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To play devil's advocate: The primary function of a manager is to say "No". As one goes higher and higher up the hierarchy, one has to say "No" to pushier and p
by pacala 8y ago
To play devil's advocate: The primary function of a manager is to say "No". As one goes higher and higher up the hierarchy, one has to say "No" to pushier and pushier subordinates, and the cost of every misplaced "Yes" is higher and higher. While leaders just under the CEO may understand the firm situation just fine, they may also be unable to say "No" to enough bad ideas for a myriad reasons, including lack of political clout with other leaders, with investors or with peer CEOs.
- lordnacho 8y ago> The primary function of a manager is to say "No". I'm a manager, and I can't really see this being the key job description. But if it was, why would that have gotten harder in the last few decades?
- UncleMeat 8y agoLots of people come to my team asking for work on X. If I said yes to everything my team would collapse from being spread too thinly. Being able to say that X is lower priority than what I am currently working on and leave the door open for re-evaluating priorities if needed is a key part of my job. My team also frequently comes to me with ideas for interesting work that also isn't contributing to our vision. If we just did everything that came to mind we'd also fall apart.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Gibbon1 8y agoMy experience after 35 years is nothing scares me more than when a team of out of control developers are adding more and more features to the spec. Most baffling is it's obvious they think they are accomplishing something and you're a meanie for trying to rein them in. It always ends the same way. A lot of things can go wrong in a project. But that's that one 100% guaranteed to sink it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- com2kid 8y agoOn the flip side, a team of developers who aren't even interested in adding anything of their own volition is also a bad sign. There has to be a balance.
- Aeolun 8y agoCan’t say no to everything, or soon you won’t have anything to say no to any more.
- josephcooney 8y agoYou can't say "no" to everything, otherwise you'd be taking security's job.
- Gibbon1 8y agoIn a good profession relationship 95% of the time proposals/issues are discussed until some agreement is reached or a decision to punt is made. The basis of that is a mature understanding that resources are limited.
- hitekker 8y agoAgreed. Being a decision maker means saying "yes" and "no", with the awareness that saying "yes" to some things, means saying "no" to others. In my experience, those who say "the primacy function of manager is to say no" have either failed at management, or are working in organizations so conservative that they are immobile.
- Gibbon1 8y agoI think the primary function of a manager is to close the loop. Taking information from in and outside the group and turning that into a set of clear manageable requirements.
- MrTonyD 8y agoI think it varies with the group being managed. I've managed groups where many other groups hoped to benefit from our time, resources, and work products. In such groups a manager really does need to say "no" dozens of times for every "yes".
- omouse 8y agoThe job description is prioritization which is essentially saying "yes" or "no" to certain tasks. Especially in tech companies, the front line reports can always find something to do. Software developers want to automate everything or build cool things or use the latest tech. Managers are there to guide that, and that means saying "focus on A, B and C" because there's a gigantic list of tasks but saying no to 99% of that list makes the company perform better.
- JamesBarney 8y agoNext study "is ability to say no significantly different between COOs/CFOs and CEOs?" My money is on no.
- walshemj 8y agoThe disastrous pivot that the Provident Financial did in the UK is one example.
- maxxxxx 8y agoSaying “no” is easy. But it’s hard to say “yes” if it involves some risk.
- grogenaut 8y agoSee the movie industry
- preordained 8y agoThat's...a very apt example.
- watwut 8y agoThat is not primary function of manager. Misplaced no can be as disastrous as misplaced yes. Or just as irrelevant. Also, the higher you go the more vague those people get, frequently saying neither nor yes.
- manicdee 8y agoNot to say “no” but to understand the company’s direction and only say “yes” to things that align. Important in this mix is communicating direction to the team and explaining the yes & no decisions.