Micromanaging Project Managers

Deepesh Rammoorthy ICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood Service Tarneit, Vic, Australia

I have come across Senior Project Managers who assign tasks to other Project Managers or coordinators on their projects then try to micro-manage those tasks themselves.

Some examples of such behavior are :-
1) They would communicate to vendors or stakeholders regarding the tasks they have already assigned to others
2) They would forget to update the Project Manager or coordinator that they have assigned the tasks to regarding conversations with those stakeholders or vendors
3) They would forget to invite those Project Managers or coordinators to key meetings
4) They would feed conflicting information to their own boss regarding whats going on in the project , to what they have given those Coordinators and Project Managers.

Have you come across such behaviors? Is it driven by Insecurity ? Does Emotional Intelligence have suggestions to offer in terms of dealing with such behavior?

Posted: Jul 8, 2018 8:06 PM

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Deepesh Rammoorthy ICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood Service Tarneit, Vic, Australia

some interesting insights. How about in a Matrix organization when A Project Coordinator or a PM doesn't actually report to that Senior PM?

Posted: Jul 9, 2018 5:38 AM

Tamer Zeyad Sadiq Assistant Cost Manager| Turner & Townsend Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia

I think the problem Pm wasn't engaged.. So, manage stakeholder engagement is importanat to keep communicates to reduce project issues!!!

Tamer

Posted: Jul 9, 2018 6:05 AM

Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina

Wasted of time. Walk towards the abyss.

Posted: Jul 9, 2018 6:49 AM

Shweta Pai Scrum master| ResMed Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Jul 08, 2018 8:59 PM

Replying to Deepesh Rammoorthy

...

Thank Kevin . Don't you think such an attitude is counter productive ?

1) It can deflate the morale of the team
2) It can undermine the team's ability to achieve the project's objective in an efficient way
3) It can lead to the failure of the project

Totally agree with you Deepesh! It is very condescending to have such micro managers around. They totally defeat the purpose. Team morale will be down and will ultimately shutdown the team from speaking out their true opinions. This will cause bigger issues where in customers of your product could be impacted because people were afraid to do the right thing.

Transparency is probably the only way around such people. Document the meetings and have an agreement with other folks around too so that in this way you can have your back covered. It is a pain to do this but once these are out there you can make a statement that they can't walk over you.

Posted: Jul 9, 2018 7:43 AM (Updated by author: Jul 9, 2018 7:46 AM)

Drew Craig Sr. Agile & Product Coach| Vanguard Philadelphia, Pa, United States

Micromanaging the team is, in a sense, suffocating them; from all perspectives, team morale, team accomplishments, individual growth, confidence, creativity, innovation, etc.

I'd say many times the micromanager does not necessarily realize their actions as micromanaging. Possibly they are pushed from their leadership and/or it is fear-laden.

Posted: Jul 9, 2018 8:52 AM

Vincent Guerard Coach - Trainer - Speaker - Advisor| Freelance Mont-Royal, Quebec, Canada

Micromanagement is a waist of time and ressources. It is like poor separation of task, more than one ressources working on the same thing.

When Micromanaging it is like having more than one person on a single chair.

Posted: Jul 9, 2018 9:30 AM

Anish Abraham Privacy Program Manager| University of Washington Auburn, Wa, United States

I work in a matrix organization and I have come across this issue all the time. It looks to me that they want to be in charge and they want authority to make decisions that will impact others. Like Shweta mentioned, transparency is the best way to work around such people.

Posted: Jul 9, 2018 11:32 AM

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