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Comment by mikeash | Hacker News Reader

Why would a boss wish they could tell employees this stuff instead of just actually telling them?

Articulation.

This article picks a bunch of things and puts good words around them. I just had a conversation with one of my employees that touched on a pile of these issues so I sent him this article as a better way of articulating how important he is to me.

Managerial mystique, or the art of making decisions without explaining them, because the lack of explanation projects authority.

Good boss: "I need you to be in at 9:00 because, even though there's no need for you to work specific hours, this office environment is ridiculous and gossipy and people will think less of our team if people come in later, and that means we have less autonomy in hiring. I'd be happy to let you work on whatever you want from 9 to 11, but I really need you to be in the door at 9:00, and if you can't do that, then we'll have to discuss moving you to another team."

Typical management theory says that this is bad because you're making what you have the authority to demand a negotiation instead, so more common is this...

Asshole manager: walks over to your desk. "I need you to be in at 9." Walks away.

I have had to be in by 4:30 am literally because the ship was sailing. I worked for a Marine colonel who told me to come in whenever I wanted so long as I got to meetings and did the work. 10 years later I still run into people who ask me if I hated working for him as much as they did. I have had mandatory work hours that I had to log (no more than 80 hours a week). I have had a job that was embarrassingly easy and all I had to do was but my meetings on a group calendar (Outlook ruined the experience).

This things don't matter. What you are doing with your life matters. Are you still trying to change the world?

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