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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. 0manrho · · focus · HN ↗
      You answered your own question.

      > 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.

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

      These two statements are at odds. You first assuming that lack of trust would be the only reason he needs to know what happens next, then go on to outline another reason he and the larger organization would both benefit from knowing more.

      It's not just about trust. It's about knowing what your team is up to so you can provide them the resources necessary while also working to remove any obstacles in their way so they can get shit done. That's what good management does, it's just rare to see in low-trust organizations that treat everyone like a cog to be micromanaged because no one trusts anyone to get shit done of their own accord for whatever reason.

      1. FartyMcFarter · · focus · HN ↗
        > It's about knowing what your team is up to so you can provide them the resources necessary while also working to remove any obstacles in their way so they can get shit done.

        That makes sense - I don't know if that's what the blog post was implying though. Ironically, this blog post could probably benefit from a few more details about what the meeting was supposed to achieve :)

        1. hirako2000 · · focus · HN ↗
          The meeting was about the SVP teaching the team that incidents happen, what's important is to prevent the same issue from occuring again.

          The fact the author had never been in a call with the SVP implies incidents that happened before were explained in details, without much process change.

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