so you want management without metrics? the problem isn't the metrics (a fundamental attribution error to think so), it's that middle managers are incentivized to appease upper managers (and ultimately owners), and metrics are the most visible available tool. the system is set up this way intentionally by owners and their executive surrogates to insulate them from the callous, negative conqeuences of management that explicitly aims to dehumanize work (this kind of indirection abstraction in human systems is an extremely common source of distorted incentives and unintended consequences; like poor customer service at most companies, google being a preeminent example).
metrics that are reported to individual contributors (e.g., toyota production system, agile done appropriately), on the other hand, are fantastic, for managers and workers, as long as it's well-understood that the metrics are not the product, they're simple signposts (indirect/incomplete measures of holistic qualitative desires like efficiency and quality).
by the way, (bad) bureaucracies are created by the drive to regiment and order messy human processes that leads to over-reliance on metrics, not people trying to justify their existence.
bullshit jobs is a bullshit book written to appeal to our fears and frustrations, not to elucidate us with actionable information.
Absence of metrics would be shortsighted. Metrics with a purpose other than surveillance and budget would be good.
However, most metrics I have encountered and helped impleme t in the past, especially in the finance industry, fall in that category. Boxticking and task-management because there is a mentality of cutting corners.
Bullshit Jobs is an essay, not a research paper. It points at a globally felt phenomenon in the workplace. People's impressions, no matter how subjective, still imply something is afoot.
Also, a book pointing at an issue is not obligated in providing a solution. Criticizing a system has its own merit. It outlines an issue maybe someone else will then be able to elucidate.
metrics that are reported to individual contributors (e.g., toyota production system, agile done appropriately), on the other hand, are fantastic, for managers and workers, as long as it's well-understood that the metrics are not the product, they're simple signposts (indirect/incomplete measures of holistic qualitative desires like efficiency and quality).
by the way, (bad) bureaucracies are created by the drive to regiment and order messy human processes that leads to over-reliance on metrics, not people trying to justify their existence.
bullshit jobs is a bullshit book written to appeal to our fears and frustrations, not to elucidate us with actionable information.