Examples of Management idiocy, part 1

[Mich the Tester]

DutchNews.nl - Alpha, bravo makes Dutch railways unsafe

Feel free to add your own examples.

I may someday collate them in a book called 'Why the world would be better off without managers'.

[malvolio]

DutchNews.nl - Alpha, bravo makes Dutch railways unsafe

Feel free to add your own examples.

I may someday collate them in a book called 'Why the world would be better off without managers'.

I could easily reverse the question: why life would be easier without non-managers trying to second guess management.

Go do the job, then criticise. Meanwhile, do what you're paid to do. It's much easier.

[Mich the Tester]

I could easily reverse the question: why life would be easier without non-managers trying to second guess management.

Go do the job, then criticise. Meanwhile, do what you're paid to do. It's much easier.

I've done management. I was even rather good at it, according to several clients. However, I can earn more as a specialist now. I concluded that a good manager needs three qualities;

1 knowing approximately what you're talking about
2 common sense
3 a half decent upbringing

Unfortunately all three are in short supply.

Other than that, management is overhyped, overrated and too often overpaid. It is a pseudo-profession that rarely adds value and more often gets in the way of people with real skills. Some people with skills can learn it on the job or alongside the job, but it's a secondary skill and not the primary requirement for getting things done.

[sasguru]

I could easily reverse the question: why life would be easier without non-managers trying to second guess management.

Go do the job, then criticise. Meanwhile, do what you're paid to do. It's much easier.

I would agree with this to a certain extent.
It's hard being a manager, a difficulty narrow-focused techies who can't see the big picture usually underestimate.
But the problem is that, especially in the UK, there are some tulip-poor "managers" who really don't know what they're up to: look at the success rate for large IT projects in the public sector: it's close to 0%.

[Mich the Tester]

I would agree with this to a certain extent.
It's hard being a manager, a difficulty narrow-focused techies who can't see the big picture usually underestimate.
But the problem is that, especially in the UK, there are some tulip-poor "managers" who really don't know what they're up to: look at the success rate for large IT projects in the public sector: it's close to 0%.

Certainly not just the UK, but in many different countries. That's why I said management starts with knowing what you're talking about, and then it's about having the common sense to take decisions and the upbringing to deal with people properly.

[DaveB]

Reading the article this one strikes me as more a case of the railway staff whinging about having to do/learn something new than management getting it wrong.

[Mich the Tester]

Reading the article this one strikes me as more a case of the railway staff whinging about having to do/learn something new than management getting it wrong.

No, it's lunacy; it's already resulted in ambulances going to the wrong platforms and a train going full speed through a station when it was supposed to go at walking pace. Over. Roger that, over.

[minestrone]

I'm sure the slaves building the colosseum thought they could do better job if they were in charge.

[proggy]

Reading the article this one strikes me as more a case of the railway staff whinging about having to do/learn something new than management getting it wrong.

I agree, moving to the NATO phonetic alphabet will actually make communication clearer, that is the whole point of it.

[Mich the Tester]

I'm sure the slaves building the colosseum thought they could do better job if they were in charge.

Perhaps they could. Are you crediting the management for the colosseum? It was architecture, craftsmanship and sweat that built it, not some fancy poncy managerman with a glossary of acronyms and a spreadsheet. Amazingly enough, real craftsmen are often able to lead.