Comments on: Some of the best engineers would rather quit than be micromanaged

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 04:05:18 +0000

The entire point, literally the entire point, of capitalism is to ensure that you don’t need to be in the loop. The apotheosis of this is public equities, but it applies to private SMB also. Sure, if you have no money you’ll need to be the CEO for a while. That’s fine. You’ll exit the company in a year or three and you’ll need to hire a new CEO. Do you negotiate with the CEO? You sure do. Then he gets inserted in the loop and you get popped out almost entirely. How entirely? The two of you talk on the phone twice a week and at the end of the quarter he drafts some statements and flies out to your tropical coconut island beach house or windswept ski mountain town lodge to meet up and hang out.

If he performs well, you pad his comp generously in enticing and clever ways. Never with equity, unless you’re retarded.

Most importantly, you’re not doing any negotiating with anyone else. Your friendly aw-shucks CEO is handling all day-to-day operations, including negotiations. He’s negotiating with suppliers and service providers and whoever else.

But your question seems to be, will he negotiate with engineers or anyone hired through HR?

Lol. That never happens.

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 20:12:44 +0000

Absentee does not appeal to me. I like to be in the loop and see what’s going on and be in a position to nip problems in the bud.

I once owned a property hundreds of miles from where I lived. I didn’t sleep easy.

Things are to be owned, possessed and managed. People are to be negotiated with. If they won’t negotiate, blow them off. Never let anybody treat you like a thing.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 04:29:02 +0000

But have you tried absentee ownership?

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 02:22:30 +0000

If it pays the bills without stressing me out, it’s no joke.

I’ve seen rich, unhappy people. I’ve seen poor, unhappy people. I want to be happy people, so neither of those options for me.

I hate managing others. I hate being managed. I love managing myself, and I don’t mind being managed by myself.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 01:52:01 +0000

Okay, but the point of forming an LLC isn’t that you’re a manager or an employee, but that you’re the owner. Why would you want to do the managing? How silly! You want to do the receipt of dividends. That’s capitalism, baby.

As for trust, of course it’s necessary. Nothing meaningful can be done without it. You must have it to successfully operate beyond your own individual horizons. Anything else is just a joke.

That means doing things that cultivate trust, like mutual reciprocity with your business partners and checking references of your employees.

Respectfully, the humble LLC, the bedrock of modern American capitalism, is unworthy of your scorn. For less than $500 a year you can have a perfectly subservient person who exerts your will on the world in its own name. For $2000 you can arrange to have a handful of LLC held by a trust and no personal assets.

Most importantly, if you have an opinion about how engineers should be hired and managed, step into the breach yourself. Pay them one half-mil and let them shave yaks. After all, they deserve it.

By: David Foster

David Foster — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 19:49:47 +0000

I’ll just note that plenty of people other than engineers prefer to not be micromanaged….most good salesmen, for example. Indeed, most really good people (in the sense of being creative and ambitious and having initiative) would prefer to avoid micromanagement.

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 14:45:31 +0000

2 Trust is NOT necessary. Having backup plans is a superior substitute, in my experience.

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 14:44:07 +0000

OK, try it this way.

1. No LLC. The manager-worker relationship is toxic for both sides.

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 14:42:57 +0000

Is this thing on?

Something here is eating my post… which illustrates my point.

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 14:39:03 +0000

Jim, I considered the LLC route and rejected it as not worth it all. I have enough imagination to see that the manager-worker relationship is toxic for both sides. Inequality is baked into the universe, but unequal relationships are not. Freedom is what makes it all work. Freedom finds a way.

Living without trust is scary at first, but once you get the hang of it… the key is to have a backup plan for everything. Have your own back.

“There is something about the big corporation that attracts or creates dependent people.”- John Cowan, Small Decencies