Span Is an Attention Budget
Diagnose when a manager's span is too wide for the work's coordination load.
Span is a design variable, not a status symbol. A wider span only works when the work system carries more of the coordination load. Count the load, not just the people A manager with ten senior ICs in stable pods may have a lighter span than a manager with six new hires across three urgent launches. The question is: how much judgment must route through the manager each week? Use pods to absorb local decisions A pod should own a customer, product, or operational outcome strongly enough that it can decide many tradeoffs without waiting for the manager. If the…
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