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Comment by ethanbond | Hacker News Reader

You’re probably also bad at being a manager, given that you just started in odd circumstances and, if your company is like any software company I’ve ever heard of, you likely weren’t trained into your new role.

Not a personal sleight against you, just there are many features of the system around you that should at least cast doubt on your interpretation.

This is in general a good argument against WFH but one that managers are (for obvious reasons) reluctant to make: they’re just shitty managers and WFH makes it extra hard to get by with shitty management.

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It's entirely possible - I usually feel like I'm routinely failing at management. My organization seems to disagree though, as they continue to give me the highest possible performance ratings, pay me absurd amounts of money, my team's gotten public commendations on its work from 7 levels up the management chain, the anonymous 360 surveys from reports/peers/etc. say that I'm better than 90% of other managers, etc. That alone may tell you something about the incentive structures in large corporations (and the economy at large).

I usually like to think of it as winning at a fucked up system. But then, that might be pretty illustrative of the title and article here.

If there are 7 levels above you in the management chain, take any feedback with a huge grain of salt because companies like that don’t operate much on merit.

That's another lesson from my first couple years of management, but then what does "merit" even mean? Within the context of my organization I'm doing fine. By market norms? Pretty sure I make more than a "good" manager at a small or medium-size company. By the happiness of those around me? I think my employer is generally a pretty miserable place to work, but my team seems generally happier than many of the other peer teams within the company, so within my sphere of control I seem to be doing okay there too. Besides, I care about the happiness of my family more than my company, and doing well at the arbitrary-and-kinda-pointless metrics set for me lets us afford a house in a nice area, a good education for the kids in a healthy social environment, and hopefully soon more time with them.

Nice! It is totally possible you really are a great manager, but that description also comports with my feeling that this industry is just absolutely riddled with terrible managers.

In any case, it’s good to be relatively good, so I’m really happy for your success so far! It’s not an easy job at all.

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