You should not protect your team (sometimes)
· 4 min read
One of the things that people keep telling EMs - including me - is that they should protect their team's time. Do the shitty, boring, tedious work, so that they can deliver. Do the tedious work of "tag your resources so that your infra can be accurately billed" so that your team can focus.
There is a kernel of truth to this advice, but I think most well-intentioned managers take it too far. In fact, I've taken it too far as well at times.
Protecting the team is a spectrum; if you veer off the middle towards either the "I exist solely to protect the team" side vs the "who cares about the team" side, then you risk hurting your team.