Continuing on the theme of sucky managers: if your manager sucks, you suck too. At least that is what Tom Demarco seems to be saying in his book, Slack:
"It's easy (and fair) to blame lousy management on lousy managers. But it's not enough. It's also necessary to blame the people who allow themselves to be managed badly."
That is the approach I have been taking lately. If I see something that is not right, I speak up and make an effort to change it. I guess that makes me a pain, because I seem to be speaking up a lot lately. I don't care too much though - I am getting too old to be putting up with lousy technology leadership.
I've been speaking up too. Sometimes actually shouting.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is, the lead management in my company uses people - plain and simple. They will beat middle managers, including tech managers, like dogs (in addition to sucky management, I don't condone dog beating either) to get all the work they can out of them.
So, I can complain about my manager, who does indeed suck (and knows it), and I can tell his boss and his boss' boss to fix it, but they won't. I can make all the noise in the world, but nothing will change. They all suck.
The verdict I have come to is this: if I want to refuse to be managed poorly, I need to find another employer. And that sucks.
Yes, you are in a particularly bad situation and perhaps leaving is your best option.
ReplyDeleteI guess that sometimes you just have a terminally sucky manager and sometimes you have to work for someone else.
Everything that's been posted here about sucky managers the past couple of weeks happens at my job. Reading about other folks in my situation has been enlightening.
ReplyDeleteWhat has struck me is how difficult it is to change a bad management situation for the better. Is it even possible?
In my case it's led to a development group that has given up. I've heard from almost every member of my group that "at least it's a paycheck". Even the managers say "it's just the way we do things around here".
It seems kinda crazy but as long as my company continues to do well financially it won't change.
The question really is this: can an organization's embedded culture be changed without changing the personnel?
ReplyDeleteIn other words, can a revolution occur from the ground up? Can developers call for a change and have it sound to the top of the company?
Probably not. Without a change in technology management, things won't change.
That's a depressing thought. Are we just doomed to work for sucky managers and have to put up with it?
ReplyDelete