I recently came across a work forum for engineering professionals. One of the members was weighing the decision of whether to accept a management position in his company. His fear is that his performance as a manager would depend on other people rather than just himself as it currently is.

I thought this list of the pros and cons of management, from Mike Halloran of Pembroke Pines, FL, USA, was pretty interesting:

Pros:

– People who choose managers think you can do it … or that you are the least awful choice available now.

– You get to choose the team on which you depend … eventually.

– You get more money.

On the other hand:

– Virtually nothing you do will be fun anymore.

– Your current peers will behave differently toward you.

– You will have to evaluate everything in terms of internal politics, not numbers.

– Until you can build your dream team, you have to work with what you’ve got, and accept responsibility for whatever they do.

– You won’t be the go-to guy anymore, because you’ll be in meetings.

– You are afraid. It might be just uncertainty, or it might be your subconscious mind screaming at you.

– They may not give you enough money to offset the negatives. There may not _be_ enough money…

Can you add anything else to the list?