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Google has eliminated 35% of managers overseeing small teams in past year

(www.cnbc.com)
574 points frays | 1 comments | 27 Aug 25 21:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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AnotherGoodName ◴[27 Aug 25 22:01 UTC] No.45045883[source]▶
This was called the TLM role at google. Technical Lead/Manager. You were expected to code and manage a couple of more junior engineers.

It’s part of an effort to have dedicated managers and dedicated engineers instead of hybrid roles.

This is being sold as an efficiency win for the sake of the stock price but it’s really just moved a few people around with the TLMs now 100% focused on programming.

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floren ◴[27 Aug 25 22:03 UTC] No.45045891[source]▶
Do you have any opinion on the success/value of the TLM role?
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1. vkou ◴[27 Aug 25 22:16 UTC] No.45046023[source]▶
The value of that kind of role is that the person interfacing with the bureaucracy and the business hierarchy and its many demands also actually does the technical work and knows things about what they are working on.

Without it, nobody on the management side of things actually writes any code, or has first-hand experience with working on the product. The line managers just end up as a go-between between the workers and their directors, because they only know what their reports tell them. They don't know much for themselves.

You can't quantify this sort of loss on an earnings report, but among many other things, it does a great job of diluting ownership of the product away from the teams working on it.