Captain Confused

Is being a software manager difficult? It strikes me as a problem that becomes difficult only when it's allowed to become so. Presenting Management Made Easy, an ongoing series of thoughts and guiding principles regarding software management.

• When a manager says "We're all going to scratch our asses every morning" things are great, but when your the only person scratching your ass next Monday morning, you realize your wasting your time and plan on ignoring any future such wastes of time. Don't give a command you can't or won't enforce.
• One day your manager is freaking out over coding deadlines, the next day ISO process is the top order of the day. How is anyone to know what they should be doing and prioritizing. Present a consistent viewpoint that evolves slowly and predictably. This doesn't mean that business goals can't change -- they'll probably change quite often. Rather this rule is referring to the philosophy, or guiding principles, that are used to guide any decisions.