[lazypenguin]

I think the mistake I’ve seen made time and time again is not recognizing that the software engineers are just problem solvers. That means if you have a good team with a good structure, all you need to do is bring the problem to the team with clear requirements and context. From there the team should be free to solve the problem however they see fit within the constraints of the requirements. You then need to keep them close to the problem so there’s a feedback loop to see the results of their solution.

Allowing people to self-direct but with some guidance is quite powerful. If the team can’t self-organize then the team composition is not correct or training is missing.

However in my experience most management is quite bad and not only fails to setup a system like this but then actively sabotages it with deflating micromanagement or asinine corporate BS

[pschuegr]

+1 to this, but I feel like "if you have a good team with good structure" is hand-waving away some pretty heavy stuff ;) It's the "#1 be good looking #2 don't be ugly" of the software world - if you have great people, you can literally just point them at a problem and let them go. You just have to stay out of their way.

In reality, most teams are working with some people who are still learning, some people who don't really want to be there, some people who are interested in writing promotion-ware, etc.

[jrmiii]

Yeah, i think given the license to do 'whatever' they can also be powerful 'problem finders' - that is, discovering opportunities for major level ups that no one else is currently seeing.