I think we're being too abstract, and talking past each other a little maybe. Let's try a hypothetical.
You're VP of engineering. You do stuff like:
- Hire and manage middle managers
- Manage budgets
- Work with other VPs to determine the direction of the company
I'm an IC on an engineering team. I do stuff like:
- choose algorithms
- choose code structure
- make complexity/performance (and other) tradeoffs
It's entirely possible you don't know a programming language, in fact it's likely. It's entirely possible I have no idea how to manage a corporate budget, in fact it's also likely. It's also pretty likely we never encounter each other, unless our company is pretty small.
Are your decisions more consequential? Maybe. I definitely think your list is higher stakes than mine. But do my stuff hundreds of times a day, and my decisions build up in the aggregate. You can imagine tech debt piling up, or overengineering slowing down product features (threatening the company, maybe a client relationship).
Are there differences in accountability? Well, neither of us acts entirely unilaterally. You have to run your budgets by your manager (or be responsible for it at some point), I have my team and code review. While the stakes for your work are higher, there are probably stronger guard rails. For example, while it sort of seems like you could fire all of your managers, you probably can't in actuality. Over time your incompetence or malice could force them out, but similarly my incompetence or malice could threaten our product.
---
To bring this back into your framework of "aggregation points for responsibility", are you responsible for my work? I think the only way you would be is if corporate culture or policy made you responsible for my work; I don't think ethically you're responsible for my actions. (I want to carve a space out for knowledge, like if you know I'm doing something bad and you fail to act, then of course you're responsible, but this is because you're a human being, not because you're a VP of my department).
Actually I'd go further and say that this idea creates a lot of problems. For example, if I goof password storage and expose our users' personal information, what were you supposed to do to prevent this? You're not a software engineer, much less a software security specialist. Were you supposed to set up a chain of accountability and review? That's what code review is for.
Furthermore, this doesn't work the other way. If you mismanage the budget, I'm certainly not responsible. This isn't because you're "higher" up in the org chart than I am, it's because it's not my job to make sure you do your job well, that's your manager's job. I wouldn't have the expertise to judge, and the same goes for you.
---
My overarching argument here is that the idea of the hierarchy is very baked into our conception of work, at least in the US. We struggle to think of the workplace without it. But it's actually pretty weird, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially in professional spaces.
> Actually I'd go further and say that this idea creates a lot of problems. For example, if I goof password storage and expose our users' personal information, what were you supposed to do to prevent this?
Hire better. Pithy response, but that's how responsibility aggregates.
This is maybe possible when you're hiring direct reports, or your company/department is < 50 people. But if you continue to hold VPs to this standard past that point, they'll respond (if they're smart, I guess) by creating a bonkers system that strangles hiring and productivity to minimize their risk. This makes sense in some sectors (aerospace), but not most of them.
You're VP of engineering. You do stuff like:
- Hire and manage middle managers
- Manage budgets
- Work with other VPs to determine the direction of the company
I'm an IC on an engineering team. I do stuff like:
- choose algorithms
- choose code structure
- make complexity/performance (and other) tradeoffs
It's entirely possible you don't know a programming language, in fact it's likely. It's entirely possible I have no idea how to manage a corporate budget, in fact it's also likely. It's also pretty likely we never encounter each other, unless our company is pretty small.
Are your decisions more consequential? Maybe. I definitely think your list is higher stakes than mine. But do my stuff hundreds of times a day, and my decisions build up in the aggregate. You can imagine tech debt piling up, or overengineering slowing down product features (threatening the company, maybe a client relationship).
Are there differences in accountability? Well, neither of us acts entirely unilaterally. You have to run your budgets by your manager (or be responsible for it at some point), I have my team and code review. While the stakes for your work are higher, there are probably stronger guard rails. For example, while it sort of seems like you could fire all of your managers, you probably can't in actuality. Over time your incompetence or malice could force them out, but similarly my incompetence or malice could threaten our product.
---
To bring this back into your framework of "aggregation points for responsibility", are you responsible for my work? I think the only way you would be is if corporate culture or policy made you responsible for my work; I don't think ethically you're responsible for my actions. (I want to carve a space out for knowledge, like if you know I'm doing something bad and you fail to act, then of course you're responsible, but this is because you're a human being, not because you're a VP of my department).
Actually I'd go further and say that this idea creates a lot of problems. For example, if I goof password storage and expose our users' personal information, what were you supposed to do to prevent this? You're not a software engineer, much less a software security specialist. Were you supposed to set up a chain of accountability and review? That's what code review is for.
Furthermore, this doesn't work the other way. If you mismanage the budget, I'm certainly not responsible. This isn't because you're "higher" up in the org chart than I am, it's because it's not my job to make sure you do your job well, that's your manager's job. I wouldn't have the expertise to judge, and the same goes for you.
---
My overarching argument here is that the idea of the hierarchy is very baked into our conception of work, at least in the US. We struggle to think of the workplace without it. But it's actually pretty weird, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially in professional spaces.