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I like this article, but I disagree with one point about task assignment. Good engineering decisions are always based on the big picture like long/short term g
by analyst74 14y ago
I like this article, but I disagree with one point about task assignment.
Good engineering decisions are always based on the big picture like long/short term goal, budget and deadline. By keeping those in mind, an engineer can then go and understand task priority, and decide which solution might be best for each task.
If an engineer team understands the bigger picture, they can in most part self-manage and figure out what to do to achieve the end goal.
However if a manager or PM shields engineers from those bigger pictures, it becomes much harder to make informed engineering decisions on individual tasks, or how to allocate time among those tasks, causing slipped deadline and over budget. This reinforces the impression that managers should provide closer guidance on what to do.
In my experience, most technical manager/project manager will only talk about the bigger picture when pressed, and only some are able to describe it clearly.
- msrpotus 14y agoNot always. There are always disagreements on teams; generally they can be resolved among the participants but not always and especially not on issues where everyone has strongly held opinions.
- g123g 14y agoThis is a very valid point. Most managers think communicating the immediate work load of the team is their only responsibility. But most of the time the team really needs to know the bigger picture. What is the future direction of the company, product etc. and most of the managers are really stingy with these types of details. This behavior results in lot of duplication of efforts. Managers are happy as they have something to show in their status reports. But in the long run, it reduces the overall product quality as most engineering decisions cannot be prudently taken without having the bigger picture in your head.