
Ask HN: What does it mean when managers start making all the tech decisions? - BirdFlossing
Recently I&#x27;ve noticed technical decisions at my company have been moved from developers to managers. Developers only fulfill the desire of the managers instead of setting the path and carrying it out.<p>Never before have I seen this model. What does it mean?
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CyberFonic
It depends whether the managers are technically competent and up to date.

If neither: then I'd recommend looking for another job as a matter of
priority. Managers who get their knowledge from the teenage sons of their
drinking buddies or from business magazines or, worse, IT sales people are
like a manifestation of a Dilbert comic strip.

If former technical guys, but not up to date, then it demands whether they
even listen to the developers' input or make decisions based upon their out of
date knowledge and experience.

Finally, if both competent and up to date, then why haven't they been actively
involved in the decision making up until now?

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anoncoward111
It means that the board of directors and majority shareholders in the company
are putting pressure on the key day-to-day executives of the company to
produce certain results quickly. Typically this happens when the business
isn't making enough money-- the majority investors feel that they can change
the biz/product from the top down.

I would suggest playing along for as long as you can and searching for a
better job as a fallback.

Out of curiosity, how many employees work for the company? Maybe 75, I'm
guessing?

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BirdFlossing
closer to 150 actually.Thx

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anoncoward111
Good luck, it will be fine either way :)

I'm employee #2 at a 5 person firm and we still have those problems sometimes
ahha

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sidlls
Where I work it's because the senior management in engineering consists of
people who last held a development role over a decade ago, who value complete
control over everything, and who don't trust anyone outside their little in
group to make any technical decisions.

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CyberFonic
I presume you are implying that they have not kept their knowledge nor skills
up to date. In which case I shudder to think of how their decisions fare in
the current technical environment.

In some slow moving industries, legacy systems are milked for all they are
worth. Investments in new hardware and technologies are generally kept to a
minimum. And ... the IT staff are actively looking for new jobs.

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icedchai
It means you should start looking for a new job.

