The management vortex

While observing a group of managers working something dawned on me.

We all know that most managers create value indirectly. They don’t ship software, give service to customers or build anything of direct value to customers. Instead they deliver value indirectly by setting directions, creating environments, helping people grow and much more. The same is true for agile coaches and all other supporting jobs.

This means any work management does will eventually have an effect on those creating value. It could be new policies, meetings, alignments or other things. If this is done in support of what the value creators are doing (the team asked for help to remove an obstacle) the investment of changes in process or alignment meeting is worth it. However, if management is doing something to manage work or even worse manage the people, then the investment is only a burden.

My observation, in an organisation where management is usually focused on managing people and work over managing the system, is that managers are extremely busy. Their calendars look like perfect games of Tetris, all week long. Extremely busy managers in this environment will lead to a lot of required investment from the value creators. They will have to spend their time in meetings, documenting, aligning and reporting as an effect, taking precious time away from creating value for customers. I call this the management vortex.

So what is the alternative?

I believe the root cause here is that management is trying to manage the wrong thing. They should focus on creating the best system for value creation, making sure things can run smooth. At some level there is also setting direction, creating compelling visions that people want to contribute to. We should stop managing people and stop managing work. I once saw a presentation that I think put this really well. They turned the whole hierarchy triangle upside down saying everything people on the lower level do has to be in support of the value creators.