Sometimes you get to escape bad management. Other times bad management comes back to haunt you. This is the case with me and Mac. I worked under him in a failed, huge project. The details of that project are not important. What is amazing is that a lot of people got fired. However Mac stayed clean. He somehow had the ability to avert blame for failure that was clearly on his watch. Nevertheless I found myself working for a better manager eventually.
Then came the horror. My good manager moved on to greener pastures. And who comes back to take over my project? Yes. It was Mac. I knew we were back to bad times when Mac started making decisions. Decisiveness is actually a desirable quality. The problem with Mac is that he never informed the customer of his decisions. I guess that is because they were unpopular command decisions. So I had to call him out this on. The result was that a subordinate had to do the dirty work and give the customer the bad news. Little did we know that this subordinate would be the first of many to leave the project.
There are a lot of other problems working for Mac. He tries to delegate everything, especially the responsibility. I somehow got dragged into a meeting with him and other leaders. Turned out to be a very depressing sight indeed. Lot of wasted time with nobody taking any real stances or accepting any responsibility. I often wonder how Mac remains in the organization. Perhaps it is because on paper he looks like a star. He has all kinds of degrees (like an MBA) and certifications (like the PMP). Perhaps it is time for me to high tail it out of here too. It appears the smart ones are jumping ship.
