4 ms·

A bit of a segue, but this management by metrics goes beyond just revenue. KPI, KRI, KCI, etc. Truly a heap of metrics that eat out the time of middle manageme

A bit of a segue, but this management by metrics goes beyond just revenue. KPI, KRI, KCI, etc. Truly a heap of metrics that eat out the time of middle management, and consequently of the people down the hierarchical pyramid. It over-allocates resources towards resource management itself rather than towards products themselves. There is a drive to justify your existence, and that of your fellow workers, when your company becomes large enough that it has bureaucratized and, moreover, acquired some form of legacy. David Graeber in Bullshit Jobs mentions that two categories of BS were the box-tickers and the taskmasters. They are evidence of this management by metrics. It's all about budget: gotta spend that hard-earned budget to find ways to save budget on your budget-consuming core products... to make sure your budget allocation is the same next month or year.

goatinaboat 6y ago
Truly a heap of metrics that eat out the time of middle management, and consequently of the people down the hierarchical pyramid. It over-allocates resources towards resource management itself rather than towards products themselves You mean, it provides lots of avenues for the management class to provide cushy jobs for each other, at the expense of the real workers. Most organisations could ditch most of their middle management without skipping a beat.
clairity 6y ago
so you want management without metrics? the problem isn't the metrics (a fundamental attribution error to think so), it's that middle managers are incentivized to appease upper managers (and ultimately owners), and metrics are the most visible available tool. the system is set up this way intentionally by owners and their executive surrogates to insulate them from the callous, negative conqeuences of management that explicitly aims to dehumanize work (this kind of indirection abstraction in human systems is an extremely common source of distorted incentives and unintended consequences; like poor customer service at most companies, google being a preeminent example). metrics that are reported to individual contributors (e.g., toyota production system, agile done appropriately), on the other hand, are fantastic, for managers and workers, as long as it's well-understood that the metrics are not the product, they're simple signposts (indirect/incomplete measures of holistic qualitative desires like efficiency and quality). by the way, (bad) bureaucracies are created by the drive to regiment and order messy human processes that leads to over-reliance on metrics, not people trying to justify their existence. bullshit jobs is a bullshit book written to appeal to our fears and frustrations, not to elucidate us with actionable information.
- hikingsimulator 6y ago
  Absence of metrics would be shortsighted. Metrics with a purpose other than surveillance and budget would be good. However, most metrics I have encountered and helped impleme t in the past, especially in the finance industry, fall in that category. Boxticking and task-management because there is a mentality of cutting corners. Bullshit Jobs is an essay, not a research paper. It points at a globally felt phenomenon in the workplace. People's impressions, no matter how subjective, still imply something is afoot. Also, a book pointing at an issue is not obligated in providing a solution. Criticizing a system has its own merit. It outlines an issue maybe someone else will then be able to elucidate.

goatinaboat 6y ago

Truly a heap of metrics that eat out the time of middle management, and consequently of the people down the hierarchical pyramid. It over-allocates resources towards resource management itself rather than towards products themselves You mean, it provides lots of avenues for the management class to provide cushy jobs for each other, at the expense of the real workers. Most organisations could ditch most of their middle management without skipping a beat.

clairity 6y ago

so you want management without metrics? the problem isn't the metrics (a fundamental attribution error to think so), it's that middle managers are incentivized to appease upper managers (and ultimately owners), and metrics are the most visible available tool. the system is set up this way intentionally by owners and their executive surrogates to insulate them from the callous, negative conqeuences of management that explicitly aims to dehumanize work (this kind of indirection abstraction in human systems is an extremely common source of distorted incentives and unintended consequences; like poor customer service at most companies, google being a preeminent example). metrics that are reported to individual contributors (e.g., toyota production system, agile done appropriately), on the other hand, are fantastic, for managers and workers, as long as it's well-understood that the metrics are not the product, they're simple signposts (indirect/incomplete measures of holistic qualitative desires like efficiency and quality). by the way, (bad) bureaucracies are created by the drive to regiment and order messy human processes that leads to over-reliance on metrics, not people trying to justify their existence. bullshit jobs is a bullshit book written to appeal to our fears and frustrations, not to elucidate us with actionable information.

hikingsimulator 6y ago
Absence of metrics would be shortsighted. Metrics with a purpose other than surveillance and budget would be good. However, most metrics I have encountered and helped impleme t in the past, especially in the finance industry, fall in that category. Boxticking and task-management because there is a mentality of cutting corners. Bullshit Jobs is an essay, not a research paper. It points at a globally felt phenomenon in the workplace. People's impressions, no matter how subjective, still imply something is afoot. Also, a book pointing at an issue is not obligated in providing a solution. Criticizing a system has its own merit. It outlines an issue maybe someone else will then be able to elucidate.