[koonsolo]

Lack of transparency is just bad communication. I see "shield you from the bullshit" not as bad communication.

I look at it more like this: The customer has an emergency and needs something ASAP. A bad manager will pass this bullshit straight to his team, including the "Oh my god this thing is going to blow up if you can't get it done by Friday!!!!",

A great manager however, will first figure out if this is a real emergency or not, how much it will cost, etc. (S)he will take into account who is currently working on what, what the priorities are, etc. Then will present a realistic solution to the customer/management: "Look, this we can do, this we cannot do".

In this situation, as a team member, work comes in as usual, and you probably were allowed to put an estimate on it. No "Help the world is going to end if this isn't done, DROP EVERYTHING!!!".

I've worked for multiple managers that fall in either bucket, and I had cases where something needed to be finished by Friday, because the customer needed it on Monday. Asking a week later after deadline: "Did it work?" "The customer hasn't tested it or put in production yet".

Great managers however, have great communication skills. Maybe a better wording is that they are able to filter the bullshit from the rest.

[profalseidol]

And when something bad happens because of this rushed code, they'll tell you, "you have to do more testing", make sure quality is not compromised. "We can do automated tests, we can do them as long as it doesn't eat up developer time".

Makes me think that in a consultancy business, everything hinges on getting the customer to fund your development properly. Ask too much and you'll lose the contract to a competitor.

Any thoughts on this?