[Verse 1] Sarah writes her thousandth line of code today Debugging till the morning light breaks gray Boss calls her name, "We need you leading now" From keyboards to people, she wonders how Seven souls await her guidance and her care The magic number floating in the air [Chorus] Five to nine, that's the sweet spot zone Span of control, not too big, you're not alone Skip the levels, climb the ladder twice Talk to grandreports, get the real advice IC to manager, flip that mental switch Code to humans, make that perfect pitch [Verse 2] Tommy's stuck on algorithms, Mary's burned Jake needs mentoring, lessons to be learned One-on-ones pile up like compiler errors Twenty direct reports? You're walking on terrors Bottleneck forming, decisions move like sludge Time to restructure, give the org a nudge [Chorus] Five to nine, that's the sweet spot zone Span of control, not too big, you're not alone Skip the levels, climb the ladder twice Talk to grandreports, get the real advice IC to manager, flip that mental switch Code to humans, make that perfect pitch [Bridge] Coffee with the juniors, two levels down Truth flows freely when the boss ain't around "How's your manager treating you?" she asks Honest feedback, remove those interview masks Delegation dancing, trust but verify Coaching conversations, watch your people fly [Verse 3] Code reviews become career reviews instead Pull requests turn into growth paths ahead Technical debt? Now it's people debt you mind Architectural thinking of the human kind From solving bugs to solving team disputes From git commits to wearing business suits [Final Chorus] Five to nine, that's the sweet spot zone Span of control, not too big, you're not alone Skip the levels, climb the ladder twice Talk to grandreports, get the real advice IC to manager, flip that mental switch Code to humans, make that perfect pitch [Outro] Management stack, your new technology People over processes, that's the key
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