‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

I don't want the details

466 points · 226 comments · mooreds

  1. FartyMcFarter · · focus · HN ↗
    > Then I realised that "I don't want the details" wasn't being dismissive. The executive assumed that we were competent, and was saying "I already believe you. Now let's talk about what happens next".

    Something about this feels wrong:

    - If you trust them completely, you don't need to know what happens next either. Just trust them to do the right things, your leadership isn't required.

    - If you don't trust them completely, how can you know if "what happens next" is appropriate without knowing the details?

    Isn't this just reinforcing the idea that leadership doesn't need to have their feet on the ground?

    The best leaders I've worked with were paying attention to things from the bottom-up as well as top-down.

    1. ed312 · · focus · HN ↗
      Also, not every IC or EM has the same skills and experience. There may be certain categories of work that you can be 100% hands-off and trust them to just do it, and others where you really need to understand bottom-up. Part of being an eng leader is to know when to insert yourself and when to "trust the process".
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.