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Dick is a bad manager

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Re: Dick is a bad manager

#21

Post by [deleted] »

heathlilley wrote: post #4
devmonk wrote: post #2

Good post. The manager doesn't always have to fit that description totally to be a bad manager. As the post suggests, if people are saying "You should check with ____ before doing that," that probably indicates some micromanagement tendencies, which are just as demoralizing and counterproductive, even if the manager is otherwise well-loved as a person by some/all members of the team. Also, if a team member tells you:…

Also beware the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" types who always view system design and framework suggestions as general programmer whining and thus not worth investing any time. A lot of times this is true but prolonged adherence to this will leave you with a fairly antiquated technology stack.

[deleted]

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#22

Post by malbiniak »

jakevoytko wrote: post #10

A Dick-style manager is a sign that you've already hired some B and C quality employees. Theoretically the only bad hire could be the manager, but I've never seen a company with just one sub-par employee. If people don't get work done, bad managers overreact. Terrible managers will also take the opportunity to overreact when everything is going smoothly. They check on tasks constantly. They run extra meetings so that…

When Dick appears, he is a sign that a company is already trending downhill.

you're wise beyond your years.

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#23

Post by mfukar »

unexpected wrote: post #12

This is a related tangent that I'd like some input on: One of the characteristics of "bad management" that's shown here is Dick constantly hovering. At my company, we've arranged the cubicles so that they still offer privacy (walls are about 6 feet high), but that anyone walking by can see what's on the computer screen. Would you qualify this as hovering? We generally have no issues with casual gchatting, facebooking…

In the past, I've been working with a manager who shared, more or less, your style. The work environment was less formal, with no cubicles but desks which appeared crammed, but were similarly placed to allow the manager to snoop around with zero effort. Comfortable, but privacy was a no-no.

I felt violated, for lack of a better word, in that environment. The reason was twofold. First, nobody can judge how productively I spend my time on my desk by what I was doing the moment they glanced at my screen. Making such claims is hypocritical, and taking work decisions about me on such claims is unfair. Secondly, not being allowed at least a little bit of privacy from any and all prying eyes communicates lack of trust from my manager's side.

I'm not sure whether I'd call it "bad management" because it might be working for you and your teammates, but it's not working for me.

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#24

Post by martincmartin »

jakevoytko wrote: post #10

A Dick-style manager is a sign that you've already hired some B and C quality employees. Theoretically the only bad hire could be the manager, but I've never seen a company with just one sub-par employee. If people don't get work done, bad managers overreact. Terrible managers will also take the opportunity to overreact when everything is going smoothly. They check on tasks constantly. They run extra meetings so that…

I once worked at a company whose culture slogan was "by hackers, for hackers." They're renouned for hiring top-notch programmers, and they really do. Ironically, since hackers don't understand management, they tended to evaluate managers only on their technical skills, not (much) on their people or organizational skills. As an added bonus, the company was in a protected industry and their first product (created in startup mode when they were really small) was a game-changer, so they were wildly successful. So they basically had the attitude "we're really successful, therefore we don't have any big problems or need to make any big changes."

Their second product was a much larger engineering effort than the first, probably 4x as many engineers working on it. I had friends working on it, they had lots of stories about poor management. In the end, it was many years late and over budget, and a year or two after the financial crisis hit, the launch partner pulled out, and the company now had a reputation of not delivering, so nobody else would touch them. (Protected industries are generally conservative, they were lucky to find one customer willing to take a chance.)

tl;dr: good hackers don't know much about management, so when left to choose managers, they're likely to choose bad ones.

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#25

Post by maxawaytoolong »

unexpected wrote: post #12

This is a related tangent that I'd like some input on: One of the characteristics of "bad management" that's shown here is Dick constantly hovering. At my company, we've arranged the cubicles so that they still offer privacy (walls are about 6 feet high), but that anyone walking by can see what's on the computer screen. Would you qualify this as hovering? We generally have no issues with casual gchatting, facebooking…

It's actually really annoying when someone can just walk up behind you and see what you're doing and interrupt. It's probably MORE annoying when this happens when you are trying to do work, vs. farmville or whatever you suspect they are doing.

Most people given the choice do not want to look at a wall or the person across the pod from them. They either want to be able to look out a window, or into an open room.

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#26

Post by lovskogen »

tsuraan wrote: post #13
unexpected wrote: post #12

This is a related tangent that I'd like some input on: One of the characteristics of "bad management" that's shown here is Dick constantly hovering. At my company, we've arranged the cubicles so that they still offer privacy (walls are about 6 feet high), but that anyone walking by can see what's on the computer screen. Would you qualify this as hovering? We generally have no issues with casual gchatting, facebooking…

I'm not sure about that 45 degree guy, but for turning your cube so that you face out, that's sort of natural. For some people (me...) sitting with your back to a door or an area where people are generally walking is really uncomfortable. I don't like having people behind me without knowing they're there. It's not about slacking, it's just about comfort.

I think it's a natural instinct even.

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#27

Post by ryanwaggoner »

Specifically, it seems to work on people who don’t feel very attached to their jobs. They have separate, thriving lives outside of work, and are fully able to leave all baggage at their desks before they go home.

Is this a bad thing somehow? Shouldn't we all strive to have separate thriving lives outside of work and to leave the company baggage behind when we go home?

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#28

Post by lovskogen »

ryoshu wrote: post #9

Dick is insecure in his own abilities and has probably hit the wall per the Peter Principle. Good managers get out of the way of their developers; Dicks micromanage and hamper the creativity and growth of their developers because they fear that one day a developer may make them irrelevant. Nobody likes to work for a Dick.

Yes. A Dick has probably risen to his level of incompetence. Or, might just be incompetant, not knowing that the hell those developers are doing all the time.

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#29

Post by jpablo »

Dick is not a bad manager, he is a manager for a different kind of employee. I agree that Dick hurts the productivity of the Creative employee than loves his job. But on the other hand there's lot of employees that if not for Dick, would be all day slacking around doing nothing.

You can say that firing the Slacker is the solution. Unfortunately it's hard to find the Creative and most of the time that person will ask for more money than the Slacker. Plus the Slacker is able to do the job just fine with just a little bit of pushing.

If a Creative is working for Dick it's only natural for him to realize that he is not a right fit for the organization and leave. Eventually leaving only Slackers in the organization, the way it should be.

The problem comes when Dick is a manager in an organization that _requieres_ creativity, then you are doomed.

Re: Dick is a bad manager

#30

Post by ZachPruckowski »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #27

Specifically, it seems to work on people who don’t feel very attached to their jobs. They have separate, thriving lives outside of work, and are fully able to leave all baggage at their desks before they go home. Is this a bad thing somehow? Shouldn't we all strive to have separate thriving lives outside of work and to leave the company baggage behind when we go home?

It's poorly phrased, but I think he means to make a distinction between people who enjoy their work and get into it, and people who view work just as a way to pay the bills. The latter may need more direct and focused supervision than the former, who just needs guidance.
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