Follow-Up on My Management Under Pressure Article

My last post got popular on various platforms, most notably making the front page of Hacker News, which resulted in 200+ comments. I put those aside for a bit, but went through them earlier today and identified a few points I missed in the article, things I could learn from.

Here are my lessons:

• The “house on fire” and “wartime” analogies are inappropriate and insensitive to those who have lived through real fires and wars. I should’ve known better living just next to a country where people are dying every day. However desperate your company’s financial situation is, it’s extremely rare that people are actually being harmed, and it’s helpful to realize that. I’ll try to change my language to “high-stress era” or something similar, though I can't promise I'll be able to do that every time. It seems like the industry is OK with this metaphor, unfortunately.
• To some readers, I made it seem like working under this kind of constant pressure is sustainable (or even preferable). I should’ve clarified that for the majority of people, I don’t think it is. Also, this way of working is not something that can be maintained forever, no: it's a temporary period, that either ends in consolidation and a calmer, more sustainable growth phase — or bankruptcy. My point is trying to find ways to move the needle towards the former.
• I failed to make an important assumption clearer about the scope of impact of the EM. Somebody called the behavior that I suggested in my article “agency cosplay,” which was painful to read (though I love the conciseness of the expression). Credibility, transparency, and trust are the foundations of managerial work, so of course, I don’t suggest faking anything. But I believe that, except for the most desperate situations, EMs do have a scope of control, albeit more limited than usual. Focusing on things they can impact is a way to get through these situations, and help their teams.
• Somewhat related to the above thought, I should’ve made it clearer that nobody has any obligations to stick through this stress, and I’m not advocating for that. I could’ve added some thoughts about how to identify when it’s time to quit, what are the signs that suggest that an organization is doomed, or when the personal toll is at risk of becoming unsustainable. Maybe in another article. This omission is a frustrating realization, as one of my career regrets from a bunch of years ago is exactly that: ignoring all the obvious signs and staying longer at a company than I probably should’ve.
• There were some interesting thoughts in the comments about emergencies being 1) made up 2) avoidable 3) unrelated to engineering. While I didn’t want to focus on the reasons for the high-stress situations, I could’ve included an important piece of advice that came up in the comments: one of the important roles of a manager in these high-pressure periods is to stay calm. This behavior can be infectious, making the life of the team easier. And it's a bit easier to stay calm if the emergency is not as big as some might want to make it seem.
• Finally, I didn’t write anything about “peacetime”, but some commenters pointed out an interesting fact: leaders who strive in calm growth periods usually struggle when the stress gets higher, and vice versa, executives striving under pressure can drive a company to the wall during calmer times. If a switch to the high-stress way of operating didn’t come with leadership change, be suspicious of how efficient executives can be during these new times. And don’t be too surprised when eventually there’s a seemingly sudden change of CTO / CEO.

Reading back on this list it sounds a bit apologetic, though this was not my intention. While some of the comments were frustrating to read, altogether, I’m grateful for the time people took to argue about this article (and other topics, there's even a good debate about agile). I’m also glad that I had the chance to spend some more time thinking about this topic, resulting in a more nuanced point of view. Thank you all.

Do you think there’s an important aspect I missed, or is there something you disagree with? Let me know in the comments!