Overheard somewhere, sometime

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (in a cheerful tone): I'm working on fixing the XYZ disturbance in the flux capacitor module.

MANAGER: You know, you can try {insert obvious technique here} to fix that.

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (in a calm, pleasant tone of voice): Thanks for the suggestion. I have a question for you, and please don't read too much into this. When you offered that suggestion, was it because you thought I was unaware of that technique or that I've overlooked something?

What can you do when you work in a severely dysfunctional environment? Can you do more than just 'grin and bear it'?

As some have found, there's a learning opportunity in every work situation.

If nothing else, you can take comfort in knowing that you have an opportunity to learn valuable lessons even while suffering:

Have you ever wondered how your boss got their job? Have you ever thought "this guy is so incompetent, he probably doesn't even know it"? How/why does this happen?

Whenever there's an job opening, staff are frequently asked if they know anyone who might be a good fit. This is indeed an excellent way to jump start the hiring process; personal references are frequently much better than "off the street" hires. The obvious caveat is that the inside person doing the recommending has good sense and a good understanding of more than just the skills required. For example, the inside person may be a good person and a good employee but may not understand the corporate culture or their friend well enough to see that it just won't work out: think highly structured vs. very laid-back, for example.

What does this have to do with getting an incompetent boss?

Stack ranking - or curve ranking - where team members are rated against one another - is used at Microsoft and other companies. Basically, it's rare or near impossible to rank all team members at the same high rate, even if all team members have earned it, because the system requires that some are ranked highly, some are ranked as average, and some are ranked as below average.

The world is rife with bad managers. That's one focus of this site.

Just as it is good to lead by example, it's bad to mislead by example.

Currently, there's a great bad management story in the news regarding the Attorney General for the United States, Alberto Gonzales, and his handling of the dismissal of eight Federal Attorneys General (note: this is not a political rant).

In a nutshell, it appears that Mr. Gonzales may have discharged qualified employees because they failed a values litmus test (that's my summary). That is, they were not enough in lock-step with the big boss to satisfy the big boss or one of his advisers.

There are several notable management weaknesses that are highlighted here:

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	Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln author: Doris Kearns Goodwin ASIN or ISBN-10: 0743270754