IT managers' top 10 peeves about the boss
When TechRepublic asked IT managers for their peeves about CIOs and other tech executives, the responses came fast and furious. We expected the usual—he/she never listens to me, or I know more than he/she knows but I'm not appreciated—but we didn’t expect so many managers to write that they hoped their CIO would read their gripe and work to change their behavior and attitude. It was a bit surprising, and a little disheartening, to read members’ stories; they clearly love their jobs, but obviously aren't enthralled with their boss and his or her level of skills in various areas.
Though it’s tough medicine to swallow, CIOs and VPs are well advised to read the (anonymous) peeves that made the top 10 list and adjust their management approaches and habits accordingly. Not only will it enhance and strengthen your management relationships, it’s likely to boost your management productivity.
No. 10: Doesn’t support my decision-making
I've been in situations where I can justify why a project should be put on hold, and my boss agrees with me. However, the user (or his manager) then goes to his boss, who talks to my boss's boss, and all of a sudden, I am doing the project anyway. In this situation, I lose credibility, and I impact the plan of another project. If that project is another user's, I potentially affect the metrics from user surveys.
No. 9: Doesn’t respect the staff's knowledge
I get peeved when I have an "urgent" request from a user and the boss keeps changing his mind on whether he wants me to do the project or not. I believe I was hired to help evaluate whether a project should be done or not, and my comments and opinions are ignored. For example, if I recommend a project, he turns it down, but then the user goes directly to him, and the project is done! I lose a lot of credibility that way.
No. 8: Repeatedly assigns the same work tasks
He tells me what to do more than once. This makes me feel like he thinks I'm a "moron" and makes him look like he has "CRS" (Can't Remember Stuff syndrome).
No. 7: Provides no consistent communication
[The boss] never keeps the staff informed. He starts out having monthly meetings for two months then abandons those so then nobody knows what anybody is doing or what is forthcoming. [On top of this] he gets mad when you don't get it done because he knew about it for three weeks and told you less than a week before it is due. Soon after, he starts up the meetings again but they end up going away soon after.
No. 6: Can't keep his meddling fingers away
My boss always rechecks user accounts and user policies and enters a witty quote into everyone’s description fields. Then he always corrects me by entering capitals into peoples' usernames and full names, and also in the public document folders on our servers. He must have better things to do.
No. 5: Is ignorant on tech issues
I'm bothered by the fact that just because he is my boss, he should act like he knows everything about the services that we provide, although he sometimes doesn't. Case in point: The fact that since I am more technically oriented than he is, and have more direct say in the aspects that finally reflect the cost of our products, means that I know more about the costing structure than he does. But, there are times when he will try to impose his perceived cost, not the actual cost (that is usually lower) as the cost of the product.
He also gets away with criticizing at every opportunity that presents itself—which we [the managers] can never do in return when he stumps at something. I guess that’s why we call him boss.