Balancing Empowerment and Hierarchy for Team Success

Software development is unpredictable, and investing too much time upfront on a plan will generate waste. The time to market is extensive, and end-user learning takes too long. Instead of improving collaboration and benefiting from Agility, teams fall back to a waterfall working mode. Agility is all about empiricism and cooperation. It will only work well once teams can embrace uncertainty and are empowered.

As an engineering manager, it can be challenging to balance the competing priorities of maintaining smooth communication and following the chain of command while also trying to foster a sense of trust and understanding with the team. On the one hand, taking risks and being mindful of the hierarchy within the organization is essential. Walking can be challenging, but this inner conflict drives the manager to be a more effective leader and advocate for their team. Managers play a crucial role in ensuring a team’s success by managing and directing their employees’ work.

Micro-management is more evident when managers define roadmaps and milestones and require developers to estimate the work. Still, they are pushed hard to fit their estimates into the imposed milestones. Bugs and operational issues are often discussed in meetings, and blame may be placed on developers for not moving enough. Product owners do not consider…