Computerworld Magazine has contributed to the growing tide of web resources designed to help you survive a bad boss. Aimed at tech workers, it highlights the familiar scenario of technologically brilliant bosses who have no management skills.
So how do top CIO's survive and navigate around a bad boss?
Peter Baker, vice president of information systems and technology at Emcor Facilities Services Inc., …once worked as a project lead for a micromanager who interfered with the work of the programmers. Baker advised his team members to stay out of the manager's way, avoid the politics and focus on their jobs.
He also suggested that they take 10 minutes each afternoon to document everything they'd done that day. "I remember sitting them down and saying, 'This guy is always going to come in and ask you, "What about this, this and this?" And you can just pull out your piece of paper and say, "I did that, that and that.'" It was kind of a capitulation, but we turned it into a positive by being proactive."
I think the tech sector has a particularly hard time with managers, due to conflicting skill sets. My last boss lasted 8 months. She was horrible, fired great employees and did not have a clue about managing. She was demoted and moved to a non-managerial position, but not before inflicting much damage on a formerly great workgroup.