Micromanager Chronicles - 01/19/2006
Well, MM-Boss ran the meeting this morning. That wouldn't be so bad if she had called the meeting, and not me.
Actually, she didn't show up to the meeting at first and it was me running the show. We were doing fine. Then she walked in and sat at the back and observed. The sudden increase in tension was felt by most people in the room.
She couldn't hack sitting in the back, so she moved up closer and immediately started taking over the meeting. She asked me why the work breakdown wasn't like we discussed (in front of everyone). I explained that the way we originally wanted to do the schedule wasn't going to work. Of course she doesn't understand spreadsheets in the first place and couldn't understand why it wasn't all nice and pretty like the ones she had seen before. The ones she had seen before were for much smaller projects, with less involved parties, only a few tasks to accomplish, and fewer task dependencies.
Anyway, she wouldn't drop it until other people in the room confirmed that the way I was doing it was the correct way. *shrug*
Later in the meeting, someone asked a question. MM-Boss was visibly irritated when I answered the question over her. It was my meeting. The question was directed to me. She wanted to answer it.
After the meeting, she again asked me why the spreadsheet wasn't like we previously discussed. I showed her the ones she was using as an example and there were only two people involved in the project, a programmer and a tester, how the tasks could be accomplished one after the other without any further dependencies. Then I compared it to ours which has no less than nine people working on it with a web of dependencies between the tasks and involved parties. Not fully satisfied with the answer she said "Well I guess we'll keep it this way and see how it goes". In other words, if anything goes wrong we'll blame it on the work breakdown you made and if Big Boss doesn't like it we'll know why, now won't we?
Micromanagement summary: Even though MM-Boss doesn't even understand spreadsheets, she tried to force me to make it the way she wanted it. Even though she doesn't understand work breakdowns, she tried to dictate how to do it. Even though she didn't call the meeting, she showed up and ran it.
Now some of you may be wondering why I haven't tried to address her or go over her head. Right? First, I have tried addressing her directly, but her excuse for the level of control is that I don't know everything and that I have a lot to learn. On top of that, she is best buds with Big Boss, so I can't go to Big Boss either, at least not if I expect positive results. When I say they are best buds, what I mean by that is if I say anything to Big Boss, it will go straight to MM-Boss unedited and unabridged.
Actually, she didn't show up to the meeting at first and it was me running the show. We were doing fine. Then she walked in and sat at the back and observed. The sudden increase in tension was felt by most people in the room.
She couldn't hack sitting in the back, so she moved up closer and immediately started taking over the meeting. She asked me why the work breakdown wasn't like we discussed (in front of everyone). I explained that the way we originally wanted to do the schedule wasn't going to work. Of course she doesn't understand spreadsheets in the first place and couldn't understand why it wasn't all nice and pretty like the ones she had seen before. The ones she had seen before were for much smaller projects, with less involved parties, only a few tasks to accomplish, and fewer task dependencies.
Anyway, she wouldn't drop it until other people in the room confirmed that the way I was doing it was the correct way. *shrug*
Later in the meeting, someone asked a question. MM-Boss was visibly irritated when I answered the question over her. It was my meeting. The question was directed to me. She wanted to answer it.
After the meeting, she again asked me why the spreadsheet wasn't like we previously discussed. I showed her the ones she was using as an example and there were only two people involved in the project, a programmer and a tester, how the tasks could be accomplished one after the other without any further dependencies. Then I compared it to ours which has no less than nine people working on it with a web of dependencies between the tasks and involved parties. Not fully satisfied with the answer she said "Well I guess we'll keep it this way and see how it goes". In other words, if anything goes wrong we'll blame it on the work breakdown you made and if Big Boss doesn't like it we'll know why, now won't we?
Micromanagement summary: Even though MM-Boss doesn't even understand spreadsheets, she tried to force me to make it the way she wanted it. Even though she doesn't understand work breakdowns, she tried to dictate how to do it. Even though she didn't call the meeting, she showed up and ran it.
Now some of you may be wondering why I haven't tried to address her or go over her head. Right? First, I have tried addressing her directly, but her excuse for the level of control is that I don't know everything and that I have a lot to learn. On top of that, she is best buds with Big Boss, so I can't go to Big Boss either, at least not if I expect positive results. When I say they are best buds, what I mean by that is if I say anything to Big Boss, it will go straight to MM-Boss unedited and unabridged.
posted by Tyler at 1:46 PM
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