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What does engineering leadership mean to you? What factors make it easier or harder to practice engineering leadership? For me, I like having a budget and a st

by gkop 4y ago

What does engineering leadership mean to you? What factors make it easier or harder to practice engineering leadership? For me, I like having a budget and a staff - it’s way easier to influence my organization with a budget and a staff, than without. I’m saying this only to encourage engineering leaders not to be afraid of formal management roles. You can make them your own. You might find what I found.

travisgriggs 4y ago
I have worked in the classical management structure a good chunk of my career. And a couple of times (including mostly right now), I have worked in something that feels more like a basketball team with zero or little management. Competent engineers play the court together and get the job done. I prefer (greatly) this second model.
lifeisstillgood 4y ago
I think the difference here is in "corporate structure". I mean Bezos and Musk are both extraordinary people - but say Bezos employees about 1 million people and is worth about 150bn - why is the world structured so that each employee "gives" Bezos 150 grand? There are other ways to structure our corporations, our tax and investment incentives. The Early Victoria British style of corporate structure worked so it got copied naturally. And I am not saying there are easy fixes. But co-operative movements were born at similar times. One day we will see VCs funding co-op unicorns and the world will look differently
- mgfist 4y ago
  Simplicity, speed, responsibility, authority. A lot of reasons why having a clear hierarchy makes sense. How do you assign blame in a co-op that makes bad decisions?
  - travisgriggs 4y ago
    I can’t tell if you’re doing /s or not. If a group of people performs/delivers poorly, how effective is it to assign blame to one select member? It may be efficient, but I’m not sure it’s effective.
- travisgriggs 4y ago
  Yes. Co-op was/is the word that I’m looking for. I love co-ops when they work.

by gkop 4y ago

travisgriggs 4y ago

I have worked in the classical management structure a good chunk of my career. And a couple of times (including mostly right now), I have worked in something that feels more like a basketball team with zero or little management. Competent engineers play the court together and get the job done. I prefer (greatly) this second model.

lifeisstillgood 4y ago

I think the difference here is in "corporate structure". I mean Bezos and Musk are both extraordinary people - but say Bezos employees about 1 million people and is worth about 150bn - why is the world structured so that each employee "gives" Bezos 150 grand? There are other ways to structure our corporations, our tax and investment incentives. The Early Victoria British style of corporate structure worked so it got copied naturally. And I am not saying there are easy fixes. But co-operative movements were born at similar times. One day we will see VCs funding co-op unicorns and the world will look differently

mgfist 4y ago
Simplicity, speed, responsibility, authority. A lot of reasons why having a clear hierarchy makes sense. How do you assign blame in a co-op that makes bad decisions?
- travisgriggs 4y ago
  I can’t tell if you’re doing /s or not. If a group of people performs/delivers poorly, how effective is it to assign blame to one select member? It may be efficient, but I’m not sure it’s effective.
travisgriggs 4y ago
Yes. Co-op was/is the word that I’m looking for. I love co-ops when they work.