Sunday, August 29, 2010

Its called 'Being a MANAGER'!

I guess you just have to assign a title called 'Manager' to a person. By default everyone will start hating this person - whether or not he/she deserves all the hatred. Follow the unwritten rule to blame the manager as the evil doer.

I experienced this recently. I interned for a short period in a small company. My job was to gather 'reasonable' requirements from a client. Get the necessary development done and tested by a small team. You could call it a 'manager' role.

An alpha delivery to client happened. It had its own faults and 'bugs' like any other 'software product' in this whole wide world.
The client was disappointed with us (meaning me - because they see only 'me' and another 'boss' of mine who decides and says yes or no to a requirement ) for not having delivered the 'promised' items in the 'promised' fashion. (Dont forget - my 'boss' makes the 'unreasonable' promises - I have pointed fingers too - the UNWRITTEN RULE).
The team hated (hatred could be an over-statement - or is it?) me for 'unreasonable' requirements and expectations (which was again because of my 'boss' not drawing the line with requirements).
Irony - none of this was directly (or even indirectly) my fault. Still I just had to sit there and take the heat from both ends. I guess its just called 'Being a Manager'!.