Duncan Bayne on Nostr: As a manager, I've found that eliminating "routine" pressure is a hard prerequisite ...

As a manager, I've found that eliminating "routine" pressure is a hard prerequisite for so many good things. Retention, engagement, productivity, quality ... you don't get these things by creating a pressure-cooker.

"But what about famous pressure-cooker projects like the original Macintosh?" you might ask.

Per Wikipedia, after the release: "Most of the original Macintosh team left Apple".

This is *particularly* difficult when managing managers, because many companies reward displays of stress and pressure. Back to back meetings, late nights, constant firefighting ... these are all worn as badges of pride in some places. And, in fact, used as a proxy for effectiveness in the same way SLOC count sometimes is for programmers.