4 ms·

I had the displeasure of working with an EX-PM from MSFT. Her constant pressure for status reports, the inability to properly gather feedback from the client an

by bliti 11y ago

I had the displeasure of working with an EX-PM from MSFT. Her constant pressure for status reports, the inability to properly gather feedback from the client and the awful ability to write a specifications document made me incredulous. How could someone with a master's in technology (CS and something else) could be so awful? Turns out she didn't even know how to program. In fact, the product she lead then project for was significantly different than what the client required. She was fired after the client threatened to pull the project if she stayed on board. I would speak to her and try to understand what was her main goal. Could never find anything aside of just being in charge and aiming to get all the credit. This person was more fit to work at the DMV.

bigger_cheese 11y ago
To be fair shouldn't your manger be the one shielding you from all this crap. Thats how things work in my job - which is in the "non-software" engineering world. I'm an engineer I do technical work it is the responsibility of my manager, (who is a former engineer) to sit in on all the meetings so I can get on with my work if something relevent to me or our team comes up he disseminates it to us. We had an issue last year. Our team was working on a largish project and we had one of those micromanaging PM's who was bugging a collegaue and I, similar thing to your complaints constainly demanding status updates from us trying to sneak scope/specification changes through the backdoor etc. All it took was one complaint to our manager and he tore the meddling PM a new one. After that everything came down through the approriate chanels and we were able to deal with things in peace, we didn't have to waste hours dealing with an incompetant project manager. I'm not usually a fan of "top heavy" management structures but in this case perfect example of management working as intended.
- bliti 11y ago
  I'm glad that worked out for you. In my case the PM reported to the CEO. Who was a passive aggressive tool. All management in this company was just awful, but somehow the tech team that was based in the america and europe was pretty awesome (the minority). Consequently, management's actions and lack of common sense lead them to get sued and lose clients. They did a rebranding and moved most development to India.

by bliti 11y ago

bigger_cheese 11y ago

To be fair shouldn't your manger be the one shielding you from all this crap. Thats how things work in my job - which is in the "non-software" engineering world. I'm an engineer I do technical work it is the responsibility of my manager, (who is a former engineer) to sit in on all the meetings so I can get on with my work if something relevent to me or our team comes up he disseminates it to us. We had an issue last year. Our team was working on a largish project and we had one of those micromanaging PM's who was bugging a collegaue and I, similar thing to your complaints constainly demanding status updates from us trying to sneak scope/specification changes through the backdoor etc. All it took was one complaint to our manager and he tore the meddling PM a new one. After that everything came down through the approriate chanels and we were able to deal with things in peace, we didn't have to waste hours dealing with an incompetant project manager. I'm not usually a fan of "top heavy" management structures but in this case perfect example of management working as intended.

bliti 11y ago
I'm glad that worked out for you. In my case the PM reported to the CEO. Who was a passive aggressive tool. All management in this company was just awful, but somehow the tech team that was based in the america and europe was pretty awesome (the minority). Consequently, management's actions and lack of common sense lead them to get sued and lose clients. They did a rebranding and moved most development to India.