How do you deal with micromanagers?

Question

In the past I've worked with several types of project managers. There's the laissez-faire PM who stays ignorant of the process as long as milestones are hit. There's the hands on PM who gets into the innards of the process and tries to block and tackle, removing obstacles.

And then there's the micromanager. I've had a horrible success rate in working with micromanagers. The successes I've had have been with micromanagers who wish to learn what's going on so they can better explain it up the chain. The failures have been with micromanagers who don't understand the process, and don't want to understand. They seem to have an implicit distrust of the technology or the resources behind it and want every task broken down into bite size pieces that they can understand. In my case, it's meant that stuff which is not "visible", creating an API, extending a framework, etc, is not a "task", but displaying a button on a page is.

I think I'm not the only one who has dealt with micromanagers such as this. What strategies have you used to have success in these situations?

Answer 1

Step 1: Start looking for a new job.

Step 2: Try to keep your sanity until you find a new job

Answer 2

Instead of fighting them, go with it. Give them so much information and time that they don't know what to do with it. Eventually they'll figure out that it is too difficult and back off. Confrontation only creates confrontation, your pm or who ever it is has to come to the realization that method of management is aggravating and doesn't work.

Here's and excellent example: An old boss of mine insisted on being in the loop on everything (not bad). I was given the excrutiating task of making sure that a process finished by 4 am every morning. When it didn't, I needed to contact the networking group and tell them something went wrong (we didn't have access to the production servers). I asked for their phone numbers, and my boss told me that I wasn't senior enough to have the phone numbers of the networking staff and that she needed to call them. So when the servers we having problem at 3 am for about two weeks straight, I called her repeatedly until she woke up and informed her that she needed get in contact with the network staff to fix the issue by 6 am. After a while, I got the phone numbers. She was the one who had to come to the realization that her request was unreasonable.

Answer 3

If you are on a development team, then the entire team under the micromanager needs to have a conference with him/her. You must all state your case very clearly and without an accusatory tone. The meeting should be about working together better and helping the micromanager to understand there is much work to be done and micromanaging is only slowing it down.

Answer 4

Well, there are a few reasons for micro-managing:

1. The project is in the red zone and the PM is just trying to make sure everything is ok. In this case I agree that you just go with it until the project is over and then you can have a chat with your PM
2. The PM don't think you are competent enough for this particular task, maybe you are awesome in everything else, but in this particular task or skill he thinks otherwise. While he didn't communicate that to you, he wanted to make sure everything is done right so you would perceive that as Micro-management. In this case I would go ans talk to him.
3. He is just a control-freak. In this case, a good chat about expectations and how he would let go provided you would produce a list of written results by a specified date.

Answer 5

Assuming there are other people who are having issues with the same manager it may be a good idea to go to HR with a complaint. They can make sure the manager doesn't know who brought the complaint (doesn't affect performance reviews...) and they can perhaps suggest management courses that the company could send the manager to. In my experience, most bad managers are that way because they don't know better, not because they're actually malicious.

Answer 6

Software Automation can go a long way to dealing with this. Loads of times people just want information that is just boring and repetitive, and that's just what computers are really good at. Think outside the box the next time something stupid is requested and try to code your way out of it.

Some examples:

Problem: "Notify me when our servers go down so that I can contact my networking team"

Solution: Buy some monitoring software, or write something basic that fires off e-mails and floods their Blackberry the next time a server hiccups for a few minutes.

Problem: "I need a report of the status of all our workflows in production every morning".

Solution: Once you've got the SQL query built (which you'd have to do anyway), either leverage your Database reporting services to deliver something dynamic, or build something that pulls the data into an Excel file and fires of... you guessed it... more e-mail. They love e-mail.

Problem: "I need to know your every move, notify me of any changes in status, I want to know when you take lunch, when you pee, and when your heart rate changes"

Solution: Quit, this is a tactic managers use GET RID OF YOU. They are intentionally making your life hell. I've seen it happen.

Answer 7

Your question seems to indicate to me that the PM is overstepping their bounds to the point that they are stepping in Goo (architecture/design details) -- things that should most definitely be out of the realm of a PM.

I've always found a SCRUM like environment/approach to be a satisfactory way of dealing a "micromanager". The key being that this type of project manager is given adequate information during each SCRUM session regarding each piece of the application, and in turn you get to focus the PM on obstacles that may be preventing you from completing the current iteration of your build (in a way abstracting the PM from the details, while letting him know just enough to be effective).

While you did not indicate what general paradigm that your organization follows (perhaps you already have an agile approach to software design) I would suggest that this "approach" is still applicable. Use the PM as another tool -- they should be your resource as much as they are a tool of the business/management. And in the very least remember that if you are the developer architecting a particular solution you know which tasks are in fact "tasks". If the PM is overstepping their bounds you should really communicate that to them, and make suggestions on how they can alter their approach. Ultimately, that will lead to better productivity for all involved.

Answer 8

This is the worlds best article on dealing with micromanagers:

http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2006/07/25/secret_titles.html

Read it, and then read everything else on the site.

Answer 9

A course I've heard about teaches managers not to micromanage in 30 short minutes.

The course leader comes in. Hands the students (About a rooms worth of middle management) a big box filled with screws, bolts and nails. He asks the students "Sort this for me please." Typical micro manager, saying exactly what he wants, and not really saying why. The students, competitative and wishing to be "good boys" get to it. They divise good strategies to sorting and the stuff starts whizzling around the table.

After 30 minutes the course leader comes back. Looks at the table with neat stacks of stuff. Walks up to the table and picks up 2 nails of a specific size. "Great, I really needed these 2 nails" and rakes the rest of the stuff back in the box.

No one misses the point.

(I'm aware that this only solves one half of the Micromanager problem, but for that part it's effective)

Answer 10

micromanagers/control freaks need to make sure that their subordinates are uncomfortable and ill-at-ease. Be REALLY perky, happy, issue-free - the best scenario for the short term..Otherwise, look for another job. You work to live, not live to work.