I think the “noticing” part can vary a LOT based on the implied reason for the manager’s request, and the cost/reward function of how close to “correct” the predictions are. There’s a whole lot of tasks in most corporate environments that really make no difference, and just having AN answer is good enough. An interested, conscientious employee would be sure this was the case before continuing, though.
The real puzzle is what is the blocker for just asking the manager for details (or the reason for lack of details). I didn’t work in big, formal, organizations until I was pretty senior, so I’ve always seen managers as a peer and partner in delivering value, not as a director of my work or bottleneck for my understanding. This has served me well, and I’m often surprised that much less than half of my current coworkers operate this way. “I need a bit more information to do a good job on this task” is about the bare minimum I’d expect someone to say in such a situation, and I’d usually say “do we have more functional requirements or background information on this? I can make something up, but I’d really like to understand how my answer will be used”.
Especially for the estimating parameters for a model question, I don’t understand why one wouldn’t ask for more information about the task and semantics of the parameters. If it were a coworker of mine, I’d mention it in a 1:1 that they need to take more ownership and ask questions when they don’t understand.
Then I’m even more confused about the lack of cooperative-problem-solving between managers and employees. In fact, with fewer than 20 employees, why even HAVE a formal manager? You need some leaders to help prioritize and set direction, but no line-management or task breakdowns.
I think the “noticing” part can vary a LOT based on the implied reason for the manager’s request, and the cost/reward function of how close to “correct” the predictions are. There’s a whole lot of tasks in most corporate environments that really make no difference, and just having AN answer is good enough. An interested, conscientious employee would be sure this was the case before continuing, though.
The real puzzle is what is the blocker for just asking the manager for details (or the reason for lack of details). I didn’t work in big, formal, organizations until I was pretty senior, so I’ve always seen managers as a peer and partner in delivering value, not as a director of my work or bottleneck for my understanding. This has served me well, and I’m often surprised that much less than half of my current coworkers operate this way. “I need a bit more information to do a good job on this task” is about the bare minimum I’d expect someone to say in such a situation, and I’d usually say “do we have more functional requirements or background information on this? I can make something up, but I’d really like to understand how my answer will be used”.
Especially for the estimating parameters for a model question, I don’t understand why one wouldn’t ask for more information about the task and semantics of the parameters. If it were a coworker of mine, I’d mention it in a 1:1 that they need to take more ownership and ask questions when they don’t understand.
(Clarification: these are EA, AI safety orgs with ~10-15 employees.)
Then I’m even more confused about the lack of cooperative-problem-solving between managers and employees. In fact, with fewer than 20 employees, why even HAVE a formal manager? You need some leaders to help prioritize and set direction, but no line-management or task breakdowns.