The Manager’s Role

April 20th, 2011

Marcelo Somers on what role managers should play:

The role of a manager isn’t to directly create, instead it’s to build a team of amazing creators and put the incentives in place to do great work and ship an amazing product. It’s their job to create a culture of success. The manager who gets in the weeds of the work is doing it wrong. The manager who drops by your desk to tell you how to change your page design is doing it wrong. If you have to manage the details, you have the wrong people on the bus.

A manager’s job is to set the framework for work: the goal they’re trying to achieve, what is and isn’t good work and how it’s to be done.

A good manager provides a clear direction for where they’re heading, what they’re trying to achieve, and makes clear how each person will help the organization get there so there’s no wasted effort.