I used to think that when I started my career as a programmer.  It felt that the worker bees were doing all of the work and that the manager really just sat in his office doing who knows what.   Sure, there was the occassional status meeting and some communication with management, but otherwise nothing.   All I knew was that getting into management meant not doing the fun work and having to do a lot of administrative stuff and deal with a lot of politics throughout the organization.   It sounded boring and I wanted to do real work that would make a difference.  Who would want to become a manager, I asked?

As I continued moving in my career, I was asked to get into more of a leadership position given my experience and ability to work well with people.  I eventually made the leap to management.   Boy, was I wrong in thinking that management was less work or boring!  I soon found myself working more hours and having more work than I ever imagined.  

So why did I think what I did, and why did it turn out so differently than I expected?   

To the answers, I turn to an analogy of an orchestra...

A orchestra requires that each individual have the skills to play the instrument that is being asked of them to do.  Some people are better than others, and it is up to the section leaders to work with the individual of their sections to improve their performance.   The more senior the person, the more complex the piece that is given to them.  

Section leaders are also responsible to ensure that their section understanding their part of the composition and are working together well as a group.  This requires not only understanding the individuals and their pieces but how the section's pieces play into the entire composition.

The conductor or orchestra leader is responsible to ensure that evey section works well together and knows their part of the composition.  They need to understand the entire composition and where each section (as well as individuals within the section if they have solo pieces) need to start and stop.  If the conductor is also the composer, they need to determine how each instrument fits into the overall strategy of the composition.  They need to provide vision on how each pieces fits into the composition and why each person's part if necessary in order to achieve the goals and success of the composition.

Now, substitute the following:

• Strategy = Composition
• Project = Piece
• Upper Management = Composer
• Project Manager = Conductor
• Functional Manager = Section Leader
• Functional Area = Instrument
• Project Team Member = Orchestra Member

Therefore, the higher you move up into management, the more knowledge you must have, the better direction you must provide, the more coordination you must lead, and the more dependencies you must understand.  Though it takes knowledge and skill for each individual to do their part, it requires management to understand everybody's part.   As for me personally, I found that both the duties and responsibility that came with being a programmer were much less demanding and less overall thinking than it has required of management.   You can't play any composition without an orchestra, but you can play a lousy composition if the orchestra doesn't have good management.  Both are essential for success!

Looking back to my early days, I made the wrong assumption, the ol' adage "Out of sight, out of mind". I assumed that because I didn't see what my manager was doing I assumed he was doing nothing at all.  Instead, what I didn't realize is that I was able to do the work I had because he was doing those things "behind the curtain" to make sure that I could continue working.  He was also making sure that I had what I needed from others and that they had what I was providing.