[tzs]

Hmmm...I wonder if "manage remote teams" might be the key?

At work you'll have your team of engineers, with managers who aren't actually working on the engineering problems themselves. Heck, they might not even be engineers. They are dealing with representing the engineering team as a whole in interactions with other engineering teams, or with non-engineering teams and higher level managers.

In every MMORPG I've played, the "managers" were players out there on the front lines with the rest of the group. You didn't have someone whose role was to just direct and coordinate what the rest of the guild did, and represent the guild to outside interests. No, your "manager" was right out swinging a weapon or casting spells with the rest of the guild on a raid.

Maybe that's the difference? In a game, your "manager" on a team is just another one of the team who does all the normal things expected for the class of character they are playing and just happens to also be coordinating things. At work, manager is a distinct role very different from the roles of the people they are managing. Perhaps that changes the nature of team sufficiently to make trust harder to build?

[ZitchDog]

I agree in theory. Having managers who are also contributing can create an awesome level of trust on a team. In practice, the problem is the "maker's schedule" in software doesn't accommodate time for the constant interruptions of coordination. Swinging an axe is one thing, but software requires large amounts of focused time which is discongruous with management needs.

[runawaybottle]

Good insight, the leaders were in the thick of it. I don’t think anyone can argue many facets of society have disconnected leaders. Our politicians mostly are nothing like us, and the results show.