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I find the whole concept strange. Why are technically skilled folks boxed into being “individual” contributors? There are many ways (hats) in which technical sk

I find the whole concept strange. Why are technically skilled folks boxed into being “individual” contributors? There are many ways (hats) in which technical skill can be leveraged to help other people or teams: the person who can troubleshoot surprises with relentless digging (beaver), the person who provides technical feedback to colleague (reviewer), the person who has a broad understanding and can quickly get someone up to speed in a new area or suggest exactly what to look for (consultant), the person who understands the system well enough to onboard a new member quickly (teacher), finding new directions for the org (researcher), etc. All of those are multipliers on the performance of people and teams, and don't befit the “individual” moniker. Working on complex problems requires collaborative effort, which can be immensely gratifying not just intellectually but also emotionally (humans are social beings). It is strange to see a warped restriction of the concept of collaboration down to each “individual contributor” doing what they’re assigned, and ignoring the other “hats”. That formulation never allows/imagines a chance for the whole to be better than the sum of its parts.

dpeck 7y ago
because thats the meaning that we've assigned to the phrase "individual contributor", its as simple as that. If you don't have people reporting to you for you to direct in accomplishing the goals of the organization you're an individual contributor, if you do have them you're a manager.
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hugey010 7y ago
I'd argue the best individual contributors don't have the skills to be the best mentors or managers. These skills can be learned only by sacrificing IC value, maybe just temporarily. It seems this industry is getting better at realizing IC skills may be prerequisite for any successful mentoring or managing. The breadth of knowledge is only getting bigger, so if you aren't an expert in some area, what have you been doing, and if you are, why aren't you sharing it.
gfodor 7y ago
I've seen the IC/manager dichotomy diffuse into my mental model as I've moved through the tech industry. I agree that it seems to be a model that undermines healthy organizations. The attraction to it, in my view, is that it confers the sense that there will be no 'blocking' on decision making: the manager calls the shots. But in a healthy organization, that's not how it works: not only should managers not be calling the shots, but their job should be pushing decisions onto the people they manage. Additionally, the decisions made should be a mixture of consensus and deference to experts within the group on that particular domain. If you fail to get consensus, or you force people to defer to people who are known to be unable to make good judgement calls on a particular area, you're doomed. So, once it all plays out, in a healthy organization, the IC/manager dichotomy seems somewhat counterproductive. I can't say I have a better alternative for larger organizations, but for small teams and startups, I highly advise disbanding it and staying small for as long as possible to avoid it from being forced upon them due to the surrounding culture. I agree with the sentiment that a dynamic, role based method for delegating responsibility seems incredibly attractive. If you haven't seen it before, Turtleocracy is really interesting (not just directly, but at a meta level as a way to design social systems for these problems) https://www.notion.so/Turtleocracy-47a6df7692bf4e95a39504a73a50a295 https://www.notion.so/Turtleocracy-47a6df7692bf4e95a39504a73...

dpeck 7y ago

because thats the meaning that we've assigned to the phrase "individual contributor", its as simple as that. If you don't have people reporting to you for you to direct in accomplishing the goals of the organization you're an individual contributor, if you do have them you're a manager.

deleted 7y ago
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hugey010 7y ago

I'd argue the best individual contributors don't have the skills to be the best mentors or managers. These skills can be learned only by sacrificing IC value, maybe just temporarily. It seems this industry is getting better at realizing IC skills may be prerequisite for any successful mentoring or managing. The breadth of knowledge is only getting bigger, so if you aren't an expert in some area, what have you been doing, and if you are, why aren't you sharing it.

gfodor 7y ago

I've seen the IC/manager dichotomy diffuse into my mental model as I've moved through the tech industry. I agree that it seems to be a model that undermines healthy organizations. The attraction to it, in my view, is that it confers the sense that there will be no 'blocking' on decision making: the manager calls the shots. But in a healthy organization, that's not how it works: not only should managers not be calling the shots, but their job should be pushing decisions onto the people they manage. Additionally, the decisions made should be a mixture of consensus and deference to experts within the group on that particular domain. If you fail to get consensus, or you force people to defer to people who are known to be unable to make good judgement calls on a particular area, you're doomed. So, once it all plays out, in a healthy organization, the IC/manager dichotomy seems somewhat counterproductive. I can't say I have a better alternative for larger organizations, but for small teams and startups, I highly advise disbanding it and staying small for as long as possible to avoid it from being forced upon them due to the surrounding culture. I agree with the sentiment that a dynamic, role based method for delegating responsibility seems incredibly attractive. If you haven't seen it before, Turtleocracy is really interesting (not just directly, but at a meta level as a way to design social systems for these problems) https://www.notion.so/Turtleocracy-47a6df7692bf4e95a39504a73a50a295 https://www.notion.so/Turtleocracy-47a6df7692bf4e95a39504a73...