My First Manager
A reader posted My First Manager as Comments after an article of ours.
Perhaps some of you may have met this manager too – or someone just like him.
Prince Project Management Qualificiation
My first contract had an idiot like that.
He had been made redundant from the coal and had used the redundancy to gain his Prince Project Management qualification.
There’s nothing wrong with that as far as it goes.
Dealing with Idiot Project Managers
The problem was he got the job because he was the husband of one of the more senior managers and he wanted to “make his mark”.
Incompetence allied to ambition is a very destructive force.
He really liked to character assassinate, quietly pissing me and others off with minor, irrelevant issues, even calling me incompetent..making sure nobody heard of course!
He was unaware that I had been subjected to this sort of crap through my entire childhood and had developed many techniques to deal with idiots like him.
IT Contract Overtime
So, the best approach was to stick to the letter of what he wanted, even if it was completely stupid.
When it went wrong I would then present him with all the boxes ticked correctly and he had to then explain why his management had failed to achieve the desired result.
I managed quite a lot of overtime as a result of my first manager and his incompetence!
Since this was my first contract I was, so to speak, fighting with one arm behind my back, not wanting to get a bad reputation on my first contract.
First IT Contact Replacement
He then, surprise surprise, decided not to extend me.
I was buggering off to Mauritius for 3 weeks so I didn’t care, and he penny pinched by getting a replacement for £2.50 less per hour.
I had to train my replacement, who was on his first contract after being made redundant from BT, and who was toying with the idea of backpacking for a year anyway.
IT Contractor Rather Than Employee
He did – about two weeks later.
Nothing to do with me you understand!
Lucky for my first manager manager I wasn’t an employee.
I would have had him beating himself up in under three months otherwise.
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