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Comment by Lightbody | Hacker News Reader

Say what you will about Amazon culture in general (I’ve never worked there)… but one of their leadership principals is Dive Deep

> Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.

IMO this particular trait correlates well with a need for less process / project management software. I really believe if more people did this companies would be better off.

Note: this isn’t the same thing as micromanaging but I understand why some people think it is.

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I worked for two years at Amazon. My managers were not diving deep at all. At least not more than any other average manager in any other average company.

Dive deep is more for engineers. Managers can only go so deep because they must be broad. Yes, I know it says "leadership". I was there for 4 years.

I appreciate the point you’re trying to make, but I disagree with this.

It’s something that has frustrated me, as a manager, when fellow managers said it to me. I feel like it gives permission to managers to detach themselves from the reality of their organization.

The trick is to know WHEN to dive deep, because you are right that managers also have to maintain a broad perspective.

But being able to sniff out problems and then dive into them has always been the hallmark of a great manager/executive, at least in my own experiences.

I worked a contract at Amazon. If the managers were doing anything other than lying about timelines, I couldn't see it.

Also the dev stack was horrifyingly opaque. Every time an Amazon recruiter contacts me I have to push down the urge to explain how awful it is to work there and no thank you.

I'm there now (for only a short time), and I'm remarkably struck by how good the culture is, and it's the exact opposite of their reputation. Maybe team dependent, but I'm pretty happy with my manager.

I'm having the same experience myself. I've been in the role for less than a year, and the culture is completely opposite of what I expected. My team and managers are fantastic, the workload is less than a number of my previous jobs, its been one of the better jobs I've ever held (Although for all I know I've just had extremely bad luck with jobs for the last few decades and not realized it!).

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