As a wildcard person, one thing not mentioned is they need to be complemented by at least one type A, no-nonsense delivery manager who can block their say-yes-to-everything attitude, help them prioritize and focus, and ensure the "boring stuff" like test suites and status reports are flowing.
>they need to be complemented by at least one type A, no-nonsense delivery manager
And these managers need to report to them, not the other way around.
Truly great things either way, but an order of magnitude more accomplishments which is noticeable.
Kind of like a real rock star who is the one that hires the manager, even though the manager will be the one outlining and scheduling the grueling tasks for the performer, which the performer will adhere to as if the manager was his actual boss, except with none of the disadvantages.
Yes! The problem with being a „can-do everything problem solver“ is that I get overloaded with tasks from all over the organization whenever has a question or wants to get something working quickly.
While helping everyone with whatever comes up seems nice, it's not the most valuable way to spend my time. At first, I was annoyed by the „everything goes through the product manager“ - mantra, but now I agree that having someone to filter and prioritize incoming tasks is crucial.
Think it points more to the false belief that the “Individual Contributor” path has to stop at the start of the “Manager” path when the reality is it can surpass it.
That takes a wildcard with self awareness AND humility. As a WC, historically, I have looked down upon such managers but in the last few years I have started to stare my weaknesses in the face and recognize that everyone has a role and that getting cogs to align makes magic.
This is partially true - but with the caveat that said manager needs to have a clear understanding of what to say yes to, what to say no to, and also to have realistic expectations of what a wildcard can and can't do in terms of skillset.
This was me at my last job - within 3 weeks of being hired I was basically touching nearly all aspects of the organization - I was in sales meetings, talking with the developers and product designers, helping out customer service, etc. I didn't feel super productive but felt great knowing that I could help out anyone in a pinch across a wide spectrum, and also that people seemed to come to me to help solve their problem because if I wasn't the person to solve the issue, I knew the exact person who was, and I was in good standing with whoever that person was and could get things solved quickly (or responsibility passed to someone who could actually do what was necessary). The death knell came when a new HR person came in, and a new layer of management (another new employee - a former banker) was put in over me who insisted that I change teams and only work as a spreadsheet jockey and doing deep, repetitive M&A finance stuff (and having zero interactions with other teams) despite me having little experience in finance outside of managing my own portfolio and helping my previous company understand our market from a product and financial prespective. I tried my best but was completely out of my depth and when he fired me, he said it was my own fault for not having a banker's skillset. He kept blocking me from stuff I was better at doing where I could actually produce value for the organization.
Thing is - I was hired as a product manager and never actually given a product to manage or work on.
6 months of my career, destroyed. TLDR - a wildcard needs to be accompanied by someone who knows what the wildcard can, and can't do; and also who knows that tying a wildcard down to a boring project they aren't suited for is a bad use of the organization's time and capital.
Together this tandem can do truly great things.