[lifeisstillgood]

I call this software literacy - we would not hire an illiterate CEO and we are in the middle of a transition from software eating the world to the world is software.

If you don't understand how to write software it's like not understanding how to run a newsroom for a newspaper - you simply won't make the right decision often enough no matter how clever you are

[freeopinion]

You don't need to understand how a fuel pump works to manage a fleet of vehicles. But you need to trust that when your mechanics are telling you that a particular model has a lot of fuel pump problems, they know what they are talking about. If you, the fleet manager, are approached with a plan to replace all the fuel pumps in a particular model with an in-house design, you still don't need to know the particulars of the in-house design. You do need to have some sense of whether you really have the in-house ability to competently design, manufacture, and sustain such a device.

It may seem like a ridiculous idea for a floral delivery service. But if you know your people enough to trust them or not trust them, you don't have to be an expert in everything to make the right decisions.

[hosh]

This is what I thought off about the original story. Yes, the team got things done and was able to provision needed hardware by managing the pain signal. However, upper management was still isolated and didn’t trust or respect the IT team.

[Sai_]

But making that right decision is largely based on the answers to “how long will this take?” and “how much will it save/earn me?”.

Which brings us a full circle to the nerds hating the suits because they want to quantify the unquantifiable.

OR, you could just go with what the experts say and be tagged a pushover.

[pas]

it's not unquantifiable, it just has huge uncertainty. good managers supposedly can pick good strategies to manage exactly that.

[lifeisstillgood]

I fundamentally disagree - it's like "all you need is an MBA and you can run anything"

If we think of management as "coach / therapist" (ie the eight rules of google management" then yeah, the goal of management is to take a team of high performers and help them not to implode. But I don't see that as "management"

I think there are better definitions