To some people managing equals micromanaging. They don't want to be told what to do at all. But then can they do it alone? No. And this is the dilemma.
One solution is to hire more competent people and hand them the work. It's like outsourcing but inside. It's insourcing. And outsourcing works too. Place the work outside the business. This eliminates management.
Another solution is to minimize the complexity of what needs to be managed to the point where management is almost redundant. Instead of micromanaging, you create repetitive microwork that cannot be mismanaged. This also eliminates management.
I've witnessed first hand both methods in action and working pretty well.
On the flipside, I've seen many workers that require microapproval. They need appreciation for every task and credit for all of their achievements. They want to be supervised, but instead of managed, praised. They fail to find meaning in their work and are unhappy otherwise.
Indeed. Some teams I took over complained to me I was micro managing them, because I was reviewing code and asking on a regular basis them when things would be done. The regular basis was once, max 2 a week, and I was not reviewing more than 1 PR / dev per month. They were used to no accountability, and ofc compared to that, everything feels like micro management.
Also, micromanagement gets a bad rep, but actually, figuring out when micro management is needed is also a skill. It depends on your own skills and availability, your team seniority, etc. Outside of very junior programmers, the need to micro manage is often a sign that you did not hire well, but managers don't always have a say in firing people.
One solution is to hire more competent people and hand them the work. It's like outsourcing but inside. It's insourcing. And outsourcing works too. Place the work outside the business. This eliminates management.
Another solution is to minimize the complexity of what needs to be managed to the point where management is almost redundant. Instead of micromanaging, you create repetitive microwork that cannot be mismanaged. This also eliminates management.
I've witnessed first hand both methods in action and working pretty well.
On the flipside, I've seen many workers that require microapproval. They need appreciation for every task and credit for all of their achievements. They want to be supervised, but instead of managed, praised. They fail to find meaning in their work and are unhappy otherwise.