Dealing With A MicroManager...Part 2 6

[maybeimaleo]

Continued from here....thread655-1708257

A few months after I left I found out my old manager was demoted. That's what happens when you become manager and all of your subordinates find new jobs!

"Dream job" was nightmare. They lied during my termination meeting (said I was told over and over to get my work done, BS, I always finish what I started.).

In a new job now, lead engineer, the infrastructure is an absolute disaster but it can be cleaned up...if the CIO gives us time.

 

[goombawaho]

So you got fired from the job where you escaped the micro-manager? It happens to best of ........ us.

Newest job: If infrastructure is a disaster, it means job security for you unless there is no progress toward fixing it. Give an assessment of the current situation to your boss as a "before I arrived" document. Document your efforts towards improving things ESPECIALLY if funding is not available to do it the right way. If funding is not available, keep emails where you communicate what is needed to fix things and the responses back.

I hate to be CYA, but there are so many liars and manipulators today that you need to arm yourself.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Most bosses don't like being inundated by emails, especially if they assert the existence of problems without offering solutions.

There are ways to deal with that:
- Make sure your reportage of problems also includes proposed solutions, or at least an outline of the conflicting pressures whose resolution is above your pay grade.
- Keep chron files for yourself.
-- One should outline each day's activities, without emotion, recording who said what to whom, to the best of your understanding, recorded the same day. It's not a bad practice to end the day with an update of the chron file, and record your plans for the next day.
-- One additional chron file for each project, with more detail. Consider including copies of related emails.

As 'contemporaneous records', chron files allow you to refute, or at least attempt to refute, false assertions about what did or did not happen on a given day in the past. They can be invaluable when lawyers start poking around. They can also be embarrassing, so stick to the facts you can prove, and record opinions as such if you must record them at all.

It is also helpful to compare your plans for a given day with your own record of what you actually accomplished. Okay, it's humbling, too. It will teach you to underpromise and overdeliver.

Chron files should be recorded on media that you take home each day, just in case you get fired over the phone at night. It happens.

 

[goombawaho]

Who said anything about "inundated with emails" other than you? I said to document not to annoy. Monthly progress report = acceptable tool, CYA and otherwise.

I used to keep a blow by blow of everything I did every day and how long it took me. The idea was to show how many repetitive tasks were wasting my time like users screwing things up repeatedly. That would be something actionable by management to return time back to me by "teaching" the problem user. So, it wasn't a waste of my time or just being CYA. Over time, you can see patterns emerge and why your time evaporates.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[MikeHalloran]

No offense was intended.

I've had bosses who complained about getting _any_ email, and some who wanted to be CC'd on everything. We here cannot estimate what someone else's boss's threshold of inundation or annoyance might be. So, the first status report's cover should suggest or request the period and level of detail for updates.

An <pejorative> MBA </pejorative> once assigned me to keep a blow by blow account for a week, to demonstrate to me how much time I wasted. I think they teach it in MBA school. It's a useful exercise to do, once.

I'm talking about something else; daily accounts of what actually happened, or at least one's own perception of it, not intended for distribution, but intended to provide error correction for one's memory.

I would further suggest minimizing use of loaded phrases like 'wasting my time' and 'users screwing up' or other indicators of emotion, even in accounts only intended for oneself.

I'll tell you why:

For a while, I was submitting weekly reports to my supervisor, who worked at a different location, along the lines of "DingDong is and idiot and should be doing something else.", and worse. I didn't know that my supervisor was, upon request, forwarding verbatim copies to The Chairman, who was distributing verbatim copies to the senior senior staff, including DingDong.

It was not a real good career tactic.


I'll shut up now.

 

[edfair]

Then there was one of mine who basicallly ignored The problem reports I sent in until, one day, he found out that there really was a problem with two salesmen who had been misdirecting funds from the company for at least 2 years. The salesmen were fired and so was I, mine for not getting the salesmen fired sooner. My boss had about 50 reasons he wanted to use to fire me but I had every one covered by decisions he had abdicated.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[goombawaho]

I would further suggest minimizing use of loaded phrases like 'wasting my time' and 'users screwing up' or other indicators of emotion, even in accounts only intended for oneself.

I never did that - only factual statement of time and activities. A later analysis by my boss led to the categorizations you mentioned.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[Andrzejek]

The salesmen were fired and so was I, mine for not getting the salesmen fired sooner. My boss had about 50 reasons he wanted to use to fire me but I had every one covered by decisions he had abdicated.

So you got fired. :-( Did your boss suffer any consequences of his/her decisions, or lack of any?

Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

 

[goombawaho]

Bottom line is: If the company wants to fire you, any kind of documentation is not likely to stop them. It WILL help with dealing with your boss in terms of what needed to be done/what was actually done/what was supposed to be done type of discussion. Another BUT - bosses don't like you shoving emails in their face saying "SEE HERE, I'm right you're wrong". So, you lose generally no matter what.

If you're the kind of person that always likes to be right, then documentation makes you feel like you can back up your position whether it would help or not.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[kwbMitel]

How I got my manager fired:

- When we had closed door meetings, I took notes. Afterwards I would fully document the meeting and send them to him for his approval under the guise of making sure I understood the message
- When the message was agreed upon, I shared it with my co-workers (peers) in writing
- Whenever possible I asked him to give me instructions in writing - Again to make sure there was no miscommunication

Eventually he blew his stack because of me pointing out self contradictory messages and threatened to fire me.

HR got involved at that point as I reported him for threatening me.

Less than a month later he was gone.

I know this is a best case scenario and unlikely to succeed unless the circumstances are perfect but it can work and I thought I would share.

**********************************************
What's most important is that you realise ... There is no spoon.

 

[goombawaho]

I would say that's a bit devious on anyone's scale.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[Andrzejek]

It’s not ‘devious’ at all.
It is a very nice example of CYA, anticipate somebody’s moves, be prepared, document it, and act when the time is right.

Well done kwbMitel


Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

 

[edfair]

So you got fired. Did your boss suffer any consequences of his/her decisions, or lack of any?

Well, yeah. They replaced me with 2 people, 1 service, 1 manager and I took enough business that in combination the SE became unprofitable for them. 14 months later they went TU because they were having problems throughout the US.

They hired me back to pack up their stuff to ship it to the home office or take the junk to the junkyard. Paid me with repair parts at 50% of new price or for free if it wasn't still in original packaging.

Boss told me a week before that he might have to fire me and asked what I would do. Told him I would be in competition. He asked me to keep a job for him.

Best birhtday present I was ever given.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[maybeimaleo]

goombawaho - No, I left the micro manager to go to Argonne National Laboratory (which should easily place where I live ), which was a dream of mine that turned into a nightmare. Got let go after seven months for reasons that still do not make sense to me.

Now at new job. Once I clean up this disaster it will look nice on my resume!

 

[maybeimaleo]

MikeHalloran - The problem here was neglect and mismanagement. I can be fixed; it is just going to take a long time to do it.

To expand on what goombawaho said - the director of the dept. I worked for used the flimsiest of excuse to get rid of me. I have to admit I didn't fight very much (hindsight says I should have) but even if I did it wouldn't have helped.

 

[maybeimaleo]

Update #3 -

This guy doesn't lead or support. He's still friends with the people who left before me. Any talk of why it is the way it is leads to defense from him. Plus, he still talks to the old Head of Infrastructure!

 

[goombawaho]

Maybe you're the problem bro - malcontent wherever you go?!?! Some people are just not happy. Could that be you???? It can't always be "everybody else and not me" that has the problem. Tough love from me.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[gbaughma]

Now at new job. Once I clean up this disaster it will look nice on my resume!

At least the disaster wasn't at Argonne. That would be a bad thing.


... I shouldn't talk. I live not far from Oak Ridge.


Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

 

[maybeimaleo]

Since my last post things have gone much better. I have a rapport with all of the managers and I spoke to the CIO who is leaning toward promoting me!

I can't complain.

 

[goombawaho]

Everything has changed in 7 days!?!? Impressive!!! You were complaining 7 days ago. You've started taking your Ativan again haven't you. It helps doesn't it.............. Turns your problems down from an 11 on volume scale to a 5!

Just joshing you. I'm glad your problems have been sedated.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.