Very good points by the author on the benefits of instrumental
communication. Every engineer gets this, that clear writing,
diagramming and documentary work is essential to leadership in complex
projects. However, leadership requires that one first has full mastery
of communications apparatus.
The author is lucky enough to work within a culture where that's
valued. Unfortunately, it's getting rarer to find contexts where it
matters, or is welcome, or even possible.
Aside from the fact that attention spans have collapsed, impatience
and anti-intellectualism is rife in some fields. Take the UK education
sector, destroyed by the scourge of inhuman systems and professional
management actively seeking to disrupt communications between teams as
a means of control.
Leadership by writing is possible only where the apparatus of
composition, storage and dissemination is reliable and predictable -
not under constant attack and reconfiguration by unaccountable,
faceless external administration. In micro-managed ecologies like
Office365 and highly partitioned organisations, reliance upon clear
communication becomes a liability.
Things get done via side channels, informal meetings, printing out
documents, coffee, ambushing people in the corridor, visiting them in
person in the labs or production line. Leaving no communication trace
becomes a survival strategy.
The author is lucky enough to work within a culture where that's valued. Unfortunately, it's getting rarer to find contexts where it matters, or is welcome, or even possible.
Aside from the fact that attention spans have collapsed, impatience and anti-intellectualism is rife in some fields. Take the UK education sector, destroyed by the scourge of inhuman systems and professional management actively seeking to disrupt communications between teams as a means of control.
Leadership by writing is possible only where the apparatus of composition, storage and dissemination is reliable and predictable - not under constant attack and reconfiguration by unaccountable, faceless external administration. In micro-managed ecologies like Office365 and highly partitioned organisations, reliance upon clear communication becomes a liability.
Things get done via side channels, informal meetings, printing out documents, coffee, ambushing people in the corridor, visiting them in person in the labs or production line. Leaving no communication trace becomes a survival strategy.