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It's a very subtle and complex "thing" so I'll disclaim that this is only part of it, and it meshes together with other parts, but Management is also for decision making, direction provision, and, to some degree, parenting (see last paragraph for where that somewhat crossed over). Where it really stirs up the concepts into a fine mud is that, in order to be able to make decent decisions, you need to know both business direction from above as well as decision / direction practicality from below, and the more that management becomes removed from on-going engagement with below (eg. outsourcing performance monitoring, lack of involvement in SCRUM) the further their decisions are removed from understanding the practicality. Surveillance, as the terminology used, is loaded to create fear, which probably serves the needs of bad managers. Good managers should be engaging with their reports to know what they're working on, and to know them psychologically, so they know to ask more probing questions if someone is hiding an issue for fear of upsetting "the boss". Good managers know up the ladder and down the ladder and should be constantly working on finding the balance between each in order to maximise both the productivity of their reports and the progress made in business directions. One of the reports I had (albeit briefly) was very emotionally attached to his work, and took it personally even when there were requests to make changes to fit it into changing requirements. I love the guy, but he needed fairly regular vent-sessions to talk him through, and out of, the (unnecessary) emotional state in order to reach "oh, this is what I'm paid for". (funny story: I once got so exasperated with him that I called him my son's name - man that was embarassing for both of us). |
When people ask what L1 managers do and why are they necessary, this is the thing that hits the hardest. ICs don't understand that there are 1000s of issues like this that need "managing" to get productivity out. It is exhausting and most managers I assume don't want to have to do this, but it's required.