# Being micromanaged at work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208 "2012-11-16T16:41:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/21 "2012-11-16T19:07:07Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > I have found that my micro-managers actually do not have enough work to keep them busy or they don’t really know how to do Their job but are used to doing yours. Either way the situation is usually resolved by someone higher up and sometimes YOU have to be the one to alert the higher ups. How you alert them can determine your own future however so tread lightly. I’m going to do what I always do. Out-perform everyone else here and hope for the best. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/22 "2012-11-16T19:09:06Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > I have this sort of thing going on at work myself. We have to provide reports of everything we do, and now we’re being forced to check in when we arrive, go to lunch, leave. Part of the reason is our manager is incompetent, but part of it is also that the contract is up for recompete. The problem is, these people don’t realize just how horrible this stuff is for getting work done and overall morale. I work as a software engineer, so every time I get distracted while I’m in stream, you probably wasted no less than 15-20 minutes of my time on top of whatever you distracted me for. And when you kill my morale, I’m less motivated to go the extra mile and just provide exactly what’s required of me. What’s worse, is our manager doesn’t know anything about coding or scripting or a majority of the projects that we’re working on, so when something that looks easy is taking too long, people just get punished and the project takes longer because of more wasted time, and it’s a vicious cycle. Nevermind that everything you don’t look at and don’t know anything about either looks ridiculously easy or impossibly hard. > > Anyway, I refuse to be passive agressive with my boss and be cheerful about it and hope to annoy it into non-existence. I’m here to do my job and this stuff just kills my productivity and my morale. And when it’s reached a point where I can’t remember the last time I didn’t hate going to work, it’s time to stop fooling myself that I can change that situation and just find another job. Fortunately, it does seem like more of the newer companies are figuring out that micromanagement is outdated and counterproductive, so I’m hopeful there’s enough of those out there that maybe when more people start changing jobs and being more productive, that style will die a slow death. > > The other problem with the whole passive-aggressive cheerful approach is that the sort of manager that is too egotisical, incompetent, or untrusting to feel the need to micromanage is also likely to see that sort of response as positive feedback, only making it worse. > > So really, I just think the options are, suck it up and deal with it, resist it, complain about it, or provide alternatives and risk the consequences, or quit. Preach it, brother! I think there’s an outside chance we actually work for the same company. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/23 "2012-11-16T19:10:20Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Ugh, I once had a horrible boss who micromanaged everyone to near death. At one point, she wanted me to run every e-mail I sent by her! Pure craziness. I complied at first, then kind of went the Anaamika route, asking her permission before _everything_, but I got sick of it before the boss did. I eventually just stopped doing the ridiculous bullshit she was requesting of me. Just plain stopped doing it, and went about doing the job I was paid to do, instead feeding into her control issues, or whatever her problem was. I was taking more time preparing status reports of every light switch I flipped than I was doing my actual job. For a while that seemed to be okay, but then something crawled up her ass again and she went back to being crazy. I got fed up and quit. I worked there for months, and just could not take it anymore. I’m experiencing a deliberate, organized version of what you describe. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/24 "2012-11-16T19:17:41Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > I’m going to do what I always do. Out-perform everyone else here and hope for the best. That doesn’t always work, and can even work to your deteriment. To use my own example, there have been a few people who were the only ones here who had the skills to do certain work, but because the manager didn’t understand the work they did, seemed to think they weren’t doing enough, and just got more micromanaging and just random crap. They all eventually left, and now those jobs are either being done in a much more tedious way, getting done wrong, or just plain not getting done. And even if you are more productive, some bosses would rather have two kiss-asses than one competent but “defiant” employee. Hell, a lot of them see a level of autonomy as a threat, or the lack of reporting of work being done as evidence of work being undone. There’s a guy here, pretty terrible at what he does, but sends out status reports at least once a day, often two or three times a day. No one wants to work with him, but he keeps getting put on high priority projects because, surprise, the micromanaging boss thinks he’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/25 "2012-11-16T19:18:54Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Preach it, brother! I think there’s an outside chance we actually work for the same company. General Dynamics? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/26 "2012-11-16T19:33:59Z")
\*\*Winston Smith \*\*has a cold, and is depressed about work because he’s watched too closely. I think I just heard a clock strike 13. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/27 "2012-11-16T19:39:12Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > I am a good employee. But the things that make me a good employee (at least in my field) aren’t really compatible with being micromanaged. Earlier this year, I worked with the micromanager from hell. She would stop me in the middle of throwing something away and want to know what it was, for Christ’s sake. Everybody hated her. The final straw for me was when she forbade me from asking my coworker questions about work, because she wanted every single question about everything to go through her, so she could know exactly what I do and don’t know. I left that job months ago and I still get pissed off when I think about her. I love my current job and my boss is pretty much the opposite extreme. What I’m telling you is find a new job before you become an empty, bitter shell of a human being. I’m not a person prone to hate, but I fucking _hate_ that woman. I hope her organization fails spectacularly. I still daydream about telling her off, and get all angry for no damn reason. Don’t become me. Oh, and if you absolutely must work there, find some time where you can get together with your coworkers and just bitch about your boss. That’s how we survived. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/28 "2012-11-16T19:39:57Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > That doesn’t always work, and can even work to your deteriment. To use my own example, there have been a few people who were the only ones here who had the skills to do certain work, but because the manager didn’t understand the work they did, seemed to think they weren’t doing enough, and just got more micromanaging and just random crap. They all eventually left, and now those jobs are either being done in a much more tedious way, getting done wrong, or just plain not getting done. > > And even if you are more productive, some bosses would rather have two kiss-asses than one competent but “defiant” employee. Hell, a lot of them see a level of autonomy as a threat, or the lack of reporting of work being done as evidence of work being undone. There’s a guy here, pretty terrible at what he does, but sends out status reports at least once a day, often two or three times a day. No one wants to work with him, but he keeps getting put on high priority projects because, surprise, the micromanaging boss thinks he’s awesome. I work very hard, volunteer for most anything that comes my way, take on new challenges and learn new skills. I lead all new technology deployments, run the projects, manage the upgrades, mentor staff. My name is on everything, and I’m widely sought after to assist on projects in other departments. I’m not exactly defiant. I do what I’m told to do, and I do it well. Even these reports. As much as I don’t like doing them, my reports are held up as an example of how they should be written. My real problem is that I actually (for the most part) enjoy my job - it’s interesting, challenging and intellectually stimulating. But this sort of micromanaging nonsense is a huge distraction and makes me less productive. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/29 "2012-11-16T19:40:28Z")
Oh man, I feel your pain. I recently posted a workplace gripe about being dinged on my end-of-year performance review because apparently I didn’t keep my boss informed enough about my work during the year. This despite me sending weekly summaries to her, having weekly one-on-ones with her, and setting up monthly meetings in the office for discussing project updates. Never mind also that she never even told me this was a problem until she evaluated me. Hopefully the boss doesn’t expect you to read his mind too, because that trait combined with micromanagment is a comical nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/30 "2012-11-16T19:45:17Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Earlier this year, I worked with the micromanager from hell. She would stop me in the middle of throwing something away and want to know what it was, for Christ’s sake. Everybody hated her. The final straw for me was when she forbade me from asking my coworker questions about work, because she wanted every single question about everything to go through her, so she could know exactly what I do and don’t know. I left that job months ago and I still get pissed off when I think about her. I love my current job and my boss is pretty much the opposite extreme. > > What I’m telling you is find a new job before you become an empty, bitter shell of a human being. I’m not a person prone to hate, but I fucking _hate_ that woman. I hope her organization fails spectacularly. I still daydream about telling her off, and get all angry for no damn reason. Don’t become me. > > Oh, and if you absolutely must work there, find some time where you can get together with your coworkers and just bitch about your boss. That’s how we survived. I’ve taken some tentative steps toward the door. I’ve actually landed a side-job that could turn into a permanent, full-time gig if I want it to. Here’s the thing: my (immediate) boss (between me and micromanager) knows I’m getting tired of the BS, so he’s doing what he can to keep me happy. So, I pretty much come and go as I please, take comp days when I want, and he’s arranging some business travel for me - Houston, China and UK (because he knows I like to travel). So, it’s not all terrible. My boss is a really good guy, and we understand each other. And I think he’s made it clear that I’m the capstone employee. So, I’ve got some incentive to ride this out. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/31 "2012-11-16T19:50:07Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Oh man, I feel your pain. I recently posted a workplace gripe about being dinged on my end-of-year performance review because apparently I didn’t keep my boss informed enough about my work during the year. This despite me sending weekly summaries to her, having weekly one-on-ones with her, and setting up monthly meetings in the office for discussing project updates. Never mind also that she never even told me this was a problem until she evaluated me. Hopefully the boss doesn’t expect you to read his mind too, because that trait combined with micromanagment is a comical nightmare. I think the yearly review is a bunch of bullshit. Last year, my boss dinged me for not communicating well enough well enough, so I stepped up my game in that regard, and asked him fairly regularly if I’d improved. He said I had improved remarkably, and that it was no longer and issue. Till review time again. I reminded him of the previous year and he just sort of shrugged. It is a deliberate method of denying you any more than a cost of living increase every year (if that), by focusing on your shortcomings instead of your strong points. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/32 "2012-11-16T20:19:17Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > I’m going to do what I always do. Out-perform everyone else here and hope for the best. If this guy is like my boss, he’ll look for a fault in you to complain about. Pleasing a micromanager is like playing a game of wack-a-mole. Better hope his management style is a sign of incompetence so massive that his higher ups can’t tolerate it, and he’s let go. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/33 "2012-11-16T20:33:46Z")
As a middle manager, I get to both micromanage and be micromanaged at the same time! Seriously though, most of the advice given so far is terrible. Speaking as a manager, one of the challenges with any employee or team of employees is making sure they are working on the correct tasks and working on them correctly. You don’t want to be up their ass micromanaging every detail (otherwise you could just do it yourself), and you don’t want to be so removed that no one on your team knows what you look like. How do you report your time? When I was in management consulting, we would have to file our time every week through our online time management software. Everyone hated doing in, but it has to be done because that’s how the company gets paid. It’s also how practice leaders measure overall performance of the business. Tracking time is different from managing tasks. Believe me, if you find that I am up your ass every two minutes, it’s because you have somehow proven to me that you either don’t know what you are doing, don’t seem to be getting it done in a timely manner or otherwise not doing your job properly. Chances are, since your director is new, a lot of his micromanagement may be the result of him trying to learn what you actually do. I find it interesting that much of his reporting is based on “what you are doing” versus “here is what I’d like you to do”. Being a new manager is difficult because you are supposed to be the trusted leader and expert, but you don’t really know anything about your team, what they work on, or the interal processes within the company. My advice, and what I typically do with both my underdrones and the overgoons I report to, is to set up a formal communication plan. Typically once a week, send a detailed email of what accomplished that week, what you plan to work on the following week, any longer term activities in your pipeline and any issues, risks or challenges you face. Try to set up a time each week to discuss as well. What will typically happen is once your manager trusts that you know what you are doing and are getting the job done, he won’t need to be up your ass every two minutes. I’d also offer to spend some time with him teaching him about what you do. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/34 "2012-11-16T20:43:40Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > I think the yearly review is a bunch of bullshit. Last year, my boss dinged me for not communicating well enough well enough, so I stepped up my game in that regard, and asked him fairly regularly if I’d improved. He said I had improved remarkably, and that it was no longer and issue. Till review time again. I reminded him of the previous year and he just sort of shrugged. > > It is a deliberate method of denying you any more than a cost of living increase every year (if that), by focusing on your shortcomings instead of your strong points. Performance reviews are bullshit. They are just a way for companies to exert control over their employees. Unless you are in sales and have actual tangible numbers to guage your performance by, they are completely arbitrary. At the end of the day, most places will simply rank you in order by how much the management team likes you, whether it’s a forced curve grading, the Jack Welch A,B, C ranking system or just a straight ranking. The actual raises are determined by your groups budget. Also, the company doesn’t need any rationale for “denying you any more than a cost of living increase”. They will just pay whatever they think the market thinks your worth until there is an exodus of key personal. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/35 "2012-11-16T20:48:48Z")
I agree with **msmith537’s** post. In addition, keeping detailed track of what you are doing is not necessarily micromanaging, and as posted above regarding consulting billing, I’ve been in environments where every 15 minutes was tracked. Micromanaging is when they tell you exactly how to do the stuff you are doing. That’s annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/36 "2012-11-16T20:53:36Z")
I’ve been doing my job for five years. My current supervisor is the one who hired me to do it. I’ve always kicked ass at it. Now we have a new director who is apparently forcing his supervisors to hold their employees “more accountable.” Than means micromanage in my (and most of my peers’) book. Also, I am no longer able to come up with ideas on my own; I have to drive a program that I’m handed in the exact way I’m told, no argument, no input, with constant dressing-down when I do anything my own way. How do I handle it? I’m actively and aggressively looking for a new job. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/37 "2012-11-16T20:55:15Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > I agree with **msmith537’s** post. > > In addition, keeping detailed track of what you are doing is not necessarily micromanaging, and as posted above regarding consulting billing, I’ve been in environments where every 15 minutes was tracked. > > Micromanaging is when they tell you exactly how to do the stuff you are doing. That’s annoying. He does. Not so much with me but a lot with my team. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/38 "2012-11-16T21:42:43Z")
I deal with it by finding something else to do. It’s an intolerable working condition in my book. One of the reasons I’ve spent most of my life working for myself. At the moment I work for someone else and I have the opposite problem, management is too hands off. I end up doing their job for them. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/39 "2012-11-16T21:51:11Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I’ve been doing my job for five years. My current supervisor is the one who hired me to do it. I’ve always kicked ass at it. Now we have a new director who is apparently forcing his supervisors to hold their employees “more accountable.” Than means micromanage in my (and most of my peers’) book. Also, I am no longer able to come up with ideas on my own; I have to drive a program that I’m handed in the exact way I’m told, no argument, no input, with constant dressing-down when I do anything my own way. > > How do I handle it? I’m actively and aggressively looking for a new job. Not so Happy, eh? I handle micromanaging the same way as everyone else; do what they’re asking for, bitch to my co-workers/husband, quit if it gets completely insane. I probably have a higher tolerance for it than a lot of workers, being a temporary office worker. I get paid by the hour; if you want to spend hours of my day filling in reports of what I’m doing with my time, fine by me. I get paid the same as actually being productive. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208/40 "2012-11-16T22:35:39Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Performance reviews are bullshit. They are just a way for companies to exert control over their employees. Unless you are in sales and have actual tangible numbers to guage your performance by, they are completely arbitrary. At the end of the day, most places will simply rank you in order by how much the management team likes you, whether it’s a forced curve grading, the Jack Welch A,B, C ranking system or just a straight ranking. The actual raises are determined by your groups budget. > > Also, the company doesn’t need any rationale for “denying you any more than a cost of living increase”. They will just pay whatever they think the market thinks your worth until there is an exodus of key personal. Raises are determined by budget, but usually over the whole group. But what happens is that Bob is below market, and Sandy has really valuable institutional knowledge and has been showing up dressed in suits and leaving work early and they want to keep her. Then you have John, who really does need to get promoted, he’s been acting at a senior level for two years, but the budget doesn’t exist, so the manager cuts a deal to promote him within budget. So they budget a 3% increase, Bob gets 4%, Sandy gets a big 5% raise, and John gets his promotion and a 5% raise (and is now below market, next year he’s Bob) - even if their performance numbers are the same as everyone else’s - and everyone else gets less than the 3%. Way back when I had a group and a budget, the game “who do we NEED to reward and who can we screw over” had to happen every year. It was not a fun game, but that was how it worked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-micromanaged-at-work/641208.md?page=3)