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It's important to realize that the goals of the manager and the developer are not necessarily aligned. In many cases, managers rationally prefer mediocrity. A

It's important to realize that the goals of the manager and the developer are not necessarily aligned. In many cases, managers rationally prefer mediocrity. As a manager, you can either lead great devs on a 6-person-month project, or you can remove the good devs and turn that into a 36-person-month project. In the former, you're going to be seen by your peers and upper management and somebody who had an easy task but can't control your unruly employees who keep strange hours and don't follow the dress code. In the latter, you're going to be seen as somebody who successfully managed a very complex project with a large staff, impressively inspiring the employees to mass amounts of unpaid overtime. The path to success for management lies in controlling larger staffs and larger budgets. Good development just gets in the way.

TeMPOraL 13y ago
> The path to success for management lies in controlling larger staffs and larger budgets. Good development just gets in the way. This is sick and this is exactly the problem with the manager mentioned in the SE question. The manager should not focus on controlling staff, but on controlling the workplace environment so that developers can focus on building the product, and not on in-office politics, dealing with angry customers, faulty equipment, etc. The role of manager should be one of a servant, not of a boss. Some other terms for that: "shit umbrella" and "developer abstraction layer".
enjo 13y ago
Perhaps. But managers have budgets, and at most companies controlling those budgets is the path to success. If I can deliver a great product with smaller staff (and less overhead) I'm generally going to come out far ahead. I remember one of my first forays into management. It was a small team full of really good developers. We delivered ahead of schedule and way under budget. I remember thinking "this sucks, I'm not really DOING anything. I'm just letting these guys go out and kill it and keeping everything out of the way. This isn't going to end well for me". It was the opposite. My boss was pleased as punch that we came in way under budget and ahead of schedule. The complexity (or lack of) didn't really seem to even show up on his radar.
- TeMPOraL 13y ago
  > and keeping everything out of the way. Because this is supposed to be the job of a good manager. Not bossing people around, but abstracting away and isolating things irrelevant to their tasks. Congratulations on your success!

TeMPOraL 13y ago

> The path to success for management lies in controlling larger staffs and larger budgets. Good development just gets in the way. This is sick and this is exactly the problem with the manager mentioned in the SE question. The manager should not focus on controlling staff, but on controlling the workplace environment so that developers can focus on building the product, and not on in-office politics, dealing with angry customers, faulty equipment, etc. The role of manager should be one of a servant, not of a boss. Some other terms for that: "shit umbrella" and "developer abstraction layer".

enjo 13y ago

Perhaps. But managers have budgets, and at most companies controlling those budgets is the path to success. If I can deliver a great product with smaller staff (and less overhead) I'm generally going to come out far ahead. I remember one of my first forays into management. It was a small team full of really good developers. We delivered ahead of schedule and way under budget. I remember thinking "this sucks, I'm not really DOING anything. I'm just letting these guys go out and kill it and keeping everything out of the way. This isn't going to end well for me". It was the opposite. My boss was pleased as punch that we came in way under budget and ahead of schedule. The complexity (or lack of) didn't really seem to even show up on his radar.

TeMPOraL 13y ago
> and keeping everything out of the way. Because this is supposed to be the job of a good manager. Not bossing people around, but abstracting away and isolating things irrelevant to their tasks. Congratulations on your success!