power imbalance. It's easy for bosses (or landlords) to think of their relationships with subord

by sidlls 10y ago

I think you're glossing over a very important part of this: the power imbalance. It's easy for bosses (or landlords) to think of their relationships with subordinates/tenants as one of "equals" as long as it benefits them. As soon as they perceive it doesn't, however, that imbalance becomes very much front-and-center. Any notion of equality in the relationship is either an illusion or temporary and it's best for all parties if they behave as though they recognize the imbalance and understand what it means.

fiter 10y ago
I think the balance is not as universal as you make it out to be. As long as the employee/tenant is capable of leaving (and same with the employer/landlord), then the relationship will be equal as it is only continued to mutual benefit.
scarface74 10y ago
I consider my manager as an "equal". I respect his "role power", but working for a small IT department we very much have a partnership. His role is to get strategy and priorities from on high, my role is tactical - implement the best architecture and training in the way I see fit within the very broad guidelines that he sets. He has the power to guide my job but I also have the power to leave and find another job.
- sidlls 10y ago
  That works nice, as long as it lasts. Do you think your manager views your relationship as a partnership? What happens when his boss jumps on him for failing to deliver something, delivering something poorly, etc.? Are you sure he's not going to serve you up as a scapegoat?
  - scarface74 10y ago
    If i am the lead dev/architect and he gave me the latitude to implement it the way I thought was best, why would I be the "scapegoat" and not the person that should shoulder the blame for a poorly implemented project? On the other hand I don't over promise. I've told everyone that they can either impose a deadline or features but not both. In other words, they can tell me these are the features they need and I can come back with a deadline after talking to the rest of the team, or they can tell me the deadline and we can discuss what features you can have by the deadline. I'm not naive enough to think that everyone has a job where they can do that. But when I interviewed I was coming in to basically create a modern dev shop from scratch - source control, CI, automated testing, etc. with a group of developers who learned on the job without any formal training. I only accepted the job with the promise I would be given the time to set things up correctly.

by sidlls 10y ago

fiter 10y ago

I think the balance is not as universal as you make it out to be. As long as the employee/tenant is capable of leaving (and same with the employer/landlord), then the relationship will be equal as it is only continued to mutual benefit.

scarface74 10y ago

I consider my manager as an "equal". I respect his "role power", but working for a small IT department we very much have a partnership. His role is to get strategy and priorities from on high, my role is tactical - implement the best architecture and training in the way I see fit within the very broad guidelines that he sets. He has the power to guide my job but I also have the power to leave and find another job.

sidlls 10y ago
That works nice, as long as it lasts. Do you think your manager views your relationship as a partnership? What happens when his boss jumps on him for failing to deliver something, delivering something poorly, etc.? Are you sure he's not going to serve you up as a scapegoat?
- scarface74 10y ago
  If i am the lead dev/architect and he gave me the latitude to implement it the way I thought was best, why would I be the "scapegoat" and not the person that should shoulder the blame for a poorly implemented project? On the other hand I don't over promise. I've told everyone that they can either impose a deadline or features but not both. In other words, they can tell me these are the features they need and I can come back with a deadline after talking to the rest of the team, or they can tell me the deadline and we can discuss what features you can have by the deadline. I'm not naive enough to think that everyone has a job where they can do that. But when I interviewed I was coming in to basically create a modern dev shop from scratch - source control, CI, automated testing, etc. with a group of developers who learned on the job without any formal training. I only accepted the job with the promise I would be given the time to set things up correctly.