One of the biggest issues bringing down Ford are CAD managers and "people leaders" that have no knowledge of CAD. How can you lead a group and know absolutely nothing about CAD? One CAD supervisor has 4 people under him, the next one has 14 people under him. There are CAD supervisors who no matter how many times you call them they will not respond.
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Our CAD manager wears the same "Ford-blue" golf shirt everyday. He literally stinks as a CAD manager. It's been a blessing working from home so we don't have to smell him. He does not have a clue what it means to manage a group. The so called "people-leaders" under him are equally clueless.
How many direct CAD people left at Trans?
Sounds like those people leaders are from Transmission...
OP is absolutely correct. As a former designer, I can attest to they fact that they are completely clueless. Unfortunately, unless the supervisor/manager was promoted from within a CAD department. it's safe to assume that the entire industry suffers from this issue. Having worked at companies other than Ford, I know this to be true. The vast majority of the leadership is of the belief that the CAD system does all the work and the designer is just pushing the buttons. Sad, but true. Hey, at least we can still baffle them with a little technical talk and they tend to go away as they don't want to appear as stupid as they are.
Try working at an engine plant. Machining and assembly department managers with business or basket weaving degrees. Don’t get me wrong… some are great people but they don’t have the technical skills to see through some of the BS and technical problems.
IT is in the same boat. There are many LL6's (I would guess most) that have no clue about the technology that they are managing. They think that their MBA gives them all the knowledge that they need and that is a dangerous situation. I had bosses that were completely oblivious in even moderately technical meetings. You might as well have been talking in a foreign language because it wouldnt have made a difference. If you have never written code for an extended number of years, you have no business managing people who do this every day, and you belong behind the counter at Dairy Queen.