Individual contributors don't avoid strategy out of stupidity, we do it out of respect for the person whose job it is.
Strategy is the ultimate bikeshed: the prerequisites for having an opinion are very low, so everyone has one. Don't mistake avoidance of scapegoat duty for not having an opinion. Everyone has an opinion. Unfortunately, the evidence never unambiguously points to a single course of action and paying everyone to daydream and argue about the big picture is wildly inefficient, so the key to getting anything done is to delegate the decisions to a single person per team, give them time to cultivate big picture knowledge and political connections, and then to respect those decisions even if you privately disagree.
It would be awfully nice if that respect were reciprocated, but this article is an exercise in the polar opposite: it's a declaration that "management rules, labor drools," complete with a childish "descent into failure" diagram. Don't make the mistake of actually getting things done! You might out yourself as a stinky engineer and NEVER make it up into management! Mind the Peter Principle!
Maybe next week they can blogspam on how management compensation is about leveraged value creation, not Rules for Rulers.
Strategy is the ultimate bikeshed: the prerequisites for having an opinion are very low, so everyone has one. Don't mistake avoidance of scapegoat duty for not having an opinion. Everyone has an opinion. Unfortunately, the evidence never unambiguously points to a single course of action and paying everyone to daydream and argue about the big picture is wildly inefficient, so the key to getting anything done is to delegate the decisions to a single person per team, give them time to cultivate big picture knowledge and political connections, and then to respect those decisions even if you privately disagree.
It would be awfully nice if that respect were reciprocated, but this article is an exercise in the polar opposite: it's a declaration that "management rules, labor drools," complete with a childish "descent into failure" diagram. Don't make the mistake of actually getting things done! You might out yourself as a stinky engineer and NEVER make it up into management! Mind the Peter Principle!
Maybe next week they can blogspam on how management compensation is about leveraged value creation, not Rules for Rulers.