all human labor should be deliberately measured, studied, and orchestrated by expert observers (View Highlight)
So if profitably sometimes doesn’t matter, and we can’t measure engineers, how does someone in management build a framework for effective engineering management? And what the hell is that management doing all day anyways? (View Highlight)
In 1967, Peter Drucker created the idea of “knowledge work”, and more importantly, the “knowledge worker” in The Effective Executive. In it, he redefined the role of the worker, and the supervisor’s relation to work. (View Highlight)
workers had to become their own managers (in the book referred to as executives), both designing the work to be done, while thinking through the tradeoffs and minding the overall business context. (View Highlight)
It is then management’s job to ensure there is enough context for everyone on the team to be able to pursue the correct results (View Highlight)
the process of thinking through what would be the most effective result for your group is the point of the exercise. (View Highlight)
We can do all the right things well, and still be wrong in creative work. The uncertainty of success is part of doing truly creative work. (View Highlight)
there is no way of measuring creative output well and consistently. So creating narratives about why things work, or what went wrong, despite the obvious results in the short term is really the only thing that matters when everyone else is executing well (View Highlight)
Larger organizations tend to accumulate these types of people on a smaller scale. Rather than focus on delivering results (which again is difficult(!), might be wrong, and often not easily identified by leadership), these people spend time making alliances and crafting narratives about outcomes instead of delivering. Title acquisition becomes the goal, seeking to maximize the expected organizational rewards, at the expense of direct results, all while working to minimize accountability. (View Highlight)
this game of bullshit management is a game to be played and defended against, regardless of your overall strategy and values. (View Highlight)
