There is one trait of poor management that really irritates me. Indecision. I like a fast moving organization that makes decisions. A long time ago, I read that AOL was like that. Their managers made snap decisions and deals without any deliberation. Too fast for the tastes of some. Of course AOL/Time Warner didn’t turn out so well…
But lots of the companies I work with are paralyzed with indecision. Here’s the kind of management I deal with all the time.
No… we couldn’t add the new Whiz Bang feature to the product because we needed Dan’s approval. He was out on vacation until the end of the month, and had 10,000 spams to deal with when he returned. Of course, we also needed Pam, Jim, and Joe’s input, but we couldn’t get them all scheduled for a meeting at the same time. Joe was busy with Mary’s project, Pam needed to review the specs again, and I don’t think Jim likes me. I’m not sure what the status is now…
Is it any wonder things don’t get done? I don’t see any negative consequenses to indecision. “Oh, you didn’t get the project done? Oh, that’s okay…” With a tightening economy, this don’t work.
My advice: if you are the manager of a project team, give your people the lattitude to make quick decisions – for good or for bad. The cost of indecision is higher than the cost of mistakes – IMHO.
–ray