Don't know how the thought struck. Another spark in an empty brain, perhaps effect of an over dose of Dilbert's blog and his office comments. How would it be if we had alternate levels of Management and Technical expertise. Let me explain what the spark is.
What happens or un-intentionally happens is that as you keep going up the organisation ladder, you tend to loose touch of the ground realities, the nitti-gritti of the work. And this phenomenon does not end. Your manager is a manager, his manager is a bigger manager, his manager's manager is a bigger manager and so on. So in the end you reach the level where someone is just sitting and counting dollars. Darvin's theory of disuse takes its toll and the most disconnected from the base hardly understands what's been done.
Now for the discussion I call the
Techie who understands the technical details of the work (drawing from s/w industry, the coding, design, specification, execution)
Manager who understands the management of work (SOW, Schedules, Functional Spec).. in decreasing order of course.
Boss and subordinate have their usual meaning.
Now how about having a hierarchy where its mandatory that every techie will have a Manager Boss. Every Manager would have a Techie boss. Boss looks after one aspect of project and the techie the other part so no contention or duplication of work. Techie never expects the boss to understand the nitti gritty but has to report on what really matters to the 'Manager'. He in turn gets this data but has a techie boss on top who anyhow if was looking for the same things the manger was doing, would have been wasting time. He would be looking at the larger picture of managing many such managers technically. This would keep the managers subordinates on their toes and keep each one technically challenged.
Just a thought as I feel layers and layers of management just adds as an overhead. I think same would be if there were layers and layers of technical people. So an alternate layer shall have better interaction and get a better mix in people.
1 comment:
Nice thot aps, but i think lot of thot needs to be put into it 2 mature as a model, at least in India, n more so in IT industry.
Adding more managers or bosses just leads to confusion, due to various reasons.
First of all, it wud b really difficult 2 segregate the work based on whether it has 2 b managed or it is technical.
Secondly, who will interact with the client, manager or techie. If both interact, more confusion ensues.
Who will decide on the deadlines?If techie decides, then the role of manager is really curtailed.
Another issue I have seen is tht the approach of a technical person vis-a-vis a non-technical one is quite different. Who will bring them 2 sync, or agree on one aspect.
Actually, the problem arose coz of the nature of studies in B-schools meted out 2 future managers. They are just taught to manage, which is quite right for other industries, but as far as IT industry is concerned, without the technical know-how, the person is very much handicapped.
I feel some change in curriculum needs to be brought for the IT industry managers to make them worthwhile in the industry, otherwise this gap is going 2 widen only.
Actually, if u ask me the manager doesn't need to know how 2 code, or the nitty-gritties.If only he is aware of the technology, n has the bandwidth to visualize the business in terms of the latest technologies in the market, the job is done.
I see a lot of problems right now in this approach, but no doubt if the thot is debated, v cud hope 2 get sthg worthwhile.
Asset
Post a Comment