Re:Why are there so many bad managers?
by jevanish on Wednesday January 29, 2014 @08:01PM
(#7148374)
I totally agree. My goal was to get some people to sign up I could do some customer development around an idea I have. Maybe I needed a little more detail.
I think the human aspect can go a long way and there are still a lot of elements as you suggest that work against you. Thing is, if you do protect your team (I've heard it called "the shit umbrella") and care about them, you can do a lot to make them happier and more successful even if you're dealing with a lot of crap yourself as the manager/leader.
Soft skills are hard to measure. I'm not sure we ever will, and my hope was to make the point that the pure measurement of results often does nothing to distinguish or incentivize good from bad management.
Not even sure what the article was getting at. Other than my email address. :(
It takes more than just having a human element to do well. In large part, many managers are bad because they are not given any real control. Sure, they have some control over their workers, but that only gets you so far. Unless the manager has real control up, as well, they can only be so good. This is especially so on projects that are likely in a death spiral.
Worse, though, is that many "good" managers probably don't have a real idea on exactly what makes them good. Even more perplexing, they likely did well at some point and there may not be any obvious variables that have changed from their success to their failures. Other than the outcome.