Micro Management

I have always hated my new job from day one. Now, my boss wants me to be writing down all the project I'm working on? Should I start brushing up my resume? I have only been in this place for only 5 month.

Thanks

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Comments

Iristheangel

Being someone's employee, you often have to account for what you're doing during the time they are paying you. This is completely normal and I doubt you're going to find a job that doesn't ask you to perform some kind of logging, ticketing, or project documentation.

dave330i

Most of the places I've worked at required weekly or monthly status update. Pretty standard business practice.

jamesbrown

Alright, I previous job wasn't like that. I guess I have to get use to it.

networker050184

Yep, doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary. Reporting on projects is something you will always have to do. Your boss is over all responsible for your work being completed so he/she would be a fool not to ensure its getting done.

kgb

jamesbrown wrote: »

I have always hated my new job from day one...

htebazile wrote: »

If you hate your job that much, definitely look for a new one. You spend too many hours of your life at work to hate your job...

Sounds like you should be looking for another job. I can't imagine not looking if I hated my job from day one... The beginning of every job I've ever had has always had some level of excitement.

N2IT

5 months is a pretty long time. I wish I had better news most likely things will keep trending the way they are. I would accept the status reports and present them every week on time. I'm sure there is more to the story than just the reports, but either way I would try to stick it out if at all possible. These hard times make us stronger in the long run (usually)

If the situation has gotten that bad though, I would consider dusting off the resume and start applying. You could potential be in month 6-7-8 before you get it hit anyway so I would go for it.

htebazile

reposting: accidentally deleted while editing... connection issues.

If you hate your job that much, then you should definitely look for a new one. You may not find a job you love, but you should be able to find one you can tolerate and sometimes even enjoy.

Providing status reports is not an uncommon or unusual request. For instance, if you are a contractor, the client (or federal government for federal contractors) often require monthly status reports from the project manager, so that's why some managers require the weekly updates.

I don't think it's an unreasonable request that you provide status reports, even though it's a pain to write them. My current position doesn't require written status updates, we have weekly meetings where it's discussed directly with my government supervisor, which I much prefer. But in the past, at jobs where status reports were required, I kept track daily of tasks completed, so that my weekly report would shine. Bonus: when it's time for your annual review, you can compile your best accomplishments from those status reports, and gain leverage for raises.

Also, being asked for status reports is not the same as being micro-managed. Micro-managing is so much worse than that. Maybe there is more you aren't saying. I have worked for a micro-manager before, and if you truly are being micro-managed, run!

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Iristheangel

I had a manager who used to write people for using the wrong shade of blue on their e-mail signatures, send people home when they wore a belt that was a different color than their shoes, would tell their employees that they needed to whiten their teeth, tell the women what color they need to dye their hair when they picked a natural color he didn't like, etc etc etc. Oh, did I mention this was for a call center help desk job? There are reasonable requests and then there are the ridiculous.

+1 to htebazile's post. If there are other things going on or you're getting micromanaged, run. If it's just asking for status reports, then use it to your advantage.

htebazile

wow, iristheangel - that soooo much worse than my nightmare of a micro-managing boss!

i cannot imagine working under those conditions. i'm glad you don't work for that manager anymore!

-elizabeth

the_Grinch

Giving status reports doesn't seem too much like micro managing to me. Your boss answers to someone and if he isn't intimately involved in every project, how can he/she report on the progress? Where I work they are very anti-ticket, so it is really a pain to attempt to say "I did x, y, and z today." Not that anyone actually asks what I did that day, but come review time I'd like to be able to say "here's what I did, now how about that raise." Look at it as an advantage and not as micro managing. Number one thing I notice when discussing resumes is people tend to leave things out. As you speak with them, give them questions on a topic, and suddenly you are surprised to see they have done something with that topic. When asked, why isn't this on your resume usually the answer is I forgot. So look at the status reports as notes that can be transferred as viable skills on your resume. Good luck!

The Shadow

I friend of mine told me that he once had a boss that made him (and the team) write down what their working on every 15 mins.

That's beyond micro managing, that's more like nano managing.

NOC-Ninja

jamesbrown wrote: »

I have always hated my new job from day one. Now, my boss wants me to be writing down all the project I'm working on? Should I start brushing up my resume? I have only been in this place for only 5 month.

Thanks

Its normal on every job. I never had a job that didn't ask for a weekly and monthly report. Network Engineers, Software Engineers, Business Analyst, and even Project managers goes through this.

Im pretty sure even your boss have a weekly or monthly report. Its not your boss fault. It comes all the way from the top. Welcome to the corporate world.

N2IT

Especially Project Managers go through this!!!

Akaricloud

Sounds fairly typical to me, I give plenty of updates on my projects without having to be asked.

It seems that almost every week you're making a thread about something normal that angers/annoys you about your position. I'm not quite sure what you were expecting from an IT position but I think you need to calm down, enjoy your work and try to go above and beyond. No position is going to be all fun and games and you really need to learn to not let the small things bother you.

Bokeh

I had a boss like that a few jobs back, and he wanted to know every minute of the day what we had done. He was serious, we had to account for every minute.

So, after getting a week's worth of emails from employees that showed things like "clock in 830, support call at 845, bathroom break 915, 930 - meeting with you to discuss your date last night, etc .... He backed off and just decided to watch the ticket management system we had instead.

onesaint

Projects reporting only? I had it like that 3 years ago. It's good for technical writing, documenting what you did so you can look back in a few years for notes.

These days, I have to file daily reports broken down by hours spent on each task. When I first was asked to do it, I was pissed. Then I became proactive and used it to my advantage, tracking what I did and how long projects took. Now, 2 years on, I feel like I'm in Office Space. I almost loose scope of the larger picture as I'm worried about cumulative hours spent on a particular project. It doesn't work well in a multitask environment.

DigitalZeroOne

jamesbrown wrote: »

I have always hated my new job from day one

That says it all, start looking.

DigitalZeroOne

I didn't want to edit my previous reply, so I will reply again. Forgot the micro management, or just about anything else...if you came in the door hating your job...you didn't say you disliked it, or hated certain parts, you said you hated it from day one. When things get that bad, do yourself a favor and find something else. Of course, make sure you do a good job, give a notice of at least 2-weeks, but find something that you like.

jamesbrown

kgb wrote: »

Sounds like you should be looking for another job. I can't imagine not looking if I hated my job from day one... The beginning of every job I've ever had has always had some level of excitement.

I keep telling myself that it will get better. I think it's time to move on.

jamesbrown

htebazile wrote: »

reposting: accidentally deleted while editing... connection issues.

If you hate your job that much, then you should definitely look for a new one. You may not find a job you love, but you should be able to find one you can tolerate and sometimes even enjoy.

Providing status reports is not an uncommon or unusual request. For instance, if you are a contractor, the client (or federal government for federal contractors) often require monthly status reports from the project manager, so that's why some managers require the weekly updates.

I don't think it's an unreasonable request that you provide status reports, even though it's a pain to write them. My current position doesn't require written status updates, we have weekly meetings where it's discussed directly with my government supervisor, which I much prefer. But in the past, at jobs where status reports were required, I kept track daily of tasks completed, so that my weekly report would shine. Bonus: when it's time for your annual review, you can compile your best accomplishments from those status reports, and gain leverage for raises.

Also, being asked for status reports is not the same as being micro-managed. Micro-managing is so much worse than that. Maybe there is more you aren't saying. I have worked for a micro-manager before, and if you truly are being micro-managed, run!

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Guys that have been there long enough told me that all management like to micro management. I also noticed that my very first day on the job, I was like what's going on here. But, I am going to move on. There is a lot to it but I cant really vent about it.

jamesbrown

the_Grinch wrote: »

Giving status reports doesn't seem too much like micro managing to me. Your boss answers to someone and if he isn't intimately involved in every project, how can he/she report on the progress? Where I work they are very anti-ticket, so it is really a pain to attempt to say "I did x, y, and z today." Not that anyone actually asks what I did that day, but come review time I'd like to be able to say "here's what I did, now how about that raise." Look at it as an advantage and not as micro managing. Number one thing I notice when discussing resumes is people tend to leave things out. As you speak with them, give them questions on a topic, and suddenly you are surprised to see they have done something with that topic. When asked, why isn't this on your resume usually the answer is I forgot. So look at the status reports as notes that can be transferred as viable skills on your resume. Good luck!

Five month in the job and I'm not even doing what I got hired to do. I brought it up in this forum months ago.

jamesbrown

I want you guys to know that I liked the job posting. But, my boss apologize saying he made a mistake in the job description and that's when I knew something is going on. Some sys and network admin are trying to do my job or they want to stay popular in the company. Newly hired employee can easy spot anything wrong in a company. From day one, I told my wife that I really made a bad decision by accepting this job. My resume is out and ready to go. What should I tell potential employer the reason why I'm leaving?

networker050184

Just tell them the truth. The job didn't turn out to be a good fit.

the_Grinch

We've all been there. If I had a dollar for every job duty I took on that wasn't in the job description, I could have stopped working a long time ago. If you're unhappy, leave. Mental health is a very important, oft overlooked thing. But know that it is really rare in IT that any job description is completely accurate. Rare for it to be a complete 180, but it does happen.