This story is so common that the advertising executives made a TV ad out of it.  In the TV ad, the woman did all the work on the boardroom table computer while the male coffee drinkers stood and gazed out the window.  When the woman announced that she had completed the work, the males all congratulated each other for the teamwork!  The irony is that I don't remember who is advertising what! In my case, it was the first time out of twice in my military career that I was almost court-martialed for doing the work while a General, a Major, a Captain, and my Page Company Engineers Power Supervisor watched me work.  I was wrapping 14 pairs of new 50 foot power cables each weighing two pounds per foot.  It was 100 degrees that July day and the humidity was almost 100 percent.  My clothes were soaked with sweat and the observers were in fresh fatigues, drinking coffee, while they watched me work in the two foot deep trench. The General made the comment that there must be an easier way to do my job.  By then I was wrapping the last pair of the 28 cables with 14 rings of electrical wrap on each end.  The Power Supervisor responded by saying that there was an easier way by using the colored electrical tape he had in his power van.  With that I said, "You are welcome to do the job anyway you want." Without another word, they all walked back to the mess hall to finish their coffee.  Later that day, the Power Supervisor commented to me that I could have been court-martialed.  When I asked why he hadn't told me about the colored electrical tape earlier, he had no answer. The real answer to the middle management problem is that they must always be aware of what their workers are doing and provide assistance whenever they can.  It is always easier to criticize after the fact when they are playing politics at the expense of their workers. During combat, how many muddle managers survive friendly fire much less enemy fire?  The average life expectancy of a First Lieutenant in combat is 7 minutes.  The bottom line is that I never wanted to be a manager for many reasons.  The primary one is that I was happy being just a rifleman and just a technician and was also damn good at both.  I was an expert rifleman with commendations and learned over 26 programming languages as a technician.