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"Hacking at the ideas of others (whether rightly or wrongly) without presenting any superior alternatives seems shallow to me." This sounds like the idea some
by heymijo 7y ago
"Hacking at the ideas of others (whether rightly or wrongly) without presenting any superior alternatives seems shallow to me."
This sounds like the idea some manager have of "don't bring me a problem unless you have a solution", which is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad way of managing.
- valiant55 7y agoI think that style of management is just fine if it's stated as "Don't bring me a problem unless you have a proposed solution." By proposing a solution it starts a conversation about how to resolve the stated problem. Often times someone will just complain (rightly or wrongly) about an issue and then everyone just kind of stares at the floor for 5 seconds and then moves on.
- vonmoltke 7y agoThe problem is information asymmetry. The problem is often due to information the decision makers don't have, while the proper solution requires information the complaintants don't have. This, it's only possible to propose a solution together.
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 7y agoCan't part of the solution be the research required to come up with an alternative?
- uncletaco 7y agoI think very differently about this. I’ve rarely encountered a problem where there wasn’t enough time to consider alternative solutions before taking it to my manager. Also depending on how long a manager has been managing, there’s a non trivial chance the worker have more intimate knowledge of the implementation space than the manager, especially if they’re a developer or worker who has ownership over the task. Granted it is a personal thing for me. I was told this in ROTC over a decade ago and I’ve never had a manager actually demand this of me. I’ve always imposed it on myself.