Micromanaging 465...

High liability, stressful client, tight deadline where unwarranted delays result in back charges... would make most of us resort to micromanagement. The key is in the manner the orders are given.?ÿ From your synopsis, the boss was clear & concise with his expectations and timelines.?ÿ He only told you what to stake or who to get that information from, not how to do it.?ÿ As I read your post, this project is on a tight budget PROBABLY because the PM underbid.

It's what they do at microsurvey. (Bad- a-boom, rimshot)

Send him a text, "we are gonna be about 1-2 minutes late. Had to give the cat an enema".

That'll de-stress him.....?ÿ

Out of curiosity what parameters in his instructions were unnecessary and should have been left out? Better yet, how about an example of the instructions you think he should have given you.

Nightmare. ?ÿrun

Posted by: @jitterboogie

Donƒ??t mess around and waste time.

DAMN IT! We wanted to mess and fool around like we used to...

Seriously, there's a fine line between Micro-managing and making sure you understand what needs to be done.

If you're chronically late and never seem to be able to do better than 0.02'; then some of those comments might be warranted; and if you're always messing around and wasting time, you're fired.

Just in Case You Need Further Instruction?ÿ

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Good Luck!

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?ÿI don't know, man... seems ok to me. Pretty standard in construction world.

Like Kevin said, clear, concise and timeline expectations.

Posted by: @tim-v-pls

?ÿI don't know, man... seems ok to me. Pretty standard in construction world.

Like Kevin said, clear, concise and timeline expectations.

Yeah, welcome to construction surveying.?ÿ Playtime in the woods is over.

I did some field work for an LS who couldnƒ??t work in the field anymore. He had very specific instructions on how he wanted everything done. The surveyor who referred him to me thought it was way overkill micromanaging but Iƒ??m particular too so I didnƒ??t really mind. He wasnƒ??t unreasonable or difficult, just particular. I even adopted some of his practices.

I think itƒ??s a feature of being on the autism spectrum.

The same specifics could be given without the disrespectful tone. " I need you to text me when you arrive on the site, so we can assure the client of your starting time. We have budgeted 4 hours for this work etc." This person may be technically correct, but needs to start or repeat Management 101.

@frozennorth?ÿ

OSHA frowns on Mumbley Peg with Plumb Bobs, on a job site.

Posted by: @lmbrls

The same specifics could be given without the disrespectful tone. " I need you to text me when you arrive on the site, so we can assure the client of your starting time. We have budgeted 4 hours for this work etc." This person may be technically correct, but needs to start or repeat Management 101.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

I don't care if someone is particular or even a bit micro-management-happy. But unless someone has already slipped up, don't take that snarky tone with them in an email that should be nothing but direction and support. If I really need to correct some negative behavior, I'm going to do it in person or at the very least on the phone.

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I don't need to be reminded that I need to show up on time....unless I have a habit of not doing so.

I don't need to be reminded to not waste time....unless I have been proven to be a time-waster. (And why am I still employed in that case?)

This is about trust as much as anything else, and I'd bet a dollar to a dime that @jitterboogie and his partner both focused first on the tone conveyed rather than the instructions. The email likely just took their minds off the job at hand and made them wonder if the boss trusts them at all. They need to focus on the job at hand.

Sure, tone doesn't translate well in text format, but any leader worth his or her salt understands how to use tone-neutral language.

@lurker?ÿ

The condescending remarks about wasting time, and the text me when you arrive part was the kicker.

The director called us both for a meeting.

It's ok.?ÿ We have support from his boss, whom called him after our meeting.

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@tim-v-pls?ÿ

Condescending remarks are never ok especially with unfounded passive aggressive accusations of wasting time when we've been there for 5 weeks and haven't even been oriented on the proj man software etc.

When I ask for a planset or a page from the civil drawings, and get confronted with "Why do you need those? Or "What are you doing?!?!?" when I open the drawing to see if I can make sense of the crappy screen shot capture I was sent out with and expected to work on a project site, I figured (and so did my director) something is wrong because I need those things to get around the site and do my job.

I guess everyone does it differently.

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@lmbrls?ÿ

Agreed. He's a construction staking maniac, and I respect that. I'm never going to begin to be as Into it as he is, and my goals to get competent and reliable are as far as I want to go. Staking is never an emergency. I worked in tissue transplant for a while, so I can handle stress people usually never comprehend, but this type of stuff drives me ape $hjt bananas because it doesn't have to occur.

@dougie?ÿ

Cute.

Usually there's a round or two of the old saw;?ÿ 'You can have it fast, accurate, or cheap, but you can't have all three'

As with anything, it depends on whose oxe is being gored here.

You could appreciate the direction but, you'll notice no one had erected a spoils pile or connex in between his first and second paragraph. He didn't have to wait for the contractor to sump out and dry his third paragraph so the text wouldn't bleed out, and

there wasn't a roller or blade operating in his office causing a bunch of typos while he compiled this.

He got four hours of work done in fifteen minutes.

?ÿ

Hopefully that super will work with you, when things go sideways.

Posted by: @jitterboogie

I only see this taking about 4 hours total.

Classic.?ÿ Probably means it'll take 6 hours and that's if everything goes off without a hitch.

I've come to really despise comments like this because even in my short career they've always, and I mean ALWAYS come from guys who haven't worked in the field for at least 20 years.?ÿ Which leads to...

Donƒ??t mess around and waste time.

Unless this was really out of character for the guy who said it I would most certainly have a problem with it.?ÿ But regardless of that, between this comment and the previous I would guess the PM underbid the project and now he's trying to save his own ass, or preemptively throw the field crew under the bus for the blown budget.

This is about trust as much as anything else...

Yep.?ÿ The guy clearly doesn't trust his field crews, or at least this field crew.?ÿ And why would that be??ÿ If they've demonstrated a pattern of screwing up then why are they still employed??ÿ If I were to guess I would say this company does not train their guys.?ÿ They hire cheap help and then micromanage rather than train.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I've seen this kind of behavior before and it didn't turn out to be an anomaly.?ÿ I wish you luck with this outfit anyway @jitterboogie

@rj-schneider?ÿ

Wait, did you stop by our site yesterday!?!???? ?????ÿ

You forgot to add unknown ground water now infiltrating the project site, the 3 story stair core forms, the endless stream of side dump tractor trailers for dirt removal, and the best one yesterday was the moron who started back filling the pads we hadn't marked up yet for their column forms... oops.

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@bstrand?ÿ

Basically he's lashing out at us for the sins of previous now long gone former employees whom had set up these projects before we were working there.

The condescending remarks are always just no.

But we're a couple of 50+ college educated Field and F2F guys, with lots of evidence of and proof of experience by the questions were asking and the solutions we provide.

Not a couple of hung over 20 year olds grab assing around with plumb bobs and paint cans causing trouble.

A weird kind of orientation to each other I suppose, but his approach wasn't applied to us any differently than the others from his past I suppose, which is why were the new guys here now, for now anyway.

With no employees to boss around, he'll be even busier and farther behind his poor scheduling if and when we leave for treatment like this if it continues.

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6 hours. But only because of the meeting with the Director about the situation.

Unless he was referring to the portal to portal time which was impossible for anyone due to the traffic eating at least 2.5 hours.?ÿ