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The people who either never actually had a clue, so were moved somewhere 'safe' or have been so long out of the field that they have no idea what's going on these days.

Not all managers fall into those groups you know. Some (such as myself) spent many years doing IT technician work, moved up to team-leader level before progressing into a more managerial role. Thing is, a good manager in that position will realise and recognise where their knowledge may have become a little outdated and will trust the experience of those technicians that work for them.

I still know my way pretty well around Windows 10, Office, networking and all that, but for up-to-date foibles of certain business apps and the rest of it, I'm happy to defer to the experience of my team. The problem arises when a manager *thinks* he knows everything and doesn't trust his own team.

The problem arises when a manager *thinks* he knows everything and doesn't trust his own team.

But said manager doesn't, think that is. He just knows he knows everything. As for not trusting his own team, he is completely correct as he has lost their trust already and they are now out to get rid of him.

As Simon put it: "Just because he is now an IT manager he thinks he can manage IT"

(and then there's those whom you gladly buy a beer at the pub as they keep the manure coming from above from interfering with your work, who actually know their stuff but also the limits of their often quite extensive knowledge)

Oh absolutely, the guy in the story isn't a good manager. He's a crap manager, has rightly lost the respect and support of his team and deserves his comeuppance.

Good managers listen to their team, understand where their team's expertise lies and trusts the people in their team to know what they are doing in situations such as this.

" a manager *thinks* he knows everything"

A man's got to know his limitations.

https://youtu.be/CG2cux_6Rcw

The problem arises when a manager *thinks* he knows everything and doesn't trust his own team

This is the Managers' Disease. It can strike down any manager, but especially one who's team are doing stuff that's technical ( in the broadest sense - so could include pharmacy or psychology workers etc). Promotion into incompetence (Peter Principle), age and rustiness, but above all people who want or need to get away from the frontline doing of stuff (or need to be got away from it).

It includes teachers who can't wait to get out of the classroom to become headteachers, and have a promotion plan even before they get through their first year - they're easy to spot- whatever the current bandwagon > they're on it. And mostly are crap teachers. They also tend to be crap heads too, but the Powers-That-Be love them, at least until there is a crisis.

It includes Psychologists who are wedded to a School of Psychology they learnt on their degree or MA and were uncritical about, but got good marks (because they were uncritical about it). And in turn promote to the next generation of young Psychologists.

And so on.

I've been deputy head of department at one employer and would happily admit if I didn't know something. There were occasions though where I was happy to explain what my job title was and why I was correct.. With one senior manager/director I said I'd bet them a weeks extra holiday I was correct. Sadly she wasn't born yesterday and she conceded she may well be wrong.

My family have on occasions where I've been helping them queried my instructions. I'm used to this and I had a reply ready when the hapless person doubted me. My sister for example whilst I was fixing something for her over the phone told me:

"It won't work like that!"

"Which one of us has Engineer in their job title?"

"Oh well you do [1][email protected] $% me it's working again"

She asked how I knew all this stuff. I just said it's my job to do so.

[1] https://www.theregister.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection

IT Managers are no different from any other type of person. Most are doing a reasonable job, some are stars and a few are idiots.

I worked for one in the last category for a while. As a very junior technician (despite being in my 50s; I was contemplating a second career) I was asked to set up a network share for a user. I promptly did so.

"You did that WRONG", said matey. "You mapped it as N: It should be D: If you don't believe me go check the server".

Yes, he was American, and didn't even know how Windows shares worked. Turns out he'd blagged a Network Director title on the strength of a bit of Unix admin on Wall Street in the 70s. And this was well into the 21st Century.

Any PC needing a rebuild had it done entirely manually. Insert Windows XP CD, install, apply SPs, install Office and so on. A few programs were then installed, but the majority ran from a network share.

He didn't know about virtualisation, so by the time I left we had 11 decent servers to run a fairly small school. In fact he didn't understand how any contemporary servers worked at all, and neither did anyone else on site apart from me, and my experience was mostly of RM CC3. An external contractor did anything major and some Micky Mouse set of bought-in scripts did simple things like provision a new user.

When I left, a year later, I'd set up WSUS so that updates were installed automatically, installed FOG to image workstations and virtualised a few servers as a proof of concept.

All that I'd done was promptly removed after I left. Seemingly unrelated problems had been encountered that hadn't happened before my changes, so must, therefore, be due to them.

Actually he wasn't a bad guy, but had clearly bitten off much more than he could chew and was petrified someone would find out.

I have to say that with the exception of one "IT" manager they did know their stuff and I had few if any problems with them. The one exception got confused with one of those credit card CDs that used to float around and shoved it in the floppy drive where it took me a while and a pair of fine-nosed pliers to get it out without ruining the drive.

The problems I did have were with middle managers in general, most seemed to have been over-promoted and were extremely defensive in any of their doings, quick to take offence and really difficult to deal with, relying on a loud voice and a hectoring manner to try and get out of any awkward situations they found themselves in. The top brass and the line workers were doddle compared to these characters and I approached dealing with them with some reluctance.

The only time clutching a clipboard is acceptable in when you're a doctor in a hospital reviewing patient details, or if you're a construction site manager checking the progress on how the construction is working.

A clipboard is not part of an IT manager's work tools. The fact that he had one, and that he brought some underlings to a discussion where they had absolutely nothing to do, is the hallmark of the office weenie who's in over his head and just trying to impress.

Well he impressed all right. What incompetence.

I'm not an IT manager, but I use a clipboard in lots of situations, namely locations I would never bring a lappy into...

The only time clutching a clipboard is acceptable in when you're a doctor in a hospital reviewing patient details, or if you're a construction site manager checking the progress on how the construction is working.

Never underestimate the power of a little old lady clutching a clipboard and organising a village fete / community event / church social gathering / etc.

"The only time clutching a clipboard is acceptable..."

Oh good grief. That reminds me of the time when an IT manager (I was a tech consultant to the company at the time) insisted on monthly reporting of helpdesk calls, which was fine, but insisted that the more calls they got, the better they were performing. Almost up there with one company where I did take over as IT manager who had a concept of "normal problem"

Ah, the technical equivalent of the quality department drone who wants "everyone to be above average"...

As Sun Tzu states "Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across." but how do you manage to keep a straight face when in similar situations?

This was back in the years when Mr Jobs and his iPhone were still fairly new Blackberry were still RIM. My boss asked me tp go and see a senior manager on the top floor. He and I knew nothing about what this problem was. He'd just received a call from this woman's PA asking for a member of Technology to come up. When I got there I was ushered in and told by the director that she wanted a recommendation for her personal mobile phone. I didn't want to say that's not part of my job description so Iasked a few questions instead. Such as what did she plan to do with it, what form factor was she most happy with etc.

I said I'd have a report in her email inbox by the end of the day. I then spoke to her PA who also gave me some pointers. I wrote said report listing her requirements, mentioned a few phones and the pro's and con's of each. At the end I wrote in conclusion that she basicaly wanted to send emails and make the very odd phone call. Therefore the best phone options from her carrier was either the latest iPhone or the latest Blackberry. The iPhone was touch screen and had more apps than the Blackberry. The battery life wasn't as good as the RIM offering and the battery fixed so you couldn't swap it and continue your day when it runs out. The BlackBerry on the other hand did not have a touchscreen and would last longer on a swapable battery. Also we were about to use them as company phones in the business. So we could possibly loan her an extra battery and she could have a machine to try out for an hour or two. Plus we'd have somebody looking after the company BlackBerrys so there'd be in-house support. It was entirely up to her but if it were me given her usage I'd choose the BlackBerry.

Heard nothing else like "Thank you" although her PA confirmed the report had been seen. So about three weeks later I'm on the end of a screaming phone call from this director. I'm an Idiot and I don't know what I'm doing and she wants to see me upstairs in her office ASAP. I explained to my boss what I'd done and what she'd said and gave him a printed copy of the report. We go upstairs and she's got an iPhone on her desk and a not very calm demeanour. She says that iPhone battery is shit it doesn't last half a day with her usage of it. She has to turn it off when driving to try and preserve some battery. "Why on earth your underling recommended it I will never know!"

My boss pointed out that:

It wasn't my job to recommend phones.

That I had advised the BlackBerry over the iPhone.

He then opened the report and circled this bit in bright pink highlighter.

He's technically my boss and would much prefer it if complaints were sent through him not screamed directly at his employees.

She did concede that her friend had told her an iPhone was more cool. She'd forgotten (or more likely ignored) that I'd said BlackBerry and had signed an eyewatering contract for the iPhone. Boss told me not to worry about it in the lift back downstairs and bought me a drink in the pub after work. An email went round the entire company that afternoon explaining about migrating to BlackBerry. It also contained a message saying that Technology staff would not be supporting enquiries about personal phones anymore. Funny that.

I was immensely proud of a junior member of my team when we were third line support for an early web application for a Large Government Department. Things that reached us had been through two lines of support and were deemed to be Technical Issues, rather than user or process problems.

I could hear his side of the conversation going circular with the punter obviously losing it from the sounds like Dick Dastardly's boss in Stop That Pigeon that leaked out of his headset. This young lad kept his calm, was clear and direct and gave simple, good instructions until I heard him say, "Well, I'm surprised that you can't configure a printer then". The call ended fairly quickly and he turned to me and told me there was a complaint on the way. I was surprised, but sure that he'd done the right thing.

When I and three layers of management listened back to the call (recorded for training purposes) we heard our man calmly trying to guide an increasingly irate and frankly stupid man through the process of printing from the browser. He took him to the point where the problem was local to his machine and went the extra mile to fix his local setup. Having got to the point where there was nothing left that it could be apart from the printer itself, which was so far beyond our remit we couldn't see it from where we were standing, matey on the other end explodes in foul mouthed fury and shouts that he is the IT director for [NATIONAL NEWSPAPER] and that he will be shouting at the minister personally.

Our young hero was exonerated and bought beers, by me and others, at the next available opportunity.

Printers are the Devil's work, but the General F*cking Public is far, far worse.

I sure hope the complaint was answered with:

"We listened to the recording of the call. We will no longer take your calls and are cutting you as a customer", preferably with a CC: to the C-level above that IT director.

A Large Government Department doesn't get to pick and choose its customers. That's why they aren't customers. Service has to be delivered to all, no matter how much of a custard they might be. We were a third party supplier so we had to play the same game. If the Department were so minded I am sure that they could have made this person's life uncomfortably complicated, but that, fortunately for this guy, was not how they rolled.

Upvote for custard! Ages since I've heard that expression!

> Printers are the Devil's work, but the General F*cking Public is far, far worse.

I've told the tale before of the Cheap "Wireless" Printer With Just Two Buttons, on which you were meant to tap out some complicated pattern to put it into the right mode for WPS configuration. I ended up having to drive into town to buy a USB cable, boot up an ancient Windows laptop and then wait for Windows update to chew through a year or two of "upgrades" before I could install the printer drivers, hook up the USB cable, perform a firmware upgrade on the printer, and squirt the wireless config over from the laptop.

Fun times. Not.

But the general public can definitely be worse. Back when I used to work at an ISP, the call centre used to get absolutely hammered by irate customers, especially at Christmas when people have a tendancy to buy cheap fairy lights and other similar gadgets which then spew garbage across the EM spectrum...

I was visiting a customer in India about various problems - architectural and implementation. I was approached by a nervous young Indian girl about a problem they had ( same product, different problem). She said they had had the problem for a week, and not been able to solve it.

The documentation said if you get this problem - check the following a).. b).. c)

me:"Have you tried a)?" her:"Its not that"

me:"How do you know" her:"My team leader said so...."

by now the team leader and his manager (and lots of people had come round to watch).

me:"well could you try it?"

now her team leader stepped in

him:"Ive been working in this area for 5 years... it is not a)"

me:"Ive been working in this area for 20 years, I sit next to the guy who wrote the code please try a) we've spent more time discussing it than doing it"

her:"Well lets try a) at least... ahhh it has fixed the problem - thank you"

It turns out that the team leader thought he knew every thing, had to make every decision, and so make himself very powerful. He asked the most junior girl to come and see me, as he did not want to be seen not knowing everything.

The team leader went off in a huff. I spent more time with the girl who actually knew her stuff -she just wasn't very confident in her abilities.

The manager asked me to have a "quick look at the architecture", "hmmm I said, this wont scale, and if there is a power cut you'll lose this, and what happens when you need to reboot this box...." I think he was glad when I left.

It is true that incompetent nincompoops are very often highly annoyed by people who actually know what they're doing. They keep the idiot from whitewashing his mistakes.

"a customer in India" " if there is a power cut you'll lose this"

From my experience working in India, I respectfully suggest that they'd know that already, as the [1]Duke of Edinburgh will confirm. To be fair to him:-

https://www.google.com/search?q=indian+wiring

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/aug/11/monarchy.gerardseenan

Used to work for a paper copying firm in the 80s. Sent to Norway to fix a comms problem. Copied configuration from a working machine to the failing one. Job done. Spent a few extra days in Oslo with my girlfriend. Good old days.

Once you get the power, it is hard to share it, or let it go...

The original meaning of "doubled down" was to commit further to an already chosen course of action while gambling.

I've seen a lot of that in IT over the years, the gambler attitude and afterwards complete and utter commitment to a course of action.

Regardless of the facts.

4 times in my career I've seen that result in companies going completely broke and more often than that companies just waste a lot of money.

Maybe its time for a new career, gardening maybe?

Doubling down a variation on Sunk Cost Fallacy - the "I've come this far so might as well continue" mind-set?

Microsoft and other software CDs and licenses were sent to the CEO assistant which also kept them. IT made copies of only the ones they routinely used, and when developers needed something outside what IT supplied - i.e. IT only deployed Win95 machines for "hardware compatibility reasons" (and their games, we guessed), while we needed NT4 and its service packs - we were left to deal with that nice woman ourselves, a woman well known for liking to make "underlings" life as much miserable as she could - and being unable to understand what we asked for and why didn't put her usually in a good mood.

She was also in charge of the office furniture - and she liked it to be "prison gray" - but that's another story....

In my few weeks working as a filing clerk for a mail order company - and knowing that I and all the others would be fired eventually (written about previously) I found a clipboard lying around. For two weeks I wandered round the building holding this and generally avoiding being where I was meant to be. I wasn't missed in that office, probably because no one knew or cared what we were doing. And no one, ever , questioned who I was and what I was doing. The suits were not interested in any part of the business either too busy to notice a 20 something menial worker.