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My job (2 Viewers)

Sand said:
Ok.  I'm an introverted engineer guy, but what I'd do here is setup a excel file or salesforce app that has all this crap in it along with the current status.  As s senior manager you should be able to implement this as a management tool.

BTW, from me, tell this guy that he obviously doesn't have nearly enough work to do.  No way I'd be able to pester my folks on piddly stuff like this.  Who has time to do this?
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He doesn't have the time.  He's always talking about how he has to work so hard and never has enough time in the day.  

 
Sounds like your boss is not only a micro-manager but also has passive aggressive tendencies. I think you should just kinda do your best to detach from the job emotionally and view it as nothing more than a paycheck.  In the meantime--start networking and looking for another job while you are still getting paid where you are now.   If you don't see a light at the end of the tunnel--create your own light.  Good luck

 
I was in a similar micromanaged situation at my previous employer.  I took about a month to really think about what I wanted to do.  I came to the conclusion that life is too short to be miserable.  I gave my supervisor my resignation letter after one of our 3 weekly status update meetings.  She was surprised.  I was surprised she was surprised.

It can be a scary move, but it was the best for me.  Everyone's situation is different and one's life situation matters.

The previous employer has gone through 3 others in my position in the 18 months since I left.

 
illiterate said:
I was in a similar micromanaged situation at my previous employer.  I took about a month to really think about what I wanted to do.  I came to the conclusion that life is too short to be miserable.  I gave my supervisor my resignation letter after one of our 3 weekly status update meetings.  She was surprised.  I was surprised she was surprised.

It can be a scary move, but it was the best for me.  Everyone's situation is different and one's life situation matters.

The previous employer has gone through 3 others in my position in the 18 months since I left.
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3 a week!  That's ridiculous

 
need2know said:
3 a week!  That's ridiculous
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I worked for one company about 10 years ago where we had an hour long meeting companywide to talk about the previous week.  Then another hour for departments to talk about things more in depth for us.  Then another hour meeting for each sub section of that department.  3 hours of meetings.  And the number one topic was always "What can we do as a company to better utilize our time?"  

One week I finally said, "Maybe not have 3 hours of meetings each week to figure out how not to waste time?"  And they just kind of glossed over me.  But this was during the Great Recession, so I wasn't going to rock the boat too much.  I hated that job, but I had a job. 

 
GroveDiesel said:
Sounds like you need to spend more time flying pencils around your office.
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It's hard to believe that that incident lead to my career taking off, pardon the pun, so much.  The VP's and President of that company loved me after that.  In a sense, I was their court jester, but it got me way ahead in my career.   :lol:

 
So a quick little update:

I've noticed that when we are one on one, he tends to be much better.  Like he's actually trying to change.  And he makes sure to give me praise.  Maybe he's coming around.  I do like the job, but he can be trying to say the least.  Maybe I just need to look at him like a wild horse.  I just need to slowly break him.

 
TheIronSheik said:
He doesn't have the time.  He's always talking about how he has to work so hard and never has enough time in the day.  
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My first blush reaction is - bull####.  He has tons of time, but pushes off the important stuff.

Second response - develop a tracking system (as I noted previously) and talk to him, as his senior manager, about processes that will take some of his time sucks off of his plate.  If you can figure out what he hates to do and procrastinates around you may well come out ok here.

 
TheIronSheik said:
I worked for one company about 10 years ago where we had an hour long meeting companywide to talk about the previous week.  Then another hour for departments to talk about things more in depth for us.  Then another hour meeting for each sub section of that department.  3 hours of meetings.  And the number one topic was always "What can we do as a company to better utilize our time?"  

One week I finally said, "Maybe not have 3 hours of meetings each week to figure out how not to waste time?"  And they just kind of glossed over me.  But this was during the Great Recession, so I wasn't going to rock the boat too much.  I hated that job, but I had a job. 
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lol - my old job I was at for 10 years - had 1 lady i hated. she was very nice but when came to work if you didnt work as hard as her she was a #####.  she was single and very smart but no one asked her to work 60 hours a week.

Anyway this was 2007/08 I think - we were cut down to bear bones - i was in charge of production releases.  Basically getting all our services/code etc moved from the QA (beta testing) servers to production for live operations.

I'd go into work around 1am and start the process.  I wrote a bunch of scripts to do the bulk of the work but I did have a couple things i had to do manually.  I created a checklist to follow in case I couldnt do it and/or for anyone else that might need to.

But as everyone knows best plans dont always work especially with computers.

I get done 3am.   Restart the server - everything looks great.  Couple people get in at 4ish to hammer on it with our test client.  Everything works except this one part.   I look into it.  Everything looks right - WTF is going on??? 5am still down, 5:30 conference call with my manger and guy I work with. We are racking our brains.  6am - some upper management guy jumps on the call.   "If you guys don't get this fixed soon, I'll have to call someone else that can".

me:  " By all means, I'll gladly take some extra help.  Looking at this since 3 am has obviously done nothing"

:crickets:

I finally figure out the issue around 7ish.   (I copied a property file over from the QA server instead of manually updating the prod version - so one of the processes was pointing to the wrong server)

Around 9am - my manager comes to my desk and he is laughing his ### off.   He gave me a "scolding" by basically saying "that was hilarious, but please don't do that on the phone again with the "upper management guy".  If anyone asks just say - we talked and you understand."       Probably, one of the best managers I've had.

So we have a meeting around 11.  I explain I went over everything in my checklist but for some reason this time I copied the property file over.  (I did this prod move probably 30 times before).   So that woman chimes in.  "Well how can we do better"  "What can we do to prevent this in the future?"  " What processes should we put in place"  BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH.

I finally just snapped.

"Don't have me come in at 2am to do this every 6 weeks? Have someone else do it!!!   For the 50th time I followed the document I created .. I MADE A MISTAKE .. LET IT GO.  I DID IT, I'll TAKE THE BLAME but I'm done talking about it"

Got up - walked out and went home for the day.

I think I left that job 6 months after that incident.

no idea why this post made me think of that

 
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TheIronSheik said:
I started a new job about 5 months ago and the company is a good company.  Everyone seems really nice and it's growing.  There's just one problem:  I don't like my boss.  He's a micromanager.  And on top of that, if I ask him how to do something he won't give me an answer.  Instead he goes, "What do you think you should do?"  Do people consider this a good teaching tool?  Because it's not.  If I don't know how your company does something, and I ask how it's done, just tell me.  Or better yet, hand me some documents that tell me how to do it.  I asked if they had any documents to explain how to do things and he suggested I write them.   :confused:

"Hi, I just purchased your wireless hand grinder and wasn't quite sure how to use it."

"How do you think you should use it?"

"Umm.  What?  Don't you have any instructions on how to use it?"

"Maybe you should write some."

I'm guessing I can't stay at this job, right?  He's been here for 20 years.  Even if everything about this job was gumdrops and rainbows, I'll never be able to get past the dark cloud of my boss, correct?  Pretty sure I know the answer, but just needed to vent a little.
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No matter what, micro managing boss is the reason why 95% of people leave their job.  This wont change and you'll hate every day you need to go there.  Start looking, though its 50/50 if you find another doosh.

 
wlwiles said:
link? 
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No clue where that would be.  It probably dates back to a post I put up around 2005 or so.  

I started a new job and on my first day they didn't have a computer in my office.  So I was told to just sit there and get acquainted with my office.  I'm old so my memory might not be spot on, but after a couple of hours of just sitting in my office doing nothing, I took a pen and started to pretend it was a rocket, kind of like you'd do when you were in elementary school.  I did a countdown and "launched" it.  But during the liftoff, something went terribly wrong and the telemetry controls went haywire.  The rocket drifted off course and started to spin, but the rockets did not cut off, causing the rocket to spin towards the ground.  With no option of aborting, the crew could do nothing except scream as the rocket plunged into the ground, exploding and killing everyone onboard. It was a horrible travesty.  

And lucky for me, the President of the company was standing in my office doorway to witness the entire event without me noticing.  When I finally saw him and tried to act cool like nothing had happened, he looked at me and said something like, "Those poor brave souls."  And then walked away.

 
Chemical X said:
No matter what, micro managing boss is the reason why 95% of people leave their job.  This wont change and you'll hate every day you need to go there.  Start looking, though its 50/50 if you find another doosh.
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That's my other worry.  I like this job.  So it might be worth it to stick with the devil I know.

 
TheIronSheik said:
That's my other worry.  I like this job.  So it might be worth it to stick with the devil I know.
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To me, peace of mind is worth money.  Lots of things to consider....his age, compensation, can you move around in org away from him.  I'd rather not have a stomach ache everyday for a bit less coin.

 
Surely the Collective can think of some passive-agressive way to deal with him?  

(I have no idea who this Shirley person is.)

 
mphtrilogy said:
this sounds like an episode of the office....

good luck man, hope for the best for you...
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I thought something similar.  And I wondered if Jim could do it, why couldn't I?  But then I realized that even though Michael was a bad boss, he was at least fun to be around.  

Plus, I tried calling Jim again.

 
TheIronSheik said:
Plus, I tried calling Jim again.
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What if you are proactive with the boss?  Set up an automated email or text to go out every hour with the message "Tried Jim again, no answer.  Will try back in an hour."

See how long that lasts until either he gets the hint, or he praises you for your over communication.

 
TheIronSheik said:
Something else he does now in IM is he'll ask me a question and I'll answer it.  And he'll write "Correct, unless..."

And I know he wants me to come up with some odd scenario where it doesn't apply.  But I just don't answer.  And when he finally acknowledges that I haven't answered, I reply back, "Oh.  I was waiting on you to continue your train of thought."
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Sound like you need to put him in a Camel Clutch to make him humble.

 
TheIronSheik said:
He hired a senior manager, me.  I come from a different industry, so while I know how to do things, processes are new to me.  He'll come by my office and be like, "Did you call Jim in New York?"  I'll say, "I did.  No answer.  Left a message and sent him an email."  He'll then go, "Probably should call him back just in case."  Then 15 minutes later I'll get an IM asking if I called Jim back.  It's so annoying.  
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Wow

 
I'd keep being open an honest with him.  Tell him that he hired you for a reason and needs to trust you.  Like others have said, you may be in line for this dude's job at some point.  I wouldn't give up so quickly.  Laugh it off as much as you can.

 
TheIronSheik said:
He checks in on my at least 3 times a day to get a rundown of everything.  This doesn't include his emails and IM's asking if I've followed up on everything.

Then we have an hour meeting every week, one on one,  to go over what happened that week and to see if I've followed up on everything.

Then we have an hour meeting every week, with the whole team, to go over what happened that week and to see if we've followed up on everything.

And for a guy that does all this, if I say, "Hey Boss, I just had a site call me and say their Hoppsidoodle broke and they need to order a new one."  His response will be, "And how do you think we do that?"

:rant:
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Im pretty sure we’re coworkers. 

-Daily morning basecamp

-update another software with every call and email sent to client

-Wednesday meetings on what we’re doing

-Friday conference calls 

-I’ll also receive at least one direct one-on-one call from the boss each week

We spend more time documenting and meeting about what each person is doing that it’s almost impossible to get into any rhythm to actually get some work done.

Its exhausting. 

- 

 
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Remote into his computer and arraign all his desktop files into the shape of a penis.    Take a screen capture of that, delete all the files and then set the background image of the desktop to the screen capture you took.

 
Those that can't do, manage.

He doesn't trust that you are doing what he needs you to do.  No way I could work for a manager like that.

 
STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:
Im pretty sure we’re coworkers. 

-Daily morning basecamp

-update another software with every call and email sent to client

-Wednesday meetings on what we’re doing

-Friday conference calls 

-I’ll also receive at least one direct one-on-one call from the boss each week

We spend more time documenting and meeting about what each person is doing that it’s almost impossible to get into any rhythm to actually get some work done.

Its exhausting. 

- 
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I've found that, oftentimes, meetings are the death of productivity.

The days that I work from home are always my most productive....and that's with a 4 year old and 1 year old interrupting me throughout the day.  

 
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My boss is NOT a micro-manager but he loves to call me a few times a day about work related things. Not to see how Im doing but to spitball ideas he has or asking me to run something for him, etc. Hes a chatter too so every time he asks "gotta minute?" he really means a half hour. He is located in another state so basically get these calls every single day. I get most of my work done when hes out of the office. Anyway, I was getting so frustrated by it I was going to talk to his manager but I decided to wait until after review/bonus season. He ended up giving me a stellar review and highest bonus I ever got so I decided to just suck it up and play nice.

 
In all seriousness, you have to fight the micro-manager on his own turf. Micro manage yourself for him so he doesn't have to.

You mentioned IM - start using it for every task that you do:

- just wanted to let you know I called Jim

- hey. Jim just called back. We have everything in order.

- just wanted to let you know that Jim called back to tell me thank you.

- hey, a guy named Steve called. He asked for something and I gave it to him.

- called Steve to make sure he got it.

- Steve emailed me back to let me know he got my message that he got what I sent him.

- Emailed Steve back: "thank you"

Bludgeon the dude with micro's on top of his micro's.

It will be like Electric Bugaloo III - You Got Served With Electronic Correspondence!!  :headbang:

 
STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:
Im pretty sure we’re coworkers. 

-Daily morning basecamp

-update another software with every call and email sent to client

-Wednesday meetings on what we’re doing

-Friday conference calls 

-I’ll also receive at least one direct one-on-one call from the boss each week

We spend more time documenting and meeting about what each person is doing that it’s almost impossible to get into any rhythm to actually get some work done.

Its exhausting. 

- 
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Jim? 

 
ChiefD said:
In all seriousness, you have to fight the micro-manager on his own turf. Micro manage yourself for him so he doesn't have to.

You mentioned IM - start using it for every task that you do:

- just wanted to let you know I called Jim

- hey. Jim just called back. We have everything in order.

- just wanted to let you know that Jim called back to tell me thank you.

- hey, a guy named Steve called. He asked for something and I gave it to him.

- called Steve to make sure he got it.

- Steve emailed me back to let me know he got my message that he got what I sent him.

- Emailed Steve back: "thank you"

Bludgeon the dude with micro's on top of his micro's.

It will be like Electric Bugaloo III - You Got Served With Electronic Correspondence!!  :headbang:
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The problem is, his automated response is "You should try to contact him again." 

I've tried doing that.  Going the extra, extra, extra mile.  But he just can't help himself from suggesting one more extra step to try.

 
My manager is the same way. Team huddle on Monday. Personal 1x1 on Tuesday. 1st of the month meeting with the other managers to update them on what we are doing. All he ever does is "I'll turn it over to Grace Under Pressure for his update on X". Constant IMs to "follow up". The guy has no projects of his own, and no discernable skill set of his own. Literally just "follows up" constantly, so he can have an update with his boss, who I do respect. Whenever he tries to speak on a topic, he consistently gets the terminology wrong. I put up with it, but some days I feel like asking him "so what is it that YOU do exactly?" All I can offer is put up with it, that's what I do unfortunately. That said, I may change jobs in 2 weeks. I have an offer from another that I accepted.

 
shadyridr said:
My boss is NOT a micro-manager but he loves to call me a few times a day about work related things. Not to see how Im doing but to spitball ideas he has or asking me to run something for him, etc. Hes a chatter too so every time he asks "gotta minute?" he really means a half hour. He is located in another state so basically get these calls every single day. I get most of my work done when hes out of the office. Anyway, I was getting so frustrated by it I was going to talk to his manager but I decided to wait until after review/bonus season. He ended up giving me a stellar review and highest bonus I ever got so I decided to just suck it up and play nice.
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He may chat too much, but as a manager getting face time with his folks on a consistent basis is a good thing.  So I don't think your guy is all bad.  My current boss has no clue what I'm doing or working on or developing.  A week may go by between speaking.  It's just as frustrating.

 
Sand said:
He may chat too much, but as a manager getting face time with his folks on a consistent basis is a good thing.  So I don't think your guy is all bad.  My current boss has no clue what I'm doing or working on or developing.  A week may go by between speaking.  It's just as frustrating.
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Yeah hes definitely not all bad. I just hate talking on the phone and I think he wants to get face time as much as possible since he is in a remote office.

 
I understand people not wanting a micromanager but I don’t get some of these complaints.  You don’t like talking to your boss a few times a week?   How do you expect to get feedback or expect someone to coach you.

i don’t get shady’s most of all.  Your boss is calling you a few times a week for what sounds like getting your input on strategy. That means he respects your opinion and expertise.  

 
shuke said:
I understand people not wanting a micromanager but I don’t get some of these complaints.  You don’t like talking to your boss a few times a week?   How do you expect to get feedback or expect someone to coach you.
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So glad my boss is in another office.  If I talked to him twice in any week it would be a new record.  We rarely talk.  I should be coaching him on the tech side of what we do.

 
TheIronSheik said:
Crazy thing, 2 months in he was having his weekly meeting with me where we go over every little thing I've done over the past week and he made some comment like, "If there's one thing I hate, it's micromanagers.  That's why I make sure I never become one."  

I couldn't let it go.  I said, "I'm not trying to be mean, but you are a micromanager.  I've worked at huge companies where I've managed people and where I've managed people who managed other people.  You don't need to check up on my 9 times a day to see if I'm doing everything."  And the only reason I told him was because he was slowing my work down and actually confusing me with all of his emails.  

Everyone else at this company seems great.  Why did I have to get the one guy who's not great as my boss? 
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What did he say in response?  I had this very conversation with my boss, a person I swore I would never work for if I was moved to the group that I was moved to and now forced to work for.  I can do either way.  Tell me exactly what you want and the way you want it and consider it done, or leave me be and let me do my job the way I see fit and critique the result (not the method).  It started out as the former and after a couple miserable meetings, we've been with the latter ever sense.

 
Sand said:
He may chat too much, but as a manager getting face time with his folks on a consistent basis is a good thing.  So I don't think your guy is all bad.  My current boss has no clue what I'm doing or working on or developing.  A week may go by between speaking.  It's just as frustrating.
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Got promoted in January this year.  I work in a different office than my new boss, who was hired 6 months ago.   I have not talked to him one on one over the phone yet but We do exchange an email or two each week.  And, we did talk face to face this week during a dept meeting at the corporate office.   That isn't necessarily bad, even if it is odd.  However, what is bad is my boss changes his mind on what he wants from projects continuously.   For example, I'm told to write a program containing X and Y.  When I finish and present it, he says I should have built it containing X and Z.   I revise the program as instructed but when I present it, I am told it should have contained X and Y!   I have a few projects going on and each of them is going through this   My team and I are getting nothing finished even though we are working tons of hours   

He does this to everyone that works for him and they are all miserable.  He is also rude and yells at some of his people during conference calls.  I have never seen a senior leader act so unprofessionally.   There is no way he lasts very long so I think that I can outlast him   

I was promoted when my last boss quit after working for psycho after 3 months.  My last boss was a great guy and told me the horror stories about psycho but I didn't think it would be this challenging.  

 
TheIronSheik said:
The problem is, his automated response is "You should try to contact him again." 

I've tried doing that.  Going the extra, extra, extra mile.  But he just can't help himself from suggesting one more extra step to try.
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It sounds to me like he is trying to demonstrate his own value - he's the boss, so he feels obligated to give you advice.  Could be that he feels threatened by you and by giving you one more thing to do, he maintains dominance.

Not sure what to do with that.

 
DocHolliday said:
 For example, I'm told to write a program containing X and Y.  When I finish and present it, he says I should have built it containing X and Z.   I revise the program as instructed but when I present it, I am told it should have contained X and Y!  
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:lmao:

My old boss (who otherwise was one of the best people I've ever known) would correct my reports, then correct his own corrections when I changed things.  His answer was always that he wanted to see if I blindly made changes.  :P Loved that guy.

 
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