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ComputerToucher
2y

Anyone else have that kind of manager who you ask a simple, single sentence question of, and get a ten volume essay of a response back from?

How do you deal? I'm usually a very capable, independent and initiative driven person but holy fuck.

All we need here is a:

"Hey manager, you assigned me this thing. I'm wondering what we should do about this particular edge case I've seen a few times in past roles?"

and a

"I'm not sure. Check with Steve, he should know, as his team worked on it and did x, y and z. If he doesn't know, come back to me"

and we're done.

Instead I get the entire Lord of the Rings saga written in zalgo.

rant
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Comments
  • 7
    2y
    Hey @ComputerToucher

    The other side here.
    My experience usually finds that I can not give you a simple answer to such an edge case because it is.. an edge case.
    Which your manager would not have the capacities to investigate further.
    So in order to produce a valid result, context may be crucial.

    Your manager wants you to exercise your freedom of thought and gives you the necessary information to do so.
    Otherwise he'd be doing your job.

    Oof. That sounds harsher than the friendly advice I had intended to give.
    I believe you get the essence.
  • 1
    2y
    @scor I don’t think what you’ve said is harsh at all. Not sure how to really reply either.

    I appreciate having context and information, but his responses feel much more like information overload, two dump trucks of a message that could and probably should be much simpler, and often times…it does not even answer the actual question.

    I’m talking about four or five, sometimes more paragraphs of writing for questions like “are we deprioritizing x?” Or “do we still want to work on y this sprint?”

    So thanks I guess if nothing else. It doesn’t feel like it really fits here, but thanks, I grok your underlying meaning but…yeah.
  • 3
    2y
    i hate when i text people a simple question and they call to answer me what would take 30 seconds to type
  • 1
    2y
    That's frustrating. You could pretend you're an actor in a scene and make a church steeple with your fingers and nod and say Uh-huh. Because I think they're only listening to themselves. If you smile when you do it they'll become paranoid and their lectures will shorten to haiku.
  • 0
    2y
    Yeah, that happens sometimes. In such cases i just do the research myself and decide abouth the best thing to do. Managers like customers most often don't actually know what they want anyways...
  • 0
    2y
    I just say something along the lines of:

    "I will keep that in mind. However, that does not really answer my question."

    Then I just repeat the question. I'm in an hourly wage so I don't mind if my manager decides to use my time reciting Lord of the Rings at me. He pays for my time, not my efficiency.
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