21 signs of BAD MANAGERS I met in my career as a software manager

Ionel CondorNovember 23rd, 2013Last Updated: November 22nd, 2013

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21 signs of BAD MANAGERS I met in my career as a software manager:

Bias against action or against planning, simply waiting or postponing for ever; embrace the status-quo
Secrecy, not willing to share information. giving the feeling that having access to information is a privilege reserved to managers
Working very long hours to prove hard work or hide incompetence
Over-sensitivity, someone that reacts immediately but the reaction is not a real response but mostly an emotional fact
Brain washed by procedures and processes; favor a process instead of getting things done
Expect the people to read they minds; hand in hand with secrecy – i keep the info for me and then blame people for not acting
Preference for weak employees or candidates, feeling threatened by the super-competent employees or candidates
Focus on small tasks, missing the big picture and favoring details on a specific task where he is competent
Inability to hire former employees: none of his former colleagues were convinced to join him in his new company or he is simply someone that never mentored anyone or never took time to inspire anyone that can trust him
Not setting deadlines, the work is done when is done …why bother with time boxed iterations
Favoring consultants instead of growing his staff
Letting his employees feel like an anonym and irrelevant person that does not make any difference if stay or go
Not measuring and not giving feedback based on real metrics and expectations previously communicated and clarified (not on feelings and emotions)
Not telling people what he is expecting from them
Micromanaging
Sneaky boss – someone that is continuously acting or talking behind his employees’ backs so they are never sure where they stand
Managing his boss more than growing his staff , and this is sometimes ok, but in general only to protect his staff or the company from bad decisions coming from superior management
Divide and Conquer – strong believer in internal competition more than in the internal collaboration
Ignoring non-performers – usually we are tempted to build on strengths and recognize top performers, but at the end “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”
Stealing credit – if we win I will stick my name at the top, if we loose it is definitely because the team is not mature enough or understaffed or ….simply “acted without my knowledge, they need some control”
Not believing that HIS JOB IS TO BUILD THE TEAM AND THE ORG, AND THE TEAM AND THE ORG WILL FIGURE OUT HOW TO BUILD THE PRODUCT !!!
My product as a dev manager is the ORG and/or the TEAM.