The authority model in management doesn't work in tech

Many corporations have chosen the easy way out, which is the authority model. But what we found is that when you're managing engineers, it doesn't work in tech, the authority model doesn't work in tech because you're not managing people who are doing manual labor, are pointing a gun or whatever. You're managing people who are creatives, they are creators. They are creative types. Programmers are like novelists, you know, or artists, and there's a lot of creativity involved in tech. And you don't manage a bunch of novelists by lining them up and barking orders at them or enforcing your world view on them, because that's going to squelch their creativity. Creativity is a bottom up process. You need democracy functioning because there's no right answer. It's not objective. It's egalitarian, it's a meritocracy. The best idea wins and that's really difficult for a lot of old world managers to swallow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHpj8PcsyH4

#steveyegge #management #programming #tech #creation #authority