PerkyBiscuit
PerkyBiscuit

Dealing with non tech Manager.

My manager, while not technically inclined, oversees an engineering team, making it challenging to update him on intricate scenarios beyond his expertise. He tends to consult his former team, unrelated to our current one, for guidance when he doesn't grasp the situation. Additionally, he organizes meetings with external parties for minor issues, leaving little time for our team to devise solutions. He often proposes numerous ideas that exceed our current bandwidth. His commitments to higher-ups and clients sometimes involve unusual deliverables. While I don't view him negatively, there's a misalignment within our team. How can I navigate this situation?"

27mo ago
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PeppyKoala
PeppyKoala

Bandwidth miscalculation is the biggest problem imo. Clearly stating time required per task with some pointers to justify (eg: 2 days backend, 1 day frontend, 1 day testing + fixes) might help your manager explain this to higher ups and prioritise.

It's better to ship 2 things/week instead of delaying the release by a few days to fit 4 tickets. The customer should get continuous updates

PerkyBiscuit
PerkyBiscuit

Yeah not sure why it's a sin to under commit and over deliver. They usually do the other way around

SqueakyQuokka
SqueakyQuokka

Typical of service based companies.

FloatingQuokka
FloatingQuokka

You mentioned your team is left with little time to devise a solution. This is where you can gather thoughts from the team and put it in a healthy way in front of your manager. Let them know that execution needs time and that's the consensus.

PerkyBiscuit
PerkyBiscuit

Well his idea is to not reinvent the wheel so why waste time in finding a solution when you can just ask for help. As I said, not a tech person

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