I hope he doesn't get our strings tangled...

I like it that Wikipedia says that in functional management, "Some refer to a functional area as a 'silo.'" I've seen many attempts to eliminate that word, while retaining the same meaning.  Department.  Functional area.  Functional domain.  Vertical.  There's an Information Silo entry at Wikipedia, which links to a good article (now ten years old!) at CA Magazine by Marcel Côté, "A Matter of Trust and Respect."  I love the first four words, my emphasis:

Silos are a perversion of the decentralized management concept. The CEO may have set demanding objectives and given managers the authority and means to achieve them. One manager may be instructed to increase sales, another to reduce costs and a third to keep a tight rein on finances. In delegating responsibilities, CEOs often forget the importance of teamwork in meeting objectives. 

The results are not hard to predict. Lieutenants concentrate on their personal objectives and disregard those of the whole. Since they don't expect their peers to assist them in reaching their objectives, they in turn make little effort to cooperate with other managers. Rather, they convey the message that achieving their department's goals is paramount and other departments can take care of themselves.

Snrky: He said he was giving the PM a functional management role, but that we wouldn't notice any change.
Title: I hope he doesn't get our strings tangled...