Hacker News Reader

Comment by canthemall1111 | Hacker News Reader

[flagged]

Bad managers do exist, but painting every manager as useless is a bit short sighted.

A good manager is your shit shield. They’re doing their job well when you have no idea how much work they’re putting in to minimize the amount of bullshit you have to deal with day to day.

I like how Tom Wambsgans in Succession put it: a „pain sponge“ that absorbs pain so others don’t have to feel it.

Yeah that sounds about right to me.

So very not true. I would say 80% of managers in tech. Don't do anything essential. If the acquisition of the twitie bird didn't prove that to you. I don't know what will. Granted there was also a lot of developer role fluff there as well.

I have always thought that managers should be technical managers. That way they can actually pitch in. Instead of trying to justify meetings for everyone all the time.

The only reason Product Managers exist is because the next level up wants to trade stocks all day.

There is a point where Taylorism does break down. I believe we are there in tech. As far as management is concerned.

In theory I agree that managers should be able to man the trenches with the rest of the team.

In practice, I’ve found that to be detrimental rather than helpful.

I miss coding, I _want_ to jump in and knock out a ticket from time to time, but the reality is that when I try to do that I just get in the way. My role is not to be a developer, it’s to make sure that the developers who work for me are free and clear to do their jobs unimpeded.

The vast majority of my time is spent in meetings making sure that my devs don’t need to be there and I just slow everything down when I try to “help”.

Do you know 80% of managers in all of tech? Seems like a grandiose claim to make without any solid backing.

Twitter is not all of tech.

I don't need to. Domo Arigato Mr Pareto. Pareto already figured it out for all of us.

Well, good for you having detailed context into absolutely everything all at once, I guess.

Where does this bullshit come from, and what are the principles behind the redirection of its flow? Is there a theory of bullshit dynamics that would allow us to design a better manager?

The common thinking is that shit comes from above, usually around the C- level.

What I’ve learned from being an engineer manager for a very large company is that shit comes from every direction, basically all the time. Up, down, side to side, diagonally, zig zags, big circles, you name it.

Most of my day, every day, is keeping track of it and only letting the things that actually matter to my team filter through.

You don't see what they do perhaps? A manager spend half his time interacting with stakeholders with whom developers would have longer struggles to communicate with. And all of that would be at best time that cannot spent making individual contribution to that web app.

The other half of their time is sucked up by the paper work you would otherwise have to do; and 1on1s, which are totally useless but occasionally so useful it pays off for all the other hours spent on those.

I also see managers as useless, don't worry they themselves know it too. they do all the technically menial activities, we can let them keep their dignity, continue to call them boss and spare them to enjoy their pseudo title, while all pretending we are still in the system of the 70s/80s

Reply on news.ycombinator.com