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Blogs > random1235 > Confessions and Observations

Micromanagement  

random1235 48M
156 posts
10/20/2014 8:23 pm
Micromanagement
Take this as me blowing off steam, although it would be nice if any middle managers who happen to read this can take it as a lesson.

I was informed today that, in addition to all of my other responsibilities and work items, I now have to write an e-mail of a couple of sentences describing my current status and what I'm working on. Sounds simple, straightforward, and innoculous, right?

Except that this is for my boss's boss's boss. Except that I already have to write a weekly e-mail for my boss's boss. Except that I attend stand-up meetings three times a week to verbally deliver this information to my boss and teammates. Except that I have to manage work items in an online system for my boss, the program managers, and the program managers' boss. Except that I have to talk to those work items in another meeting every two weeks for those people, too.

So, it's a completely redundant, yet independent, channel for delivering the same information. Yet, that's not the worst part.

The worst part is the insult. It's an insult to my boss and my boss's boss that my boss's boss's boss doesn't think they can do their jobs without direct oversight. That they are so incompetent that my boss's boss's boss can, from ~20 daily e-mails, determine the right approach and make their individual contributors more efficient. That my boss's boss's boss cannot trust the chain-of-command to deliver this information.

And it is an insult to me. Because I'm apparently so stupid, inefficient, and incompetent, that I need my boss's boss's boss to know what I am doing daily. That somehow my boss's boss's boss will see something vital that I, my boss, and my boss's boss don't. That I'm too stubborn to listen to the advice of anyone around me who might also see those things.

As much as there is a no-retaliation policy where I work, and as much as I believe in it and I believe that these people believe in it, I am afraid of saying all of this to my boss's boss's boss. Not that I think this person would be vindictive. I have found, however, that these people want to fix any problems that come their way. And this person could interpret my message as "being unhappy". Which means that this person would try to "fix" it. I expect that, in trying to solve the problem, this person could very easily and inadvertently make it worse. After all, look at the "solution" this person chose to deal with a management problem?

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