This is quiet a fuzzy and unsupported claim. In what respect are these important and what is their main goal: Coaching the team or sitting in meetings to align and make sure everything is aligned and they are visible? Are their head on the table of the product is not delivered and not flying?
To me middle management has to be redefined with a clear responsibility that has very much changed from the past.
Summary: companies that go “flat” and remove middle managers often end up with informal pecking orders. These orders have power but lack accountability.
Something else to go sider - the removal of middle managers had coincided with the rise of HR departments.
At my work, I won’t have a boss. I have a product manager, HR, a scrum master, a team lead, and the CTO who I never see, but is my direct superior.
I'll say it's quite eye opening to work for a place with ineffective middle management. I did it for a couple years.
When people asked what it was like I quoted the famous phrase "an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters".
Every group was doing something different. People would start numerous projects and then just forget about them. Really important things were never planned for and ended up being a mad rush once some random person figure out how bad the consequences of not doing it were.
The people were all very smart. There was just no management. Nobody to say "no, don't do X, do Y" or a leader to say "yes, we could do all of those things, but we've prioritized these 2".
After a while I was begging for the bureaucracy and paperwork of a big company just so that I could feel like I wasn't just spinning my wheel 90% of the time.
This is quiet a fuzzy and unsupported claim. In what respect are these important and what is their main goal: Coaching the team or sitting in meetings to align and make sure everything is aligned and they are visible? Are their head on the table of the product is not delivered and not flying?
To me middle management has to be redefined with a clear responsibility that has very much changed from the past.