Technocracy is any kind of hierarchy system that relates the value of someone to its knowledge of technology or that the power/opportunities/awards belongs to those who detain knowledge. In a first look, technocracy might seem a branch of meritocracy to praise those with good knowledge. Technocracy takes into account what people know. The amount of skills and knowledge is the only parameter to be important.
It does not takes into account what people could learn: they have to go by themselves to learn and be recognized. It is their career so it is their problem. This unfortunate reality eliminates the chance to learn, to teach and to collaborate. Why? Because it just makes one think he should not help others. If they do not know something, they may not be worth the time.
Many engineers or even managers make this mistake. They tend to seek more experience instead of solid professional growth. They want fast, single serving, instant knowledge. This contradicts almost all books I read on coaching, which states that greater teams are built with people that are guided to excel. Technocracy thinking just goes against it. It creates a confusion between meritocracy and technocracy.
Meritocracy is the kind of system that benefits those with the merit to something. For example, promotions are awarded to those who had increased their proficiency, who achieved the best results. Those who had dedicated themselves for the improvement of the company, of their mates, of a product. You get to the person.
It is by understanding the person behind the developer that someone can have a great team. A manager must look to the person – not the knowledge – when evaluating performance. It is a key aspect to get greater, complex and nice things done. It helps to propagate good design culture.
A manager must look to the person – not the knowledge – when evaluating performance.
As a manager, it gets even to a fundamental point: you just can’t afford to not motivate new talents by not recognizing their evolution. A manager must provide and guide newbies to mastery. It shoud be the goal of any manager to have a team that is on constant evolution. No manager can afford to loose talents and exchange people with great potential by people that just know something. In the long run, there won’t be any new knowledge on the team.
