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Comment by maxfurman | Hacker News Reader

Funny to see this today - my own boss resigned last month and we've been interviewing for his replacement. I haven't decided whether or not to apply for his position; I don't want all of his responsibilities but I do want to keep the autonomy that I've gained since he left.

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I've been in that situation several times.

What instantly becomes glaringly obvious is that the company should comp you better and leave you be, as you quite obviously do not need said boss.

Yet, every single time they will waste money interviewing people, spend more on hiring and onboarding and training, and then this other person is magically in charge of not only you but your comp.

Fuck what businesses have all become.

I've hired my own manager several times now (I'm told this is a bad practice) specifically because I wanted to remain a tech lead but needed somebody to advocate for my team and handle the people management time. It has in fact worked spectacularly.

Same. (Actually I'm in the really weird position of: manager quit, M2 out with covid, M3 paternity. M4 is even on vacation this week). I half wonder if forcing every manager to take a three month vacation each year would lead to an increase in productivity.

The better the managers are in an organization, the less they need to do. Once they've stood up a good team, removed friction, and made a good plan, you run out of things to do. But the best managers also want to keep busy, so they keep trying to intervene, which is counterproductive.

I wonder if we should go back to sending managers to the golf course more regularly.

> my own boss resigned last month and we've been interviewing for his replacement. I haven't decided whether or not to apply for his position; I don't want all of his responsibilities but I do want to keep the autonomy that I've gained since he left

the risk being that the new boss takes the autonomy away from you (and much more)

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