Systems as Mirrors

iamstelios.com

34 points·i8s··3 comments

A non-intuitive consequence of this thesis is that the so called "parallel career ladder" doesn't work.

For those unfamiliar, I'm referring to the idea that managers can have roles and levels which are separate but equal from the levels that convey technical expertise. If the people who control the team structure don't also have the expertise to maintain an architectural vision for the product system, then the product is doomed to match the slow moving trends of office politics, instead of matching the current thinking of the technical leaders.

Well, that both sounds logical and matches my experience so far. IMO the whole "parallel career ladder" to me does sound like mostly a way to have something to motivate people who do not go for management, and also maybe to limit who goes into management for good or worse.

Also this is something that goes beyond what one person has as an architectural vision - at some point you will run into conflicts between the practical corporate reality and your vision and one will have to give way - most of the time it is the vision. Often that vision does not exist in isolation, but is built with at least the implicit understanding of the softer, people side.

This was a thought-provoking read. I'd be interested to see someone walk through an application designed with some of the duplication mentioned towards the end.

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