>Sometimes I'm shocked at how cavalier some people can be about management
I find this attitude especially prevalent in the tech startup end of things for a few reasons: Most startups start small enough that peer-to-peer relationships and a personal stake & passion all mean that having staff in a role solely dedicated to managerial work isn't necessary. As a result of this, when they get larger, they undervalue the need. As a result of that, as the need arises, it is poorly done, furthering the sentiment that such roles are wasteful of resources and time.
Outside of this "home grown" disdain for managers in tech, there's also the problem systemic in modern business stemming from the idea of "scientific management" that arose about 100 years ago and really gained traction in the 50's & 60's. Depending on your point of view, it's either fundamentally wrong (in part or whole), or it has simply been poorly implemented in nearly all cases. Regardless, it's what gave rise to the notion that "manager" was a job like any trade, and people could be trained up and deployed as interchangeable pieces in any business. (Which rather ignored the fact that even in trades, there are specialties). It created a few generations of managers that thought actual detailed knowledge of a business's operations wasn't necessary to being a good manager.
I think we're, mostly, past that. (as in past the tipping point moving away from it, not that it isn't still prevalent in some segments of business)
But the two phenomena are where I think the casual disdain comes from in the tech industry for non-engineering managers.
>But the two phenomena are where I think the casual disdain comes from in the tech industry for non-engineering managers.
I don't disagree but I'd add that a lot of tech people are often (and often correctly) focused on some narrow aspect of a problem. At the same time, they're often not aware of or even outright dismissive of broader questions of company strategy, market fit, etc. So they think decisions that are made in a broader context than their particular project are clearly a pointy-hair-boss/MBA/etc. problem.
I find this attitude especially prevalent in the tech startup end of things for a few reasons: Most startups start small enough that peer-to-peer relationships and a personal stake & passion all mean that having staff in a role solely dedicated to managerial work isn't necessary. As a result of this, when they get larger, they undervalue the need. As a result of that, as the need arises, it is poorly done, furthering the sentiment that such roles are wasteful of resources and time.
Outside of this "home grown" disdain for managers in tech, there's also the problem systemic in modern business stemming from the idea of "scientific management" that arose about 100 years ago and really gained traction in the 50's & 60's. Depending on your point of view, it's either fundamentally wrong (in part or whole), or it has simply been poorly implemented in nearly all cases. Regardless, it's what gave rise to the notion that "manager" was a job like any trade, and people could be trained up and deployed as interchangeable pieces in any business. (Which rather ignored the fact that even in trades, there are specialties). It created a few generations of managers that thought actual detailed knowledge of a business's operations wasn't necessary to being a good manager.
I think we're, mostly, past that. (as in past the tipping point moving away from it, not that it isn't still prevalent in some segments of business)
But the two phenomena are where I think the casual disdain comes from in the tech industry for non-engineering managers.