[baron_harkonnen]

I have worked as a manager less frequently than as an IC but my experience is that when most people transition to management they think most about downward management, i.e. managing your team. But in nearly every case the real challenge is upward management and this is much harder and much more ambiguous.

I'm in a similar situation (similar sounding company as well) and while it is tempting to just leave, I realize that for me personally my job is making sure they lives for my team suck as little as possible.

When you're an IC nearly every problem has some sort of solution, but as a manager this is not true for upward management. Creating space for your team to function, be happy and do work they are proud of is surprisingly challenging, and never solved. Even when you do your best your team and upper management may both end up frustrated with you.

The really hard part of good management is that achieving what I described previously will ultimately hurt your performance rather than giving in to the demands of the rest of leadership. This is why bad management is so prevalent (just like bad teachers are so prevalent in universities), the easiest path to being successful is to just be a bad manager and focus on getting promoted.

Without a doubt there are better companies out there, but management in most places I've seen has this same frustrating structure. I realized that I derive the most satisfaction from my team when I can run interference with leadership and give them the freedom to create great things. So my advice is to start looking elsewhere but in the meantime focus on doing what you can in your corner of the world to make that look like the world you want, and don't worry if people above and below are unhappy with you. You can't change corporate culture but you can fight for you part of the culture to be better.

[jbn]

This resonates so much with me, and it is so helpful.

I also love the relationship between the username you chose and the actual management practices of the Harkonnen (both in terms in of "bad management" and "downstream management")... :-)