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At my current company, I've had two managers in the 10 months I've been there. Neither of them has directly been a big part of my employee experience, which has

At my current company, I've had two managers in the 10 months I've been there. Neither of them has directly been a big part of my employee experience, which has been great and is certainly to their (and the company leadership's) credit. As a developer in a scrum team in a scaled agile organization, my team gets technical guidance from a software architect, organizational guidance from a scrum master, and the purpose of our work is to support the product for which we get guidance from a product owner. So there isn't as much left over for our boss, who checks in on us regularly to listen to our concerns. It's certainly less stressful that the people who tell us what to do have no direct power over us, and that they trust us to figure out how to get things done. Of course the real test comes from how they handle problems when things go wrong, but it's been a good 10 months so far.

zrth 8y ago
I can somewhat understand that you like that the people who tell you what to do don't have power over you. But doesn't that imply that people that you don't work with much have power over you? Is that better?
- stephenboyd 8y ago
  Good point. I've noticed that risk, but it hasn't been a problem so far. Maybe it's not much different from the risk most developers have from being less familiar to their boss's boss and higher ups.
- gregmac 8y ago
  As a society we've conditioned people that when your manager or someone in authority "asks" you to do something, it's not really a question. I think when that particular power dynamic doesn't exist, people are more willing to push back, question priorities or outright say no.
alexwebb2 8y ago
Having the wisdom to let well enough alone - to be available if needed, offer guidance when prudent, and otherwise trust in your professional judgment as a team and focus on other behind-the-scenes stuff - _is_ your boss being a big part of your employee experience. That's what it looks like.

zrth 8y ago

I can somewhat understand that you like that the people who tell you what to do don't have power over you. But doesn't that imply that people that you don't work with much have power over you? Is that better?

stephenboyd 8y ago
Good point. I've noticed that risk, but it hasn't been a problem so far. Maybe it's not much different from the risk most developers have from being less familiar to their boss's boss and higher ups.
gregmac 8y ago
As a society we've conditioned people that when your manager or someone in authority "asks" you to do something, it's not really a question. I think when that particular power dynamic doesn't exist, people are more willing to push back, question priorities or outright say no.

alexwebb2 8y ago

Having the wisdom to let well enough alone - to be available if needed, offer guidance when prudent, and otherwise trust in your professional judgment as a team and focus on other behind-the-scenes stuff - _is_ your boss being a big part of your employee experience. That's what it looks like.