5 ms·

I don't care what my manager does all day, but I fully expect them to own the situation when things go downhill, to take responsibility and to make sure that th

by ls15 5y ago

I don't care what my manager does all day, but I fully expect them to own the situation when things go downhill, to take responsibility and to make sure that the team is shielded from pressures from outside.

akerl_ 5y ago
I feel like this is often the most obvious sign of a good manager. There’s a lot of variance in other areas, but if you’re on the hunt for a good manager to report to, look for the one that passes credit to their people and holds blame for themselves.
88913527 5y ago
If your manager shields you too well, you may not know when potentially cataclysmic organizational changes are coming. Especially if this is paired with your manager falling out of favor with their manager.
- borski 5y ago
  It is your manager’s job to know when to shield you and when to bring you up to speed. A good manager never lets you get caught off-guard, because that is how you quickly lose great engineers.
  - WJW 5y ago
    I agree that having a good manager makes all the difference, but have never yet figured out a way to get assigned only to good managers.
    - borski 5y ago
      Yeah, the only sure way is to "move jobs by manager." This is why employees will often follow good managers from one company to another.
- Traster 5y ago
  A good manager manages up and manages down. What you're describing is someone who manages down but not up.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > A good manager manages up and manages down. What you're describing is someone who manages down but not up. A good employee manages up to the extent the organization they are involved in permits, a manager is just an employee whose duties inide managing down. But the truth of heirarchical organizations is that while managing down is universally expected (and is usually just called “managing”), managing “up” is...not (and, often, barely even tolerated), even among organizations where citing it as a way of victim-blaming is common.

by ls15 5y ago

akerl_ 5y ago

I feel like this is often the most obvious sign of a good manager. There’s a lot of variance in other areas, but if you’re on the hunt for a good manager to report to, look for the one that passes credit to their people and holds blame for themselves.

88913527 5y ago

If your manager shields you too well, you may not know when potentially cataclysmic organizational changes are coming. Especially if this is paired with your manager falling out of favor with their manager.

borski 5y ago
It is your manager’s job to know when to shield you and when to bring you up to speed. A good manager never lets you get caught off-guard, because that is how you quickly lose great engineers.
- WJW 5y ago
  I agree that having a good manager makes all the difference, but have never yet figured out a way to get assigned only to good managers.
  - borski 5y ago
    Yeah, the only sure way is to "move jobs by manager." This is why employees will often follow good managers from one company to another.
Traster 5y ago
A good manager manages up and manages down. What you're describing is someone who manages down but not up.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > A good manager manages up and manages down. What you're describing is someone who manages down but not up. A good employee manages up to the extent the organization they are involved in permits, a manager is just an employee whose duties inide managing down. But the truth of heirarchical organizations is that while managing down is universally expected (and is usually just called “managing”), managing “up” is...not (and, often, barely even tolerated), even among organizations where citing it as a way of victim-blaming is common.