[QuarterReptile]

It turns out that Steve, in this scenario, is functioning just like a manager. He has outsized influence, and you have to be careful what you ask of him. With Steve, there are no free looks, and he has the power to stop whatever line of effort you're pursuing. On the other hand, he can activate your efforts, give them the needed bit of polish, and get them in front of the right people.

But Steve is an informal manager, so he better be sure that he has the tacit approval of the actual manager for the team, or his actual manager's manager. Otherwise he's not doing his job, and this will eventually put him in conflict with exactly the people who have control over him.

And if Steve is your direct report, you better keep the situation under control, or Steve will eventually have to be let go and you will be made to look stupid for letting a talented contributor fall out of step with the team.

[hef19898]

As someone who did his fair share of project work across departments, first as resource and later as a manager type, people like Steve arw everywhere. And they are a pain to work with, have no real influence whatsoever. All they are is not enough of a nusiance to be delt with, which ultimately they will if their attics block the wrong people's project.

That being said, if I have to deal with the "command line" people by tellong them each and every step of the work they are supposed to do, more often than not I'm faster doing it myself. There are places for those people, places they actually provide a ton of value because strictly following procedure is paramount, things progress faster when people can get an assignment and everyone else can count a) the assigment being completed on time or b) everyone getting a heads if not.

Those other roles are tge easiest to automate, and by no means do they justify the salaries some people are expecting to be paid.