managementÆs misuse of available resources 10

[boffintech]

This is a link to a story of management’s inability to properly use available resources.

http://www.airdisaster.com/cvr/cvr_ea401.shtml

It’s an extreme example; people died. The story illustrates a point: management is very often focused on the insignificant much to determent of the big picture and the little people.

I shared this story with my manager. To no one’s surprise he failed to see the analogy. They just do not want to hear it and especially not from a tech.

 

[boffintech]

Debodine wrote, “However, it was a harsh and non-specific criticism of boffintech's boss, and I can't see a normal human boss responding to that analogy positively.”

In my defense I didn’t preset the story to my boss as a direct criticism. I presented it to him and his second as a “hey check out this very interesting story” and just left it at that. However, now and then as appropriate occasions present themselves I mention “little green light” in a not so slightly sardonic tone. Not for sure if they get my meaning. Too smartass?

 

[debodine]

boffintech:

Interestingly, unlike my aviation example, now I am the outsider who is not privy to all the facts. Of course I offered an uninformed and unsolicited opinion without having the context. I did not mean to sound critical of you, and I apologize that I sounded that way. Only you are qualified to judge what comments you may use with your managers, as only you and they know your working relationship.

Out of context (from my outsider viewpoint), I thought the story could have negative consequences. In context (your on the spot viewpoint), it may be entirely appropriate. I know I occasionally make sardonic (I HOPE they don't sound sarcastic) comments to my boss too! I often say them in a teasing way, but I confess I definitely intend to influence his thinking patterns when I do.

debodine

 

[Zapster]

boffintech , you have recently made three post in the “How to Improve Myself to Get Ahead in My Work” forum. I recognize that the following statements you made are not given in context; however, it does looks like a pattern.

1. I shared this story with my manager. To no one’s surprise he failed to see the analogy.

2. This just sooooo parallels most of the managers that I know.

3. in a not so slightly sardonic tone. Not for sure if they get my meaning.

4. annual reviews = load of crap

5. There are lots of categories that I think I should be given a 5 in but I can only get a 3 out of this guy.

6. and he is sitting there behind his big desk.

Your attitude will shine through most anything you say to your boss. Do you feel that you have a good attitude when working with your boss?

 

[ScottyUK]

debodine,

Thanks for taking the time to post the details of that incident. Interesting stuff.


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I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

 

[debodine]

kontiki99 was seeking the NTSB report for this incident. Here is a link to the overview on the NTSB website.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=66756&key=0#

The entire report is available in PDF format at this link on the Aviation-Safety website:

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19721229-0

debodine

 

[boffintech]

Zapster wrote, "Do you feel that you have a good attitude when working with your boss?"

No. But not on my part. I always give 110% to whatever I am assigned, but my potential is definitely overlooked and I am consistently underutilized. They claim that they want problem solvers and leaders but what they really want is followers, just some one to perform simple repetitive tests.

It's frustrating and not likely to be that much different anywhere else. At least I know the evils here. Moving only opens the door to a whole new set of unknown evils.

 

[ScottyUK]

boffintech,

Out of interest, do you mind if I ask your age? I am guessing that you are mid-to-late 20's. I'm interested if my guess is somewhere near the mark.

You can't continue to have a "me against the world" attitude toward your manager: he has a boss too and probably has less leeway than you think in many of his decisions. He also has to consider all the people who work for him and he is likely to favour those who help him do his job rather than those who make it harder for him. Maybe he has flaws - I know my manager has, just like I have - but picking on his failings to cover your own won't win you any friends. Pretending that you are perfect without acknowledging that you too have flaws makes you appear arrogant, which will further irritate your manager.

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I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

 

[RDK]

Most criticism of managers comes after the fact and from a very limited viewpoint.

It is always easy to criticize any action after the fact. You have the benefit of how things actually happened and usually more information than the manager had at the same time.

Anyone can be a Monday morning quarterback; real quarterbacks are not quite as common. The guys who are the actual quarterbacks on Sunday afternoons make the big bucks because they usually deliver the goods when it matters rather than talking about it afterwards.

The second criticism is usually limited in scope. Managers have to satisfy if not optimize many different variables and players. Someone looking at any one of these variables will always say that the result could have been better for that variable. This of course ignores the decrease in the result for any of the other variables and will often be a less satisfactory result once all factors are taken into account.

Good managers are worth every penny they get. If managing was as easy as the detractors claim then anyone could do the job and a manager would be paid less than a worker engineer.

Since there are many fewer managers than engineers out there and they generally get paid more than engineers I can only conclude that managers are worth more than and are rarer than engineers.

Yes I am a manager.

Yes I have an MBA

And finally yes I think that my job is harder and riskier than being a technical engineer and the extra money I earn is small compensation for the extra training, effort and personal risk that I undertake but I like doing it because through effectively managing the resources available to me I can increase the benefits of the result for all involved and get more personal satisfaction from being a key player in delivering a finished project.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[FACS]

Excellent RDK Response.

I had frustrations somewhere during my 5th year of employment. I decided to learn about business instead of complaining about it. I negotiated a MBA degree, and found out "WHY" they make the decisions they make.

Boffintec.... I have learned one very important thing in the last 20-years... now pay attention:

ATTITUDE is 80% of success.

I don't care how good an engineer you are; come in with a bad attitude, and I'll show you the door.

Charlie

http://www.facsco.com

 

[kontiki99]

I agree with FACS, there's plenty of people to wave their hands telling everyone how things "should" be.

The worst of the lot take advantage of critical moments to stage showdowns when the resources are spread thin.

I call them blazing saddles hostages, do it my way now or:

- our company gets it
- our customers get it
- our I kill our business opportunity
- I snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
etc.

 

[planedr]

I agree with FACS RDK and kontiki99. BUT there are those dumb*** Managers who are where they are simply due to being there the longest or because they work best on their knees. There is no hope nor resolution for those. Nor are they better educated or better trained. Often the company gets by despite that lot, they are almost always oblivious even when provided data (truth). Often it seems that the good people left because they could, those guys couldn't or wouldn't.

I like to think I was one that could (and did)!

My new group has their faults as well, as we all do. I also feel that part of being effective as a leader and as an Engineer, is knowing and accepting ones own limitations. Some Managers are oblivious, even some well educated ones, some not all. The Pointy Hair Boss came from somewhere.

 

[epoisses]

Sure the Pointy Hais Boss came from somewhere, but does he represents the average manager or is he a projection of the average frustrated underperforming employee?

I used to like Dilbert a lot until I became a team leader myself and found out that things are not as easy as they seemed. Managers should be judged by their results (department financial and HSE results), not by our own subjective motivational thermometer.

IMHO if one can't manage to have an effective working relationship with one's boss, how could one ever effectively manage a team or an organisation?

 

[HgTX]

The Peter Principle is real.

It's a lovely rosy picture that we should never question authority because they have the full picture and we don't, but it's crap.

(My second statement applies to both management and government.)

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[epoisses]

we SHOULD question authority
even if we don't have the full picture
because they don't either

 

[SomptingGuy]

When I see the jobs that my manager (and his for that matter) do, I just feel glad that someone likes that kind of work. I don't!

From personal experience, "pointy-haired" managers tend to fill ill-defined roles. Like HR, QA, Strategy, Marketing, etc.

 

[MrMojito]

The managers aren't the ones at my workplace that get to go to all the dangerous parts of NYC like they send me to (unescorted). They get to sit at their desks in a comfortable office while I'm alone in a combat zone. Yes, their jobs are difficult, but they sometimes utilize WW2 Soviet Army style tactics like sending the troops on suicide missions, so that they instead don't get shot for cowardice. Who's job do you think is more dangerous (mine) and guess who makes more money? (They do).

 

[SomptingGuy]

I suppose I do go into a "combat zone" sometimes. But it's always clear that as a mere techie, I'm not cleared for policy decisions. And my bosses do realise that and come with me when required. Fortunately there's nothing mortally dangerous in my line of work.

 

[jmw]

Since there are many fewer managers than engineers out there and they generally get paid more than engineers I can only conclude that managers are worth more than and are rarer than engineers.

Justification? What is the basis for the conclusion?

In an ideal world, maybe. Or perhaps the adjective "good" is missing from that description in which case "hens teeth" is also missing.

If there are more management positions than there are ideal candidates, then some of those positions get filled with idiots. This is true with any profession and at any level.
Of course, the Management Rule Book is supposed to control their every action but it doesn't stop them being idiots.

Example:
I spent two-three years on a new product development, managing every aspect of it, frequently working a full week at the office and then flying out to the clients test site for 5 or 6 weekends on the trot as it went into the 18000 hr test phase.
At the final meeting with the client (you'll all know the name)who fielded both their Technical Managers and their Purchasing Manager(and the fact that purchasing was there is a favourable indicator) our "pointy haired" ones were present in battalion strength complete with the local agent through whom they routed the final proposal.

A global, single source deal and the Business Manager (who had to front this to the board for investment) and the Regional Sales Manager had no idea what price the local agent had put on the deal.

After I gave a technical summary, their technical guys said very simply, "We have approved this equipment for use on our machines."
The purchasing manager then said: "We are prepared to pay 6000 per unit."

Even an idiot ought to recognise that as two buying signals and a price objection... but apparently there are degrees of idiocy.

The pointy hairs got up and left in a huff and never looked back.

The project was based around the client saying "we'd be prepared to go to 6000" right at the start.
This meant we could accept the 6000 (and maybe cut the agents throat, as they should have done anyway, if they didn't want to share) and still make their xx% margin if they cared enough to negotiate.

It took me two years to get back in without the pointy haired ones and close the deal at a price comfortably higher than 6000, and about what I had originally projected.

I'd had to wait out two business managers: the one from the meeting got promoted and his replacement (corporate merger in between) retired.

Each years delay in getting to market represents losing around 30% of the lifetime profits (The Engineer).
This delay allowed the competition back in to the market when they should have gone under.
So these guys wasted four years of my life and two years time to market (we are talking millions lost and I don't mean Turkish lira).

Dilbert has it spot on.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[MikeHalloran]

My wife didn't like "Dilbert" the TV show because it was too dark.

I found it too real.

;---

I worked for ten years on an entirely new product, only to watch the third generation prototypes (that, at last, worked perfectly) go into the dumpster. We're talking billions of dollars lost, and hundreds of thousand of lives not saved from a painful early death. The market is still unserved, but the basic patents have run out, so now there's no way to recover an investment.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[ziggi]

When my wife asks what I do at work, I tell her to watch the Dilbert TV show or read the comic strip, she thinks I'm just kidding....little does she know.