Re:Let’s have no managers, instead of managers with no engin...
by com2kid on Sunday February 25, 2018 @01:52PM
(#16460460)
> I've also had this same style of manager become a rate limiting bottleneck by forcing _all_ cross-team decision making to route through him.
I've seen that work incredibly well when the manager in question did keep up on his technical skills.
It can result in a very well designed and consistent system.
It also burned out the dev manager in question after two and a half years.
A strong talented leader can make a huge difference. Applying the lessons of the past means a lot of engineering mistakes can be avoided.
Also, at some point, decisions do have to be made. There will be a disagreement on the team about a direction to take, and having a benevolent dictatorship becomes very useful. Especially in a corporate setting where forking and doing both paths can be disastrous (both paths get underfunded and fail), or just not viable.
I've seen that work incredibly well when the manager in question did keep up on his technical skills.
It can result in a very well designed and consistent system.
It also burned out the dev manager in question after two and a half years.
A strong talented leader can make a huge difference. Applying the lessons of the past means a lot of engineering mistakes can be avoided.
Also, at some point, decisions do have to be made. There will be a disagreement on the team about a direction to take, and having a benevolent dictatorship becomes very useful. Especially in a corporate setting where forking and doing both paths can be disastrous (both paths get underfunded and fail), or just not viable.