Manager sending emails as go-between… is this standard practice?

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I am working in my first full-time position as an engineer at small tech firm. we have only a small amount of people in the office, including several engineers and an office manager with a background in business and marketing. We are currently in e-mail communication with several manufacturers and companies who are reviewing our designs and discussing them from a technical standpoint. Our office manager has sole correspondence with these engineers. He forwards us these technical emails (when relevant) and requests a response. Once a response is received from me or the other engineers, it is edited (sometimes) and copied into his own correspondence with the companies, inserted with something like "...from our engineers: [insert what I wrote here]"



While I see the need to CC managers or have them proof read correspondence in most cases, it feels awkward not having the ability to correspond directly with companies and their engineers on technical matters directly related to my work. My emails (and/or the emails of other engineers) are sent under the generic guise of "our engineers" and modified at will. Is this standard practice for most businesses? Should I discuss this with my manager?







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    I am working in my first full-time position as an engineer at small tech firm. we have only a small amount of people in the office, including several engineers and an office manager with a background in business and marketing. We are currently in e-mail communication with several manufacturers and companies who are reviewing our designs and discussing them from a technical standpoint. Our office manager has sole correspondence with these engineers. He forwards us these technical emails (when relevant) and requests a response. Once a response is received from me or the other engineers, it is edited (sometimes) and copied into his own correspondence with the companies, inserted with something like "...from our engineers: [insert what I wrote here]"



    While I see the need to CC managers or have them proof read correspondence in most cases, it feels awkward not having the ability to correspond directly with companies and their engineers on technical matters directly related to my work. My emails (and/or the emails of other engineers) are sent under the generic guise of "our engineers" and modified at will. Is this standard practice for most businesses? Should I discuss this with my manager?







    share|improve this question







    New contributor




    WMW is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.




















      up vote
      1
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      1
      down vote

      favorite











      I am working in my first full-time position as an engineer at small tech firm. we have only a small amount of people in the office, including several engineers and an office manager with a background in business and marketing. We are currently in e-mail communication with several manufacturers and companies who are reviewing our designs and discussing them from a technical standpoint. Our office manager has sole correspondence with these engineers. He forwards us these technical emails (when relevant) and requests a response. Once a response is received from me or the other engineers, it is edited (sometimes) and copied into his own correspondence with the companies, inserted with something like "...from our engineers: [insert what I wrote here]"



      While I see the need to CC managers or have them proof read correspondence in most cases, it feels awkward not having the ability to correspond directly with companies and their engineers on technical matters directly related to my work. My emails (and/or the emails of other engineers) are sent under the generic guise of "our engineers" and modified at will. Is this standard practice for most businesses? Should I discuss this with my manager?







      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      WMW is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.










      I am working in my first full-time position as an engineer at small tech firm. we have only a small amount of people in the office, including several engineers and an office manager with a background in business and marketing. We are currently in e-mail communication with several manufacturers and companies who are reviewing our designs and discussing them from a technical standpoint. Our office manager has sole correspondence with these engineers. He forwards us these technical emails (when relevant) and requests a response. Once a response is received from me or the other engineers, it is edited (sometimes) and copied into his own correspondence with the companies, inserted with something like "...from our engineers: [insert what I wrote here]"



      While I see the need to CC managers or have them proof read correspondence in most cases, it feels awkward not having the ability to correspond directly with companies and their engineers on technical matters directly related to my work. My emails (and/or the emails of other engineers) are sent under the generic guise of "our engineers" and modified at will. Is this standard practice for most businesses? Should I discuss this with my manager?









      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      WMW is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









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      asked Sep 7 at 19:17









      WMW

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          5 Answers
          5






          active

          oldest

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          up vote
          9
          down vote













          It can feel weird for sure, I don't think it's normal but not really abnormal either. It really depends on frequency and content. Your manager could be doing you a favor and you don't know it yet. I've been in similar situations were I ultimately asked the manager if he can just cc me and let me respond myself. It was fine for the duration of the short project. But after that, the person gave my email to other people in the office and even other offices. I started getting hammered by emails daily and it resulted in a large amount of work and scope creep on other projects.



          So maybe he's doing you a favor, he does at least give you guys the credit and doesn't play it off like he's the one with all the knowledge and accepting credit for himself. So I don't think his intentions are negative or he wouldn't do that. But again it's a very situational thing and your milage my very.






          share|improve this answer
















          • 1




            That said, feel free to suggest to your manager that the communication would be more efficient if you could call the other engineer directly. See what he says!
            – Peter
            Sep 7 at 21:06

















          up vote
          3
          down vote














          Is this standard practice for most businesses?




          For many it is, many companies actually have a person who's sole job is being a go between some industries more than others. There are many valid reasons for it.



          It amalgamates several information sources into one email



          It avoids potential conflicts between individuals



          It holds the manager responsible for all correspondence leaving his section, there may be information security or other constraints that you are unaware of that the manager needs to address.



          etc,. etc,.




          Should I discuss this with my manager?




          No, this is how they decided or higher up decided to do things, it works, you shouldn't push back against it.






          share|improve this answer
















          • 2




            i guess OP could ask about it, to find out why. I don't think anyone would mind that much at all. but agreed, there's not much reason to actively fight this.
            – bharal
            Sep 8 at 14:35


















          up vote
          0
          down vote













          The key is that this is your first full time position. There is a lot of subtlety that goes into inter company communication.



          The contractual relationship between the companies may require a single focal point in either side who has the authority to speak for their company. This means any promises made via email may be considered binding so it is crucial that only the authorized person hit send.



          Different contacts in different companies have different workloads and tolerances for having their time wasted. Questions from more Junior staff are typically filtered by more senior staff when there are concerns that the counter party may respond negatively to interactions they don't approve of.



          It's also possible that there is wider context that you may be unaware of that the manager is. For example, discussion between technical staff may venture into territory that the business staff agree is out of scope. There may be legal or compliance issues (export control, data privacy, ethics, anti bribery, anti competition, etc) that needs to be taken into consideration when communicating.



          You just may not have enough experience posing your questions or stating your information in terms that the other side may understand so your manager adds a bit of translation to it.



          Your manager may need to keep in the loop so he can respond to internal and external questions on what is going on. He may want to control communication to keep it in sync with a consistent message and ensure there is not too much.



          In short, there are many possible reasons and it's probably a combination of the above.






          share|improve this answer



























            up vote
            -1
            down vote













            Sometimes it can make sense to skip an intermediate position and make a conversation more fluent. But for now if your manager doesn't modify answers into wrong statements I don't yet see a big problem.

            Direct communication also means more interrupts and effort for you. Normally you don't want this.



            If you switch to directly contacting them then your manager no longer is the one who probably dispatches different questions to different people and bundles information in a response to whom it belongs. Then YOU are this first level contact person. You will probably receive everything else coming in from the other one, have to sort out what to forward to whom, sum up answers of your colleagues and so on. If your contact is spread in this other company you will receive requests from other people too.

            If they have your phone number, expect calls at every time.

            Do you really want that as an engineer?



            Sometimes a phone call is much faster and more effective than a buch of mails spread over a week. You could suggest your manager to call someone in a situation that requires superior mailing effort, just to make it more effective. For your own sake start with a neutral phone such like in a meeting room or your manager's phone and let him join the conversation.






            share|improve this answer




















            • Would the downvoter explain? If they can...
              – puck
              1 hour ago

















            up vote
            -1
            down vote













            Most companies try to have a single point of contact between them and any partners, customers or vendors. It reduces confusion and makes it very clear as to who is ultimately responsible for things on either side. That person often understands the entire relationship between the outside entity and the inside groups which lends them perspective you don't have and really don't want to know about.



            Your manager is obviously that point of contact. In some companies this role is fulfilled by project managers, business analysts or even customer relations people. They are going to have meetings, take calls and handle emails that you will never know about. This is a good thing because it affords you the opportunity to focus on your immediate scope of work without having to worry about all the extra backroom clutter that tends to overwhelm the non-managers.



            In some ways this communication seems inefficient. The alternative is that you could be flooded with calls and emails from dozens of different people covering things that you've already gone over. Each of those things might be special requests to change or tweak things or just simply asking how the project is going. That is chaos and tends to destroy productivity.



            Seriously, don't rock this boat. Let your manager do their job and you'll be able to focus on yours.






            share|improve this answer






















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              5 Answers
              5






              active

              oldest

              votes








              5 Answers
              5






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes








              up vote
              9
              down vote













              It can feel weird for sure, I don't think it's normal but not really abnormal either. It really depends on frequency and content. Your manager could be doing you a favor and you don't know it yet. I've been in similar situations were I ultimately asked the manager if he can just cc me and let me respond myself. It was fine for the duration of the short project. But after that, the person gave my email to other people in the office and even other offices. I started getting hammered by emails daily and it resulted in a large amount of work and scope creep on other projects.



              So maybe he's doing you a favor, he does at least give you guys the credit and doesn't play it off like he's the one with all the knowledge and accepting credit for himself. So I don't think his intentions are negative or he wouldn't do that. But again it's a very situational thing and your milage my very.






              share|improve this answer
















              • 1




                That said, feel free to suggest to your manager that the communication would be more efficient if you could call the other engineer directly. See what he says!
                – Peter
                Sep 7 at 21:06














              up vote
              9
              down vote













              It can feel weird for sure, I don't think it's normal but not really abnormal either. It really depends on frequency and content. Your manager could be doing you a favor and you don't know it yet. I've been in similar situations were I ultimately asked the manager if he can just cc me and let me respond myself. It was fine for the duration of the short project. But after that, the person gave my email to other people in the office and even other offices. I started getting hammered by emails daily and it resulted in a large amount of work and scope creep on other projects.



              So maybe he's doing you a favor, he does at least give you guys the credit and doesn't play it off like he's the one with all the knowledge and accepting credit for himself. So I don't think his intentions are negative or he wouldn't do that. But again it's a very situational thing and your milage my very.






              share|improve this answer
















              • 1




                That said, feel free to suggest to your manager that the communication would be more efficient if you could call the other engineer directly. See what he says!
                – Peter
                Sep 7 at 21:06












              up vote
              9
              down vote










              up vote
              9
              down vote









              It can feel weird for sure, I don't think it's normal but not really abnormal either. It really depends on frequency and content. Your manager could be doing you a favor and you don't know it yet. I've been in similar situations were I ultimately asked the manager if he can just cc me and let me respond myself. It was fine for the duration of the short project. But after that, the person gave my email to other people in the office and even other offices. I started getting hammered by emails daily and it resulted in a large amount of work and scope creep on other projects.



              So maybe he's doing you a favor, he does at least give you guys the credit and doesn't play it off like he's the one with all the knowledge and accepting credit for himself. So I don't think his intentions are negative or he wouldn't do that. But again it's a very situational thing and your milage my very.






              share|improve this answer












              It can feel weird for sure, I don't think it's normal but not really abnormal either. It really depends on frequency and content. Your manager could be doing you a favor and you don't know it yet. I've been in similar situations were I ultimately asked the manager if he can just cc me and let me respond myself. It was fine for the duration of the short project. But after that, the person gave my email to other people in the office and even other offices. I started getting hammered by emails daily and it resulted in a large amount of work and scope creep on other projects.



              So maybe he's doing you a favor, he does at least give you guys the credit and doesn't play it off like he's the one with all the knowledge and accepting credit for himself. So I don't think his intentions are negative or he wouldn't do that. But again it's a very situational thing and your milage my very.







              share|improve this answer












              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer










              answered Sep 7 at 20:35









              Matopicus

              37412




              37412







              • 1




                That said, feel free to suggest to your manager that the communication would be more efficient if you could call the other engineer directly. See what he says!
                – Peter
                Sep 7 at 21:06












              • 1




                That said, feel free to suggest to your manager that the communication would be more efficient if you could call the other engineer directly. See what he says!
                – Peter
                Sep 7 at 21:06







              1




              1




              That said, feel free to suggest to your manager that the communication would be more efficient if you could call the other engineer directly. See what he says!
              – Peter
              Sep 7 at 21:06




              That said, feel free to suggest to your manager that the communication would be more efficient if you could call the other engineer directly. See what he says!
              – Peter
              Sep 7 at 21:06












              up vote
              3
              down vote














              Is this standard practice for most businesses?




              For many it is, many companies actually have a person who's sole job is being a go between some industries more than others. There are many valid reasons for it.



              It amalgamates several information sources into one email



              It avoids potential conflicts between individuals



              It holds the manager responsible for all correspondence leaving his section, there may be information security or other constraints that you are unaware of that the manager needs to address.



              etc,. etc,.




              Should I discuss this with my manager?




              No, this is how they decided or higher up decided to do things, it works, you shouldn't push back against it.






              share|improve this answer
















              • 2




                i guess OP could ask about it, to find out why. I don't think anyone would mind that much at all. but agreed, there's not much reason to actively fight this.
                – bharal
                Sep 8 at 14:35















              up vote
              3
              down vote














              Is this standard practice for most businesses?




              For many it is, many companies actually have a person who's sole job is being a go between some industries more than others. There are many valid reasons for it.



              It amalgamates several information sources into one email



              It avoids potential conflicts between individuals



              It holds the manager responsible for all correspondence leaving his section, there may be information security or other constraints that you are unaware of that the manager needs to address.



              etc,. etc,.




              Should I discuss this with my manager?




              No, this is how they decided or higher up decided to do things, it works, you shouldn't push back against it.






              share|improve this answer
















              • 2




                i guess OP could ask about it, to find out why. I don't think anyone would mind that much at all. but agreed, there's not much reason to actively fight this.
                – bharal
                Sep 8 at 14:35













              up vote
              3
              down vote










              up vote
              3
              down vote










              Is this standard practice for most businesses?




              For many it is, many companies actually have a person who's sole job is being a go between some industries more than others. There are many valid reasons for it.



              It amalgamates several information sources into one email



              It avoids potential conflicts between individuals



              It holds the manager responsible for all correspondence leaving his section, there may be information security or other constraints that you are unaware of that the manager needs to address.



              etc,. etc,.




              Should I discuss this with my manager?




              No, this is how they decided or higher up decided to do things, it works, you shouldn't push back against it.






              share|improve this answer













              Is this standard practice for most businesses?




              For many it is, many companies actually have a person who's sole job is being a go between some industries more than others. There are many valid reasons for it.



              It amalgamates several information sources into one email



              It avoids potential conflicts between individuals



              It holds the manager responsible for all correspondence leaving his section, there may be information security or other constraints that you are unaware of that the manager needs to address.



              etc,. etc,.




              Should I discuss this with my manager?




              No, this is how they decided or higher up decided to do things, it works, you shouldn't push back against it.







              share|improve this answer












              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer










              answered Sep 8 at 1:10









              Kilisi

              97k53221382




              97k53221382







              • 2




                i guess OP could ask about it, to find out why. I don't think anyone would mind that much at all. but agreed, there's not much reason to actively fight this.
                – bharal
                Sep 8 at 14:35













              • 2




                i guess OP could ask about it, to find out why. I don't think anyone would mind that much at all. but agreed, there's not much reason to actively fight this.
                – bharal
                Sep 8 at 14:35








              2




              2




              i guess OP could ask about it, to find out why. I don't think anyone would mind that much at all. but agreed, there's not much reason to actively fight this.
              – bharal
              Sep 8 at 14:35





              i guess OP could ask about it, to find out why. I don't think anyone would mind that much at all. but agreed, there's not much reason to actively fight this.
              – bharal
              Sep 8 at 14:35











              up vote
              0
              down vote













              The key is that this is your first full time position. There is a lot of subtlety that goes into inter company communication.



              The contractual relationship between the companies may require a single focal point in either side who has the authority to speak for their company. This means any promises made via email may be considered binding so it is crucial that only the authorized person hit send.



              Different contacts in different companies have different workloads and tolerances for having their time wasted. Questions from more Junior staff are typically filtered by more senior staff when there are concerns that the counter party may respond negatively to interactions they don't approve of.



              It's also possible that there is wider context that you may be unaware of that the manager is. For example, discussion between technical staff may venture into territory that the business staff agree is out of scope. There may be legal or compliance issues (export control, data privacy, ethics, anti bribery, anti competition, etc) that needs to be taken into consideration when communicating.



              You just may not have enough experience posing your questions or stating your information in terms that the other side may understand so your manager adds a bit of translation to it.



              Your manager may need to keep in the loop so he can respond to internal and external questions on what is going on. He may want to control communication to keep it in sync with a consistent message and ensure there is not too much.



              In short, there are many possible reasons and it's probably a combination of the above.






              share|improve this answer
























                up vote
                0
                down vote













                The key is that this is your first full time position. There is a lot of subtlety that goes into inter company communication.



                The contractual relationship between the companies may require a single focal point in either side who has the authority to speak for their company. This means any promises made via email may be considered binding so it is crucial that only the authorized person hit send.



                Different contacts in different companies have different workloads and tolerances for having their time wasted. Questions from more Junior staff are typically filtered by more senior staff when there are concerns that the counter party may respond negatively to interactions they don't approve of.



                It's also possible that there is wider context that you may be unaware of that the manager is. For example, discussion between technical staff may venture into territory that the business staff agree is out of scope. There may be legal or compliance issues (export control, data privacy, ethics, anti bribery, anti competition, etc) that needs to be taken into consideration when communicating.



                You just may not have enough experience posing your questions or stating your information in terms that the other side may understand so your manager adds a bit of translation to it.



                Your manager may need to keep in the loop so he can respond to internal and external questions on what is going on. He may want to control communication to keep it in sync with a consistent message and ensure there is not too much.



                In short, there are many possible reasons and it's probably a combination of the above.






                share|improve this answer






















                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote









                  The key is that this is your first full time position. There is a lot of subtlety that goes into inter company communication.



                  The contractual relationship between the companies may require a single focal point in either side who has the authority to speak for their company. This means any promises made via email may be considered binding so it is crucial that only the authorized person hit send.



                  Different contacts in different companies have different workloads and tolerances for having their time wasted. Questions from more Junior staff are typically filtered by more senior staff when there are concerns that the counter party may respond negatively to interactions they don't approve of.



                  It's also possible that there is wider context that you may be unaware of that the manager is. For example, discussion between technical staff may venture into territory that the business staff agree is out of scope. There may be legal or compliance issues (export control, data privacy, ethics, anti bribery, anti competition, etc) that needs to be taken into consideration when communicating.



                  You just may not have enough experience posing your questions or stating your information in terms that the other side may understand so your manager adds a bit of translation to it.



                  Your manager may need to keep in the loop so he can respond to internal and external questions on what is going on. He may want to control communication to keep it in sync with a consistent message and ensure there is not too much.



                  In short, there are many possible reasons and it's probably a combination of the above.






                  share|improve this answer












                  The key is that this is your first full time position. There is a lot of subtlety that goes into inter company communication.



                  The contractual relationship between the companies may require a single focal point in either side who has the authority to speak for their company. This means any promises made via email may be considered binding so it is crucial that only the authorized person hit send.



                  Different contacts in different companies have different workloads and tolerances for having their time wasted. Questions from more Junior staff are typically filtered by more senior staff when there are concerns that the counter party may respond negatively to interactions they don't approve of.



                  It's also possible that there is wider context that you may be unaware of that the manager is. For example, discussion between technical staff may venture into territory that the business staff agree is out of scope. There may be legal or compliance issues (export control, data privacy, ethics, anti bribery, anti competition, etc) that needs to be taken into consideration when communicating.



                  You just may not have enough experience posing your questions or stating your information in terms that the other side may understand so your manager adds a bit of translation to it.



                  Your manager may need to keep in the loop so he can respond to internal and external questions on what is going on. He may want to control communication to keep it in sync with a consistent message and ensure there is not too much.



                  In short, there are many possible reasons and it's probably a combination of the above.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 2 days ago









                  Eric

                  4,14711126




                  4,14711126




















                      up vote
                      -1
                      down vote













                      Sometimes it can make sense to skip an intermediate position and make a conversation more fluent. But for now if your manager doesn't modify answers into wrong statements I don't yet see a big problem.

                      Direct communication also means more interrupts and effort for you. Normally you don't want this.



                      If you switch to directly contacting them then your manager no longer is the one who probably dispatches different questions to different people and bundles information in a response to whom it belongs. Then YOU are this first level contact person. You will probably receive everything else coming in from the other one, have to sort out what to forward to whom, sum up answers of your colleagues and so on. If your contact is spread in this other company you will receive requests from other people too.

                      If they have your phone number, expect calls at every time.

                      Do you really want that as an engineer?



                      Sometimes a phone call is much faster and more effective than a buch of mails spread over a week. You could suggest your manager to call someone in a situation that requires superior mailing effort, just to make it more effective. For your own sake start with a neutral phone such like in a meeting room or your manager's phone and let him join the conversation.






                      share|improve this answer




















                      • Would the downvoter explain? If they can...
                        – puck
                        1 hour ago














                      up vote
                      -1
                      down vote













                      Sometimes it can make sense to skip an intermediate position and make a conversation more fluent. But for now if your manager doesn't modify answers into wrong statements I don't yet see a big problem.

                      Direct communication also means more interrupts and effort for you. Normally you don't want this.



                      If you switch to directly contacting them then your manager no longer is the one who probably dispatches different questions to different people and bundles information in a response to whom it belongs. Then YOU are this first level contact person. You will probably receive everything else coming in from the other one, have to sort out what to forward to whom, sum up answers of your colleagues and so on. If your contact is spread in this other company you will receive requests from other people too.

                      If they have your phone number, expect calls at every time.

                      Do you really want that as an engineer?



                      Sometimes a phone call is much faster and more effective than a buch of mails spread over a week. You could suggest your manager to call someone in a situation that requires superior mailing effort, just to make it more effective. For your own sake start with a neutral phone such like in a meeting room or your manager's phone and let him join the conversation.






                      share|improve this answer




















                      • Would the downvoter explain? If they can...
                        – puck
                        1 hour ago












                      up vote
                      -1
                      down vote










                      up vote
                      -1
                      down vote









                      Sometimes it can make sense to skip an intermediate position and make a conversation more fluent. But for now if your manager doesn't modify answers into wrong statements I don't yet see a big problem.

                      Direct communication also means more interrupts and effort for you. Normally you don't want this.



                      If you switch to directly contacting them then your manager no longer is the one who probably dispatches different questions to different people and bundles information in a response to whom it belongs. Then YOU are this first level contact person. You will probably receive everything else coming in from the other one, have to sort out what to forward to whom, sum up answers of your colleagues and so on. If your contact is spread in this other company you will receive requests from other people too.

                      If they have your phone number, expect calls at every time.

                      Do you really want that as an engineer?



                      Sometimes a phone call is much faster and more effective than a buch of mails spread over a week. You could suggest your manager to call someone in a situation that requires superior mailing effort, just to make it more effective. For your own sake start with a neutral phone such like in a meeting room or your manager's phone and let him join the conversation.






                      share|improve this answer












                      Sometimes it can make sense to skip an intermediate position and make a conversation more fluent. But for now if your manager doesn't modify answers into wrong statements I don't yet see a big problem.

                      Direct communication also means more interrupts and effort for you. Normally you don't want this.



                      If you switch to directly contacting them then your manager no longer is the one who probably dispatches different questions to different people and bundles information in a response to whom it belongs. Then YOU are this first level contact person. You will probably receive everything else coming in from the other one, have to sort out what to forward to whom, sum up answers of your colleagues and so on. If your contact is spread in this other company you will receive requests from other people too.

                      If they have your phone number, expect calls at every time.

                      Do you really want that as an engineer?



                      Sometimes a phone call is much faster and more effective than a buch of mails spread over a week. You could suggest your manager to call someone in a situation that requires superior mailing effort, just to make it more effective. For your own sake start with a neutral phone such like in a meeting room or your manager's phone and let him join the conversation.







                      share|improve this answer












                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer










                      answered Sep 8 at 5:45









                      puck

                      1,091110




                      1,091110











                      • Would the downvoter explain? If they can...
                        – puck
                        1 hour ago
















                      • Would the downvoter explain? If they can...
                        – puck
                        1 hour ago















                      Would the downvoter explain? If they can...
                      – puck
                      1 hour ago




                      Would the downvoter explain? If they can...
                      – puck
                      1 hour ago










                      up vote
                      -1
                      down vote













                      Most companies try to have a single point of contact between them and any partners, customers or vendors. It reduces confusion and makes it very clear as to who is ultimately responsible for things on either side. That person often understands the entire relationship between the outside entity and the inside groups which lends them perspective you don't have and really don't want to know about.



                      Your manager is obviously that point of contact. In some companies this role is fulfilled by project managers, business analysts or even customer relations people. They are going to have meetings, take calls and handle emails that you will never know about. This is a good thing because it affords you the opportunity to focus on your immediate scope of work without having to worry about all the extra backroom clutter that tends to overwhelm the non-managers.



                      In some ways this communication seems inefficient. The alternative is that you could be flooded with calls and emails from dozens of different people covering things that you've already gone over. Each of those things might be special requests to change or tweak things or just simply asking how the project is going. That is chaos and tends to destroy productivity.



                      Seriously, don't rock this boat. Let your manager do their job and you'll be able to focus on yours.






                      share|improve this answer


























                        up vote
                        -1
                        down vote













                        Most companies try to have a single point of contact between them and any partners, customers or vendors. It reduces confusion and makes it very clear as to who is ultimately responsible for things on either side. That person often understands the entire relationship between the outside entity and the inside groups which lends them perspective you don't have and really don't want to know about.



                        Your manager is obviously that point of contact. In some companies this role is fulfilled by project managers, business analysts or even customer relations people. They are going to have meetings, take calls and handle emails that you will never know about. This is a good thing because it affords you the opportunity to focus on your immediate scope of work without having to worry about all the extra backroom clutter that tends to overwhelm the non-managers.



                        In some ways this communication seems inefficient. The alternative is that you could be flooded with calls and emails from dozens of different people covering things that you've already gone over. Each of those things might be special requests to change or tweak things or just simply asking how the project is going. That is chaos and tends to destroy productivity.



                        Seriously, don't rock this boat. Let your manager do their job and you'll be able to focus on yours.






                        share|improve this answer
























                          up vote
                          -1
                          down vote










                          up vote
                          -1
                          down vote









                          Most companies try to have a single point of contact between them and any partners, customers or vendors. It reduces confusion and makes it very clear as to who is ultimately responsible for things on either side. That person often understands the entire relationship between the outside entity and the inside groups which lends them perspective you don't have and really don't want to know about.



                          Your manager is obviously that point of contact. In some companies this role is fulfilled by project managers, business analysts or even customer relations people. They are going to have meetings, take calls and handle emails that you will never know about. This is a good thing because it affords you the opportunity to focus on your immediate scope of work without having to worry about all the extra backroom clutter that tends to overwhelm the non-managers.



                          In some ways this communication seems inefficient. The alternative is that you could be flooded with calls and emails from dozens of different people covering things that you've already gone over. Each of those things might be special requests to change or tweak things or just simply asking how the project is going. That is chaos and tends to destroy productivity.



                          Seriously, don't rock this boat. Let your manager do their job and you'll be able to focus on yours.






                          share|improve this answer














                          Most companies try to have a single point of contact between them and any partners, customers or vendors. It reduces confusion and makes it very clear as to who is ultimately responsible for things on either side. That person often understands the entire relationship between the outside entity and the inside groups which lends them perspective you don't have and really don't want to know about.



                          Your manager is obviously that point of contact. In some companies this role is fulfilled by project managers, business analysts or even customer relations people. They are going to have meetings, take calls and handle emails that you will never know about. This is a good thing because it affords you the opportunity to focus on your immediate scope of work without having to worry about all the extra backroom clutter that tends to overwhelm the non-managers.



                          In some ways this communication seems inefficient. The alternative is that you could be flooded with calls and emails from dozens of different people covering things that you've already gone over. Each of those things might be special requests to change or tweak things or just simply asking how the project is going. That is chaos and tends to destroy productivity.



                          Seriously, don't rock this boat. Let your manager do their job and you'll be able to focus on yours.







                          share|improve this answer














                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer








                          edited Sep 8 at 8:05

























                          answered Sep 8 at 7:55









                          NotMe

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                          21k55695




















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