If you've ever worked on large-scale organizational transformation (i.e., layoffs), you'll recognize this. 'Span of control' is the most straightforward way to systematically lean out an org chart. It's repeated over-and-over by legal and HR that your task is to eliminate roles not specific people. And it's pretty easy to look for managers of people that ... just don't manage that many people.

It's also a surprisingly effective exercise for consolidating redundant orgs. If you nix a managerial position, you'll map that manager's branch onto some other manager.

Very imperfect, but it does work!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43676218

Points: 21

# Comments: 1

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43618294

Points: 22

# Comments: 4

Of course, a ban on advertising will never happen, because it's very useful to some people. I'm more concerned with the general pattern of thinking that goes:

1. I greatly dislike thing and think thing is bad. 2. Thing should therefore be illegal.

We should be less eager to use the power of law to mold the world to our preferences. It should be a solemn undertaking to use the law! It's an instrument of coercive power and should really be held in reserve as much as possible. Otherwise, we're all just petty tyrants sniping one another for minor transgressions.

There are many things that are very bad that nonetheless must be legal in a free society! I realize this is a uniquely American right, but I nonetheless believe "hate speech" must remain legal. It is bad, yes. I do not like it. I really wish it didn't happen. However, it is markedly less bad than entrusting some byzantine bureaucracy or benevolent dictator to adjudicate the meaning of hate speech. I greatly prefer a world with hate speech to one in which we apply legal authority to eliminate hate speech.