My manager has been out of the trenches for a long time and has lost touch with the amount of work required to meet his deadlines. I’m motivated to deliver, but what’s the best way to handle this when you have no authority or an unrealistic boss?
Threaten to hold your breath until someone pays attention to you? Or you can just suck it up and deliver. Sometimes a boss’s expectations are unrealistic, but sometimes employees don’t realize what’s possible until they are pushed beyond their comfort zones. On a practical level, after you deliver, quantify the effort required to meet those deadlines — in hours, in the number of people, in the number of weeks it took to complete and in the number of delays caused on other projects. Don’t get on a soapbox about it, but do highlight it in a constructive way. And use your honest appreciation for your business and your obvious commitment to recruit friends to the cause. People will listen if you’re detailed, persistent and always deliver.
I work in IT, but in a business outside of the tech sector, so our clients are mostly internal line managers with no tech experience. Line managers have a hard time explaining the full picture of their needs, and requirements constantly change, and it always ends up requiring twice the cost and time. I’m moving to Silicon Valley.
Have a safe flight. NYC’s Silicon Alley has become a hotbed for tech startups, tech development in major organizations and tech talent in general. And going west doesn’t solve whatever problem you think you’re running away from. You may go from a population that doesn’t know enough but is eager to learn to one where everyone thinks they know more than the next person — with the pressure to create the next “big thing” that may only last until the next big thing comes along. If you want to be a catalyst for change and drive innovation, then think of the many brilliant ways you can try to address this issue. Figuring out how to make line managers more tech-savvy, not coders or designers, and leading an entire organization to a digitally fluent future is a great career achievement.