Mixing
Job responsibilities - Project manager vs developer [closed]
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I am currently working with a project manager and not sure about some of the stuff she expects me to do. As a developer as well as writing code, quite often I am being asked to perform certain other tasks whenever we face a problem.
For instance the software which runs perfectly on server A is running really slow on a test server, we make sure that this is not anything to do with the software we wrote and it is hardware related, but then I am being asked to find out why that server is really slow and what can be done about it, I investigate this and find the reasons (i.e. hardware fault, wrong setup etc...) and then report this to her, she then asks me to come up with possible solutions (i.e. contacting the relevant departments and asking them if they can fix the hardware issues or re-install certain software etc...) and this is just one of the examples.
I have already spoken to her about this and her response was that it is our (devs) responsibility to take ownership of the problems and find solutions. In my previous roles these kind of situations were reported to the project managers and they were responsible for contacting the relevant people and sorting the issues.
My question is as a developer how much of these kind of none coding issues should be handled by developers?
Thanks
software-industry project-management software
asked Apr 5 '14 at 11:08
HugoDev
215
closed as too broad by Jim G., CMW, jcmeloni, IDrinkandIKnowThings, thursdaysgeek Apr 8 '14 at 23:42
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
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I am currently working with a project manager and not sure about some of the stuff she expects me to do. As a developer as well as writing code, quite often I am being asked to perform certain other tasks whenever we face a problem.
For instance the software which runs perfectly on server A is running really slow on a test server, we make sure that this is not anything to do with the software we wrote and it is hardware related, but then I am being asked to find out why that server is really slow and what can be done about it, I investigate this and find the reasons (i.e. hardware fault, wrong setup etc...) and then report this to her, she then asks me to come up with possible solutions (i.e. contacting the relevant departments and asking them if they can fix the hardware issues or re-install certain software etc...) and this is just one of the examples.
I have already spoken to her about this and her response was that it is our (devs) responsibility to take ownership of the problems and find solutions. In my previous roles these kind of situations were reported to the project managers and they were responsible for contacting the relevant people and sorting the issues.
My question is as a developer how much of these kind of none coding issues should be handled by developers?
Thanks
software-industry project-management software
asked Apr 5 '14 at 11:08
HugoDev
215
closed as too broad by Jim G., CMW, jcmeloni, IDrinkandIKnowThings, thursdaysgeek Apr 8 '14 at 23:42
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
2
How can anyone but a developer make the determination that the slow performance is not related to something in the code? Generally speaking it's not uncommon for a developer role to include some occasional ops-related work. It's certainly not something a project manager would do. Those kind of tasks fall either to development or operations.
– aroth
Apr 5 '14 at 11:22
1
If one hasn't properly configured the SQL instance, it could be slow due to optimization issues, which only a developer could identify. If the server is slow due to underpowered CPU or memory shortage, it's someone else's problem to fix, but you'll have to have identified it as the issue first.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:27
@Meredith Poor, this is exactly my point, I don't mind identifying the issue, but when I told her that there is a CPU/memory issue, she expects me to talk to the other departments and get the issue solved, which I am not sure I need to be doing.
– HugoDev
Apr 5 '14 at 11:46
1
@HugoDev - Project Managers are supposed to keep developers focused on development. I would agree with you that once it's out of your scope it's her problem, not something you should 'take ownership' over.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:56
How siloed is your organization? Are you permitted to talk to the server administrators to address the CPU/memory issue, or are they sequestered from you? Can you address the CPU/memory issues by improving your code?
– alroc
Apr 6 '14 at 12:10
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
I am currently working with a project manager and not sure about some of the stuff she expects me to do. As a developer as well as writing code, quite often I am being asked to perform certain other tasks whenever we face a problem.
For instance the software which runs perfectly on server A is running really slow on a test server, we make sure that this is not anything to do with the software we wrote and it is hardware related, but then I am being asked to find out why that server is really slow and what can be done about it, I investigate this and find the reasons (i.e. hardware fault, wrong setup etc...) and then report this to her, she then asks me to come up with possible solutions (i.e. contacting the relevant departments and asking them if they can fix the hardware issues or re-install certain software etc...) and this is just one of the examples.
I have already spoken to her about this and her response was that it is our (devs) responsibility to take ownership of the problems and find solutions. In my previous roles these kind of situations were reported to the project managers and they were responsible for contacting the relevant people and sorting the issues.
My question is as a developer how much of these kind of none coding issues should be handled by developers?
Thanks
software-industry project-management software
asked Apr 5 '14 at 11:08
HugoDev
215
I am currently working with a project manager and not sure about some of the stuff she expects me to do. As a developer as well as writing code, quite often I am being asked to perform certain other tasks whenever we face a problem.
For instance the software which runs perfectly on server A is running really slow on a test server, we make sure that this is not anything to do with the software we wrote and it is hardware related, but then I am being asked to find out why that server is really slow and what can be done about it, I investigate this and find the reasons (i.e. hardware fault, wrong setup etc...) and then report this to her, she then asks me to come up with possible solutions (i.e. contacting the relevant departments and asking them if they can fix the hardware issues or re-install certain software etc...) and this is just one of the examples.
I have already spoken to her about this and her response was that it is our (devs) responsibility to take ownership of the problems and find solutions. In my previous roles these kind of situations were reported to the project managers and they were responsible for contacting the relevant people and sorting the issues.
My question is as a developer how much of these kind of none coding issues should be handled by developers?
Thanks
software-industry project-management software
asked Apr 5 '14 at 11:08
HugoDev
215
asked Apr 5 '14 at 11:08
HugoDev
215
asked Apr 5 '14 at 11:08
HugoDev
215
asked Apr 5 '14 at 11:08
HugoDev
215
215
closed as too broad by Jim G., CMW, jcmeloni, IDrinkandIKnowThings, thursdaysgeek Apr 8 '14 at 23:42
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
closed as too broad by Jim G., CMW, jcmeloni, IDrinkandIKnowThings, thursdaysgeek Apr 8 '14 at 23:42
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
2
How can anyone but a developer make the determination that the slow performance is not related to something in the code? Generally speaking it's not uncommon for a developer role to include some occasional ops-related work. It's certainly not something a project manager would do. Those kind of tasks fall either to development or operations.
– aroth
Apr 5 '14 at 11:22
1
If one hasn't properly configured the SQL instance, it could be slow due to optimization issues, which only a developer could identify. If the server is slow due to underpowered CPU or memory shortage, it's someone else's problem to fix, but you'll have to have identified it as the issue first.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:27
@Meredith Poor, this is exactly my point, I don't mind identifying the issue, but when I told her that there is a CPU/memory issue, she expects me to talk to the other departments and get the issue solved, which I am not sure I need to be doing.
– HugoDev
Apr 5 '14 at 11:46
1
@HugoDev - Project Managers are supposed to keep developers focused on development. I would agree with you that once it's out of your scope it's her problem, not something you should 'take ownership' over.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:56
How siloed is your organization? Are you permitted to talk to the server administrators to address the CPU/memory issue, or are they sequestered from you? Can you address the CPU/memory issues by improving your code?
– alroc
Apr 6 '14 at 12:10
 |Â
show 1 more comment
2
How can anyone but a developer make the determination that the slow performance is not related to something in the code? Generally speaking it's not uncommon for a developer role to include some occasional ops-related work. It's certainly not something a project manager would do. Those kind of tasks fall either to development or operations.
– aroth
Apr 5 '14 at 11:22
1
If one hasn't properly configured the SQL instance, it could be slow due to optimization issues, which only a developer could identify. If the server is slow due to underpowered CPU or memory shortage, it's someone else's problem to fix, but you'll have to have identified it as the issue first.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:27
@Meredith Poor, this is exactly my point, I don't mind identifying the issue, but when I told her that there is a CPU/memory issue, she expects me to talk to the other departments and get the issue solved, which I am not sure I need to be doing.
– HugoDev
Apr 5 '14 at 11:46
1
@HugoDev - Project Managers are supposed to keep developers focused on development. I would agree with you that once it's out of your scope it's her problem, not something you should 'take ownership' over.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:56
How siloed is your organization? Are you permitted to talk to the server administrators to address the CPU/memory issue, or are they sequestered from you? Can you address the CPU/memory issues by improving your code?
– alroc
Apr 6 '14 at 12:10
2
2
How can anyone but a developer make the determination that the slow performance is not related to something in the code? Generally speaking it's not uncommon for a developer role to include some occasional ops-related work. It's certainly not something a project manager would do. Those kind of tasks fall either to development or operations.
– aroth
Apr 5 '14 at 11:22
How can anyone but a developer make the determination that the slow performance is not related to something in the code? Generally speaking it's not uncommon for a developer role to include some occasional ops-related work. It's certainly not something a project manager would do. Those kind of tasks fall either to development or operations.
– aroth
Apr 5 '14 at 11:22
1
1
If one hasn't properly configured the SQL instance, it could be slow due to optimization issues, which only a developer could identify. If the server is slow due to underpowered CPU or memory shortage, it's someone else's problem to fix, but you'll have to have identified it as the issue first.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:27
If one hasn't properly configured the SQL instance, it could be slow due to optimization issues, which only a developer could identify. If the server is slow due to underpowered CPU or memory shortage, it's someone else's problem to fix, but you'll have to have identified it as the issue first.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:27
@Meredith Poor, this is exactly my point, I don't mind identifying the issue, but when I told her that there is a CPU/memory issue, she expects me to talk to the other departments and get the issue solved, which I am not sure I need to be doing.
– HugoDev
Apr 5 '14 at 11:46
@Meredith Poor, this is exactly my point, I don't mind identifying the issue, but when I told her that there is a CPU/memory issue, she expects me to talk to the other departments and get the issue solved, which I am not sure I need to be doing.
– HugoDev
Apr 5 '14 at 11:46
1
1
@HugoDev - Project Managers are supposed to keep developers focused on development. I would agree with you that once it's out of your scope it's her problem, not something you should 'take ownership' over.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:56
@HugoDev - Project Managers are supposed to keep developers focused on development. I would agree with you that once it's out of your scope it's her problem, not something you should 'take ownership' over.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:56
How siloed is your organization? Are you permitted to talk to the server administrators to address the CPU/memory issue, or are they sequestered from you? Can you address the CPU/memory issues by improving your code?
– alroc
Apr 6 '14 at 12:10
How siloed is your organization? Are you permitted to talk to the server administrators to address the CPU/memory issue, or are they sequestered from you? Can you address the CPU/memory issues by improving your code?
– alroc
Apr 6 '14 at 12:10
 |Â
show 1 more comment
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
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up vote
3
down vote
It really depends on company culture and management style. Your previous manager(s) had a much more hands-on approach, keeping close control over your activities. Your current manager seems to delegate the task to you and then keeps in touch to see if you need help. With this kind of management style you can enjoy more freedom. However, with freedom comes responsibility. In this case it means you have to be more proactive in case you need to know stuff or need to have access to resources. If you're uncomfortable with that, then it's your responsibility to indicate that, so she might adjust to your needs.
It seems that your new manager might be a 7 habits woman.
edited Apr 5 '14 at 19:29
anneta Motwanti
3418
answered Apr 5 '14 at 15:26
Onno
876717
It may also be that the previous companies the OP worked at had a different ratio of project managers to developers. I've worked places with almost as many PMs as devs, and they took on a lot of responsibility. And I've worked at places where it was 1:5 and the PMs were up to their ears just keeping track of what was happening, with no time to volunteer any additional help.
– Carson63000
Apr 5 '14 at 22:08
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
There is clearly a disjoint between your expectations and hers. Her expectation that you take ownership of the problem is extreme and probably unreasonable. Because she cannot just abdicate the responsibility for seeing the problem to its conclusion by simply passing the hot potato to someone else.
Given that she is acting rationally - not that you and I like her rationale, I suggest that you escalate to your team leader and your manager in the hierarchy that the three of you lay out your professional expectations to her. Yes, she gets full cooperation and you are taking ownership for your responses and if the engineers contact you about what you said, you will speak with them but the responsibility to escalate to engineering is hers.
answered Apr 5 '14 at 11:31
Vietnhi Phuvan
68.9k7118254
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
It really depends on company culture and management style. Your previous manager(s) had a much more hands-on approach, keeping close control over your activities. Your current manager seems to delegate the task to you and then keeps in touch to see if you need help. With this kind of management style you can enjoy more freedom. However, with freedom comes responsibility. In this case it means you have to be more proactive in case you need to know stuff or need to have access to resources. If you're uncomfortable with that, then it's your responsibility to indicate that, so she might adjust to your needs.
It seems that your new manager might be a 7 habits woman.
edited Apr 5 '14 at 19:29
anneta Motwanti
3418
answered Apr 5 '14 at 15:26
Onno
876717
It may also be that the previous companies the OP worked at had a different ratio of project managers to developers. I've worked places with almost as many PMs as devs, and they took on a lot of responsibility. And I've worked at places where it was 1:5 and the PMs were up to their ears just keeping track of what was happening, with no time to volunteer any additional help.
– Carson63000
Apr 5 '14 at 22:08
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
It really depends on company culture and management style. Your previous manager(s) had a much more hands-on approach, keeping close control over your activities. Your current manager seems to delegate the task to you and then keeps in touch to see if you need help. With this kind of management style you can enjoy more freedom. However, with freedom comes responsibility. In this case it means you have to be more proactive in case you need to know stuff or need to have access to resources. If you're uncomfortable with that, then it's your responsibility to indicate that, so she might adjust to your needs.
It seems that your new manager might be a 7 habits woman.
edited Apr 5 '14 at 19:29
anneta Motwanti
3418
answered Apr 5 '14 at 15:26
Onno
876717
It may also be that the previous companies the OP worked at had a different ratio of project managers to developers. I've worked places with almost as many PMs as devs, and they took on a lot of responsibility. And I've worked at places where it was 1:5 and the PMs were up to their ears just keeping track of what was happening, with no time to volunteer any additional help.
– Carson63000
Apr 5 '14 at 22:08
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
It really depends on company culture and management style. Your previous manager(s) had a much more hands-on approach, keeping close control over your activities. Your current manager seems to delegate the task to you and then keeps in touch to see if you need help. With this kind of management style you can enjoy more freedom. However, with freedom comes responsibility. In this case it means you have to be more proactive in case you need to know stuff or need to have access to resources. If you're uncomfortable with that, then it's your responsibility to indicate that, so she might adjust to your needs.
It seems that your new manager might be a 7 habits woman.
edited Apr 5 '14 at 19:29
anneta Motwanti
3418
answered Apr 5 '14 at 15:26
Onno
876717
It really depends on company culture and management style. Your previous manager(s) had a much more hands-on approach, keeping close control over your activities. Your current manager seems to delegate the task to you and then keeps in touch to see if you need help. With this kind of management style you can enjoy more freedom. However, with freedom comes responsibility. In this case it means you have to be more proactive in case you need to know stuff or need to have access to resources. If you're uncomfortable with that, then it's your responsibility to indicate that, so she might adjust to your needs.
It seems that your new manager might be a 7 habits woman.
edited Apr 5 '14 at 19:29
anneta Motwanti
3418
answered Apr 5 '14 at 15:26
Onno
876717
edited Apr 5 '14 at 19:29
anneta Motwanti
3418
edited Apr 5 '14 at 19:29
anneta Motwanti
3418
edited Apr 5 '14 at 19:29
anneta Motwanti
3418
3418
answered Apr 5 '14 at 15:26
Onno
876717
answered Apr 5 '14 at 15:26
Onno
876717
answered Apr 5 '14 at 15:26
Onno
876717
876717
It may also be that the previous companies the OP worked at had a different ratio of project managers to developers. I've worked places with almost as many PMs as devs, and they took on a lot of responsibility. And I've worked at places where it was 1:5 and the PMs were up to their ears just keeping track of what was happening, with no time to volunteer any additional help.
– Carson63000
Apr 5 '14 at 22:08
add a comment |Â
It may also be that the previous companies the OP worked at had a different ratio of project managers to developers. I've worked places with almost as many PMs as devs, and they took on a lot of responsibility. And I've worked at places where it was 1:5 and the PMs were up to their ears just keeping track of what was happening, with no time to volunteer any additional help.
– Carson63000
Apr 5 '14 at 22:08
It may also be that the previous companies the OP worked at had a different ratio of project managers to developers. I've worked places with almost as many PMs as devs, and they took on a lot of responsibility. And I've worked at places where it was 1:5 and the PMs were up to their ears just keeping track of what was happening, with no time to volunteer any additional help.
– Carson63000
Apr 5 '14 at 22:08
It may also be that the previous companies the OP worked at had a different ratio of project managers to developers. I've worked places with almost as many PMs as devs, and they took on a lot of responsibility. And I've worked at places where it was 1:5 and the PMs were up to their ears just keeping track of what was happening, with no time to volunteer any additional help.
– Carson63000
Apr 5 '14 at 22:08
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
There is clearly a disjoint between your expectations and hers. Her expectation that you take ownership of the problem is extreme and probably unreasonable. Because she cannot just abdicate the responsibility for seeing the problem to its conclusion by simply passing the hot potato to someone else.
Given that she is acting rationally - not that you and I like her rationale, I suggest that you escalate to your team leader and your manager in the hierarchy that the three of you lay out your professional expectations to her. Yes, she gets full cooperation and you are taking ownership for your responses and if the engineers contact you about what you said, you will speak with them but the responsibility to escalate to engineering is hers.
answered Apr 5 '14 at 11:31
Vietnhi Phuvan
68.9k7118254
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
There is clearly a disjoint between your expectations and hers. Her expectation that you take ownership of the problem is extreme and probably unreasonable. Because she cannot just abdicate the responsibility for seeing the problem to its conclusion by simply passing the hot potato to someone else.
Given that she is acting rationally - not that you and I like her rationale, I suggest that you escalate to your team leader and your manager in the hierarchy that the three of you lay out your professional expectations to her. Yes, she gets full cooperation and you are taking ownership for your responses and if the engineers contact you about what you said, you will speak with them but the responsibility to escalate to engineering is hers.
answered Apr 5 '14 at 11:31
Vietnhi Phuvan
68.9k7118254
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
There is clearly a disjoint between your expectations and hers. Her expectation that you take ownership of the problem is extreme and probably unreasonable. Because she cannot just abdicate the responsibility for seeing the problem to its conclusion by simply passing the hot potato to someone else.
Given that she is acting rationally - not that you and I like her rationale, I suggest that you escalate to your team leader and your manager in the hierarchy that the three of you lay out your professional expectations to her. Yes, she gets full cooperation and you are taking ownership for your responses and if the engineers contact you about what you said, you will speak with them but the responsibility to escalate to engineering is hers.
answered Apr 5 '14 at 11:31
Vietnhi Phuvan
68.9k7118254
There is clearly a disjoint between your expectations and hers. Her expectation that you take ownership of the problem is extreme and probably unreasonable. Because she cannot just abdicate the responsibility for seeing the problem to its conclusion by simply passing the hot potato to someone else.
Given that she is acting rationally - not that you and I like her rationale, I suggest that you escalate to your team leader and your manager in the hierarchy that the three of you lay out your professional expectations to her. Yes, she gets full cooperation and you are taking ownership for your responses and if the engineers contact you about what you said, you will speak with them but the responsibility to escalate to engineering is hers.
answered Apr 5 '14 at 11:31
Vietnhi Phuvan
68.9k7118254
edited Apr 5 '14 at 21:50
answered Apr 5 '14 at 11:31
Vietnhi Phuvan
68.9k7118254
answered Apr 5 '14 at 11:31
Vietnhi Phuvan
68.9k7118254
answered Apr 5 '14 at 11:31
Vietnhi Phuvan
68.9k7118254
68.9k7118254
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
2
How can anyone but a developer make the determination that the slow performance is not related to something in the code? Generally speaking it's not uncommon for a developer role to include some occasional ops-related work. It's certainly not something a project manager would do. Those kind of tasks fall either to development or operations.
– aroth
Apr 5 '14 at 11:22
1
If one hasn't properly configured the SQL instance, it could be slow due to optimization issues, which only a developer could identify. If the server is slow due to underpowered CPU or memory shortage, it's someone else's problem to fix, but you'll have to have identified it as the issue first.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:27
@Meredith Poor, this is exactly my point, I don't mind identifying the issue, but when I told her that there is a CPU/memory issue, she expects me to talk to the other departments and get the issue solved, which I am not sure I need to be doing.
– HugoDev
Apr 5 '14 at 11:46
1
@HugoDev - Project Managers are supposed to keep developers focused on development. I would agree with you that once it's out of your scope it's her problem, not something you should 'take ownership' over.
– Meredith Poor
Apr 5 '14 at 11:56
How siloed is your organization? Are you permitted to talk to the server administrators to address the CPU/memory issue, or are they sequestered from you? Can you address the CPU/memory issues by improving your code?
– alroc
Apr 6 '14 at 12:10