Does the manager-as-output-multiplier idea survive remote work?

Grove's definition is that a manager's output equals the output of their organisation plus the output of neighbouring organisations they influence. It is the cleanest definition of the job anyone has written.

Much of the mechanism, though, depends on ambient information: walking the floor, overhearing problems, catching a hesitation in a meeting. Grove's one-on-ones assume a manager who already has enough context to ask the right question.

Distributed teams remove most of that ambient signal. The written-first response, more documentation and more explicit status, is a real substitute but not the same one.

For managers here who work distributed: what did you have to replace, and what did you never manage to replace?