Quote Originally Posted by Cilia View Post
... because that observation couldn't have been made by anyone else who knows about the Echo and the Ascians, right?
Just how many people do you think there are who know about the Echo? Just because we have a not-even-intimate knowledge of it (and mostly only as a result of possessing it) doesn't mean we can even remotely begin to analyze it. Similarly for all of the Scions, the Echo is still a mostly mysterious ability with many unexplained facets. No one would have even thought to link the Ascians to the Echo until very recently. It's important to remember that outside of our small group, the Scions, no one really knows anything about the Echo.

Hell, I don't even consider her a wholly competent manager, since even if you want to place the blame for the Crystal Braves solely on Alphinaud Thancred still got possessed under her watch, partially thanks to overworking himself. As manager, it should have been Minfilia's duty to make sure he wasn't working himself to exhaustion. It almost led to untold destruction and the conquest of Eorzea.
Much as I love Thancred, even I know that he is the only one responsible for his possession by Lahabrea. Much as the other Scions like to blame themselves, looking back and thinking on what they could have done better, ultimately it was Thancred who took too much upon himself while giving to everyone the impression that he was handling it all. Given his dialogue after the 2.0 endgame, it's even hinted that he likely used himself as bait and ended up falling into their trap. As for it being Minfilia's responsibility? Only on a very superficial level, and even then she acknowledges that she should have seen it coming.

"But we're really busy, and there's not enough people..."

That's no excuse. Being the manager (leader) means making the hard choices and sometimes making sacrifices, up to and including sidelining your best agents so they don't break down from stress, consequences be damned.
Actually, yes it is. Thancred is his own man, he was the one who chose to put on a brave face while taking on many assignments. Also, name one manager who hasn't ever screwed up. There were a lot of things going on with you the new recruit and Primals popping up all over the place and god only knows what other investigations she had the other (minor) Scions undertake. She trusted Thancred, trusted both his strength, his skills and that he was capable of managing himself. So sure, she has to make tough decisions, but one of those tough decisions was probably to not micro-manage Thancred which, in all honesty, might have actually made him feel worse about himself.