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There are two shades of this attitude, one of which is good, and one is bad. Good: technologists who recognize that business people don't deserve to hold all t
by michaelochurch 14y ago
There are two shades of this attitude, one of which is good, and one is bad.
Good: technologists who recognize that business people don't deserve to hold all the power just because they control the money. Business people who recognize that they have something to offer, but don't try to turn it into interpersonal power over the (socially weak, often) engineers.
Bad: arrogant asshole brogrammers who think everything that isn't code isn't worthy of respect. Business people who think programmers are a commodity (news flash: we're fucking not and if you staff up with CommodityDevelopers, say hello to VisitorSingletonFactories and goodbye to getting anything done.)
There's a difference between the two. Business people add a lot of value, but there are a lot of arrogant schmucks in that set who detract, and who give the whole set a bad name.
I think the issue is that the correlation between wanting to code and being good at it is positive. For management, it's the reverse. Good managers are not people who want to be bosses, and the people who've wanted to be tech managers since age 19 are huge fucking douchebags. Good managers want to build great things and see management as part of the process in getting there. Shitty managers want to be bosses. Excellence wants to do great things. Mediocrity wants to be great (in title and reputation).
Management (as in, the work) is important and, when done well, worth a person's salary several times over. The problem is that 90% of the people who are trusted to do it, at least in private-sector technology, are fucking horrible at it.
- hkmurakami 14y ago>Shitty managers want to be bosses. I'd like to add to this by rephrasing it to: "Shitty managers want to be bosses. Great managers just want to help each of their team members."
- michaelochurch 14y agoYes. I agree that that's very important. Vision is key, but so is the skill of motivating people to get there.
- timr 14y ago"Good managers are not people who want to be bosses, and the people who've wanted to be tech managers since age 19 are huge fucking douchebags." Dead on. Worse, in my experience, is that the only people who become managers are the people who want it the most. It's a system that seems almost purpose-built to promote douchebaggery.
- michaelochurch 14y agoWorse, in my experience, is that the only people who become managers are the people who want it the most. I almost think we have the wrong idea in paying managers so well, because I like the public-servant model seen in democratic-republican governments better than this antiquated overseer-nobility nonsense. Granted, we still have narcissistic politicians out there, but they aren't nearly as bad as the corporate executives.
- dpritchett 14y agoI think highly paid managers are inevitable over time. It's somewhere between regulatory capture and Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureacracy. Luckily companies who follow that path will eventually implode and be replaced by others who can only hope to survive long enough to follow the same path.
- yuhong 14y agomichaelochurch has suggested open allocation to solve the problem.
- dpritchett 14y agoI like open allocation in principle and I'l be happy to work that way when I get the chance. It's still not going to stop the macroeconomic entropy that will eventually see Valve and Github die like every other company. Things fall apart.