Re: What do they want?

I think I might have the answer to your question. I am a senior manager of the IS department where I work - BUT - I am also a very technical person as well - that's where my roots are - so to speak.

My observation from being in this industry for about 20 years now - and most of that time being in the position where you find yourself - lends me to my observations on this topic.

1. Managers usually are faced with a particular topic or challenge where they need technical support or a technical solution.

2. In their attempt at providing the solution for those that are seeking it and not knowing what the proper solution should be - attempt to draw out a solution via an interative process that will ultimately fit the needs of the business model in question.

3. This process ultimately provides answers - usually by accident. This process is also very inefficient for those in the trenches.

There has been a surge recently to provide better means of process improvement - this includes but is not limited to design of systems. One of the most highly regarded BPM (Business Process Management) methodologies around today is Six-Sigma.

I am a huge proponent of 6s as it does tend to streamline and clarify processes and expected outcomes within an attainable set of expectations. It also helps reduce the "waste" in the process (ie - the multiple iterations).

Another point of view is that of RAD - Rapid Application Development - the process that you are witnessing is symptomatic of that approach. Do it - present- refine - present - refine - present - accept.

As a technical person and a manager I find that both work well - in the end. It is not necessarily how fast one gets to the solution - but how well the solution is in relation to the strategic direction and business objectives of the company. Many times unfortunately, that path is not clear and needs a bit of prodding (the iterations and continual changes) to find the solution to the question that was not formed perfectly to begin with.

We are all human - and managers like the rest of us - do not want to look foolish in front of our peers and bosses - so it is easier to not complete the thought process when our bosses are not around (adopt the RAD approach).

Just my views - I hope this helps.

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Re: Re: What do they want?
by Your Mother (Archbishop) on May 02, 2003 at 08:23 UTC

draconis

draconis brings up two excellent points. First, few employees at the manager level in technical companies can do the work they oversee. Many can't even understand it. This is not their fault exactly, though one wonders why anyone would accept responsibilities they can't truly handle. It's the fault of the corporate culture and everything bad that can go with it: buddy-system, somehow an MBA means you're a worthwhile individual and not an Enron exec, &c. It's an inefficient company that makes these mistakes b/c it's obvious from all the posts here, and any water cooler conversation, that it causes friction and wasted time in most offices.

Second, the horror. Few managers are good enough to admit they were wrong. I think many of them are too scared to b/c they are aware they have landed in a seat via musical chairs and not by skill, effort, or brains. We had a chaotic but nicely functioning system of command line Perl tools in our office for a few hundred employees. Management replaced it with a Java GUI which, nearly a year after it was supposed to be complete, still only covered 30% of the original tool base. This basically wrecked an entire department. Two sets of tools. Infighting about who was using what. Two sets training. Unofficial training to catch up. 80% abandonment of the new toolset.

This fiasco cost the company millions of dollars and everyone saw it coming and understood it from the first 2 months of it. But the managers were unwilling to accept that it was a bad idea. That they'd completely misunderstood the scope of the environment and they should just cut their losses. They just kept jamming a square peg in the round hole. It went on, crippling what I think was the best department of its kind the world, until the Java was scrapped in favor of a fresh set of Perl (often wrapping C/C++).

If they'd been willing to admit they were wrong, it could have been dealt with in 6 months instead of 2 years.

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