Is your manager a magician? Someone who through slight of hand can misdirect attention away from what is really going on? Can he or she always avoid blame and slip through his/her career unhindered by a failure to deliver? It seems this is all too common. I'm recognizing a number of attributes which contribute to the survival ability of bad managers. I will probably post a series of blogs on this topic but today I want to focus on just one - individual measurement as misdirection.

I'm on record here before stating why I believe that individual measurement is bad. However, I want to put a new slant on it. Bad managers ask for individual measurements because they want to know who to blame, how to identify a scapegoat and separate out a weakest link. Bad managers do not see it as their own failing that they don't develop their people. They expect the individual to "learn on their own time", or to "take responsibility for their own career." Naturally, there is a need for individual knowledge workers to care about their own knowledge - it is after all the tool of their trade. However, managers do have a responsibility too. Better individual performance adds to better team performance.

Developers are right to be wary of managers who ask and require individual measurement. It is primarily a misdirection tactic that the manager can use to avoid blame. This assumes that the manager in turn works for an equally weak manager who will accept excuses, finger pointing and the sacrificing of weakest by measurements gathered. All the same, this seems to be all too common in our industry.

More management misdirection techniques another time...