'My boss told me to write down everything, so I did': Employee spends three days writing technical document for micromanager boss

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  • 01
    Why yes, I'd love to convert a ten minute task into a three day project! LOC Alrighty lads. This has been a chuckle in my team and I think enough time has passed for me to finally post it. TLDR at the bottom. I work in the events department for a large company. Projectors, microphones, computers, etc. If its required for an event then we handle it and it probably passes through my workflow for helping to organize.
  • 02
    My department also handles catering for events - while it's not my team specifically, we work side by side. The associate director runs the catering and event coordinators. My manager only runs the AV side - and doesn't report to the associate director (Don't ask - it's a messed up org chart that nobody can make sense of)
  • 03
    Despite not being specifically part of my job description, I also do the technical side of getting new staff members online within our system - getting their staff account created and also getting Teams and Onedrive online on their mobile so they can see all their paperwork. And the reason why I am happy to do this is because with the catering team being a revolving door of staff (Normal in my industry), getting them online needs to be done immediately and fast. You can go to the greater IT team
  • 04
    Whereas I can do it within five to ten minutes with them. And staff that aren't online on our system can't work (H&S forms are part of this setup), therefore they wouldn't be able to complete the assigned shift (And IT won't touch the request until they show up for their first shift... at which point you'd then wait days for them to get onto it... See the flawed logic here?) Note: Setting up a new account also involves setting up their personal work email, group email acess, system permissions a
  • 05
    done by the security team, but ten years at a company really comes with its perks of being connected to the right people and when you want to get something like this done fast, it's often easier for one person with permissions to do it as opposed to multiple people in their own workflows... Second note: If you're asking why a rotating door of catering staff need personal work email and group work email, this account setup is supposed to encompass MORE than just them... Alright, enough setup, ont
  • 06
    Recently, my boss has thrown another bout of trying to micromanage the out of my team. We all hate it but I guess we can just ride this wave out again... The associate director asked me to go to one of our other offices on the other side of the city to setup a group of new staff in one large batch order. My own manager looked at the request, got one of those "time for some micromanagement shenanigans" faces. Me: "Hey boss, associate director wants me to go to the other office to setup some new s
  • 07
    Boss: "Uhhh nope. I need you here in case something happens OP. Very busy day on that day." Me: "There's nothing on the roster for that day and I'd still be available remotely..." Boss: "Just write the associate director a document about how to get people setup in the system and he can do it himself"
  • 08
    Me: "Uhhh... are you sure? I do it fast because I'm trained on the system and he doesn't. Including travel, I'd only be gone for about 3-4 hours. Writing the document on how to get someone setup in the system would take much longer." Boss: "Write the document and put everything he needs to know in it. It only needs to be, what, half a page? Can't be that hard." Everything? Alright. Cue malicious compliance.
  • 09
    What my boss expected, was a half page instruction manual on getting a new account created within the system. I don't think I could have kept it that short even if I tried. What followed was a three day project writing out the instruction manual for how to get someone setup in the system which comprised of 34 pages - not half a page. Large portions of it are troubleshooting steps, accounting for different models of phones and likely fixes when they do weird things (Iphones are great because they
  • 10
    either on the system or within the phone itself). Most of the information in here was collective knowledge I've built up over the years, as well as who else to phone in IT for the most outrageous issues that had to be resolved that I didn't have permissions for and who could generally do it immediately. I warned the Associate Director that this was going to be a very large technical manual and he should probably read it before heading to the other office.
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    AD: "Isn't it half a page?" Me: "My boss said to put everything in it" AD: "Oh no" What followed was the Associate Director attempting to take somewhere between ten to twenty people through this very technically written manual about getting someone setup in the system. To anyone not technically inclined, it could have all been in a different language for all they could understand it... After 30 mins, he called me, put me on speaker phone + camera to the new staff and said "just do it".
  • 12
    Sitting at my computer, I spent the next 40 minutes getting everyone online (Technical support over a phone can be straining, you all know what I mean) and they were fine to start their shifts. Finally, the Associate Director asks me something in private afterwards... AD: "OP, did it need to be this complicated?"
  • 13
    Me: "Actually I summarized some sections to make it easier. Didn't want to make it difficult for you - wasnt the intention, but my boss told me to write down everything so I did." Ad: "Good to know, thanks"
  • 14
    Following the weekend, I was notified that when I was requested to go get a new staff member setup, I should find a time that I am available and go do it, irrespective of other tasks. Not sure what happened up top but I think my boss got a very heavy smack for it.
  • 15
    TLDR: The associate director of my department asks me to get new staff online at a different office. My boss says I can't go "Because it would waste too much time" and instead instructs me to write a document about how to do it. In the event, this 3-4 hour task (Including travel) turns into three and a half days wasted writing a technical document nobody wants to read.
  • 16
    Nihla Just because you're not one of their reports doesn't mean a higher level position can't or won't make your life Has your boss been less micromanage-y since?
  • 17
    SadowSon OP Unfortunately no. Nothing in that regard has changed yet, but the team and myself expected as much. I don't know if he's getting laid out by management above him, but I actually wish he'd work with us rather than against us. Many of his decisions have no basis in logic.
  • 18
    Hikaru1024 I love how bosses seem to always assume your job is simple and easy. Half a page alright.
  • 19
    AkisFatHusband It's easy to overlook writing a manual for anyone who hasn't written one. Well done
  • 20
    series_hybrid If you had wanted to be nice, I'd include a one-page "rapid short-hand set up", and then the 34 page "everything" manual after it.
  • 21
    SadowSon OP That's the thing, I couldn't even if I wanted to. The shortest I could write this document would have been "herp deep push buttons and type words and they're in the system" But most of the steps were going over "this is why you do this and not THAT despite it not appearing correct because further down the line you'll ge the right result and not some weird broken mess of an account with the wrong permissions"
  • 22
    The system is powerful - and good. Just also easy to mess up if you get wrong. (Apply the logic of "it's easy to drive a car even if you haven't been taught but boy will that drive be short and likely fatal...")
  • 23
    PJMonkey And that is why there are technical writers who create playbooks and manuals for departments. Great job, by the way. If you know a tech writer, they might be able to help you get it to flow a bit better and maybe simplify the more techy areas.

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