[dante9999]

I wonder if you can reliably classify jobs into "nonroutine" and "routine". There is element of routine in every work, and I'm pretty sure that even most boring and repetitive job can be done better with some degree of creativity. It would be really interesting to read more about reasoning behind classification presented in this article. I mean can you seriously say there is no "routine" in programming or management?

[ktRolster]

Here's a better article that discusses that: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/04/08/is-your-job-routin...

If your work is just following instructions, then it's probably routine.

As for me, I'd like to see most middle management go away, since I largely see it as a waste (basically, if people know how to manage themselves, you can get rid of most middle-managers).

[kristianc]

It's not a knowledge problem it's a process problem. You can get rid of most middle managers but only once you have the conditions in the business where people can be both autonomous and aligned to the business goals.

Most middle managers end up achieving neither, but a layer of management is the default solution that companies most end up with.

[ktRolster]

That is an interesting thought. I would suggest that one of the goals of the company should be to teach people to be autonomous and aligned to the business goals.

[iamcurious]

You still need management as a way of reducing communication costs. Without any management you need (n!) communication channels in the worst case. With proper management you can achieve (n*C ~).

[ktRolster]

You don't need to have a person working full-time as a communicator. Your team can have a 'designated communicator,' and that role can even be swapped around so everyone learns to do it.

[iamcurious]

Then you are dynamically creating (and cutting I suspect) lots of communication channels. My suspicion is that for any large group something like that would require an extremely strong institution and lots of paper trail. This is a noble objective, but I'm not sure if it is always an option.

By the way, what is the largest organization you can think that follows that swaps 'designated communicators' roles with no management?

[ktRolster]

  >By the way, what is the largest organization you can think that follows that swaps 'designated communicators' roles with no management?

Good question. I've worked at a fortune 500 company where people routinely ignored official communication channels in order to communicate with the people they needed. It becomes a lot harder to find the person you need at a large company and building relationships across departments becomes important.

It's rare in any organization that the people who have power are the same ones who get things done.