this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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I'm fortunate enough to have a decent job, but holy shit does the inconsistency with managers irritate me.
Six months ago, I submitted a paper (to be read and approved by a minister). It went through weeks of re-writes, changes, amendments all that jazz.
When it finally got approved, we all (my team) grabbed a copy and have been using the format and wording for other briefs. All with little changes.
I'm preparing another brief now (very similar to my original one) and during review it's getting picked apart by advisors and directors.
Sure I'll change it, but it feels like managers are trying to justify their existence in the wake of upcoming job cuts.
ahhhhh briefs. every approver (and their assistant) likes them just sliiiiightly different.
My favourite comment is 'can you expand on this'
No fool, I cannot. There's a hard limit for length and I'm already pushing the margins.
Funnily enough, I've met the minister, he's chilled as and switched on. Loves things simple and uncomplicated.
His advisors are power-tripping meddlers and nothing else.
My org isnt much better. I give an opinion on something in my scope, my boss (who hasnt worked in my scope. ever) then goes on a rant about how its not the way to do it. its a bit like "bro, do you SEE the tickets? No? Do you speak to the users? no? then how about you shut the fuck up". I did pit them in a fight against security, so that should be fun to watch. Hopefully I can get a seat in that meeting.
I just spent 30 minutes with a manager (who has never done one of these documents) changing shit to the point it stopped making sense. As it's a shared document, a director just went in there and started peppering in comments regarding flow and context. I am so fucking done for today it's not even funny.
I think I work for the same, erm, company as you, and I swear that 1/2 the things that higher-ups make us do is purely to justify their existence.
Very Possibly the Same here. Senior/Management types are encouraged, even incentivised to make changes in order to justify their yearly progression. Even if things don't need changing and have worked for years, they have to try and change/improve to stand out and get that moneyyyy
"Parkinson's Law" is an interesting book on the comedy of being a successful manager. Eg, one rule was don't teach any subordinate all of how to do your job. Delegate different parts to different people so they can't sack/replace you easily.
The higher the position, the less skill that's actually required.
A company like Qantas can easily operate with out a CEO. But let them try and fly planes without a crew.
Every week (or two) we get messages from director on we need to work more efficiently and how standardizing documents is preferred.
It's usually in some overtly positive message with life examples and shit, that few bother to read, myself included.
Meanwhile when it comes to actually doing that, it's met with resistance at every level.