I’ve been insufferable at work since 2-3 months now. Total time at my company- 6mo 21 days. Profile - Product Management My engineering team seems to be taking no ownership and always have their brahmastra ready that it didn’t come from product’s side. QA again is so great that I have to sit and thoroughly test each release end to end. My manager- he’s quite interested in taking my career fwd as a project manager. (I am not) He’s a total asshole and is quite concerned with start dates and end dates of tasks ( mind you, I am not the one actually writing the code but somehow the dates are my responsibility). He totally micromanages and somehow keeps blaming me for each small thing. Examples:
I could go on forever.
Gust: I am quite unhappy and is causing me unnecessary stress everyday. Also I don’t feel there’s a solution possible
I think you should quit unless you have a lot of financial commitments. Its great if you have a good runway for 3-6 months, if you dont it’s completely okay live on credit card debt rather than suffering at the wrong place. Do not worry about the 6m tenure, its totally fine leave if you dont like it.
Product Management itself is always kind of stressful by the nature of work itself, and you dont really want additional stress caused by these engineers and managers.
Market is healing slowly and it shouldn’t be a problem finding a new role with 2 months. Go for it, mental peace over anything
Did not read your post at all. Never rage quit. Endure - sharpen your blade and cut once and decisively when the time comes.
Haha yes, that’d be the most satisfying response but I’m an impulsive and emotional person. Still trying to figure out the best way to give it back to them. Suggestions?
Hurt them outside professional sphere.
Quit if you have the savings. Start a new.
if you do not have savings:
Establish some boundaries with your manager.
Try to get things on paper/email with engineering so that you can tell them when things were communicated. Make standup minutes if you have to.
Checkin with Engineering lead from time to time to see if things are on track.
Hold QA accountable for quality. Come up with metrics to judge QA's performance. If the graph goes downwards, ask for a better QA from management.
If they're able to absorb so many tardy people, they won't mind a tardy PM. Become one, for sometime, till you have enough savings to quit.
Everything above is easier said than done. It's okay to fail.
This is exactly my story. The fucking engineering background founders don't understand jackshit about the PM role and keep telling them what to do.
Fucking disgusting
Bro I am PM myself but believe me there are 1% companies who do actual product management otherwise everywhere it is project management. Product management is stressful because of this situation.
Will try all these in my next company. Also please name those <1% companies. If I’m aiming, might as well aim for the moon!
Some updates:
I tried talking to my manager’s manager and got a hilarious response. It totally confirmed my belief that this is a toxic place where I cannot think of not quitting.
His response was : “Here are some action items from your end- 1. Smile and nod 2. Just say thanks for the feedback, 3. These things happen, don’t fret over it’
So I smiled and said thanks (with fuck you under my breath)
I have decided to stay in the company and make full use of my perks.
I’m going to make use of the next 3-6 months to study and get a side project up and running.
Also I love the money that comes along every month and.
(Ps: To everyone asking about financial stability, I do have enough runway, but once u quit, I think you limit your options. I want to give the above option a try once)
Very good decision, in every meeting with your manager, reply to his questions with nothing more than "yes" or "no". If he presses for details, tell him that you don't have the details and that you are just following instructions from your client. This will frustrate your manager so much that he will ultimately give up on you.
I was in the same position a few months back.
Frustrated to the point of resigning without any backup.
However with time, things swung back to normal (bearable) levels of bs handling.
Unless the situation is messed up beyond a repair (eg verbal abuse) you can hang around till you find another job. Having a 3 - 6 months runway will also help you quit.
I agree. Hasn’t come to humiliation levels yet.
If you have the authority, fire someone who underperforms the most and put your foot down. Sometimes it's necessary to show people their place. If not, track each and every datapoint for a few weeks, record every meeting and send it to the higher management at the appropriate time.
Or you could simaltaneously start looking for other jobs while doing the bare minimum here.
Regarding your manager, I am afraid there is no other way other than confronting him. Be polite but firm. You're senior enough since you are a project manager.
PS: Needless to say, I am assuming you're not the underperformer here. Try to figure that out first honestly and then do the above.
Sadly I don’t have the authority to fire someone. I have the responsibility of ‘quality releases’ with an incompetent engg team. I’m going to do the bare minimum and spend my time swimming in the morning, reading books, watching sunset and looking for a new job 😅
Quit. There is plenty of fish to catch.
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