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PM in daily: your turn. what have you done yesterday?

me: so i finished my PR for feature x and now i'm only waiting for review feedback there, so i can close this ticket today if no major rework is required-

PM: this is not what i asked, i don't want to know what you did, i want to know what was done.

me: uhh... okay, also i started working on task x
[note: task x, a task per definition involving a large amount of research, was very coarsly defined and it wasn't even clear to the PM what he exactly expects from me, and we agreed that the scope needs to be refined in the process],
so as a first step, i started doing some general investigations to get an overview of the topic and learn about concepts a and b-

PM: again, i don't want to know what you did, i want to know what was done.

me: okay well, i have DONE basic research on topic xy and collected information-

PM: this still does not answer my question, what's the deliverable?

me: ...so uhhh.... i read papers? i researched info online and collected and prepared information and links in a presentation which i'm also planning to present to the team-

PM: okay, can you please split your jira task in subtasks so everyone knows exactly what you're working on? otherwise we have no idea what you're doing.

for fuck's sake, shut up. just shut up

Comments
  • 22
    Why is it a problem that he has no idea what you are doing if he doesn‘t want to know what you are doing?
    This doesn‘t make any sense. Seems like another dumb PM.
  • 6
    Why is PM asking the status in daily stand ups?

    Isn't that TPM's job?
  • 17
    The deliverable of a research task normally is the information you researched. But it is pretty darn clear that the PM isn't well-suited for the role...
  • 8
    @Floydimus in fact, he is PM, PO and SM 😅
  • 6
    @soull00t
    I did some Things yesterday. Today I will do more Stuff. What is "Deliverable" you mentioned? sounds interesting. Lets take it offline, and you can stop embrassing me in front of everybody.
  • 6
    Sounds very annoying 😳
  • 6
    "What have you done yesterday?" is a grammatically incorrect sentence. https://forum.wordreference.com/thr...
  • 2
    @electrineer haha, i'd really love to rub that right into his face...
  • 18
    Classic from the PM / Scrum Master cheat sheet.

    Repeat after me:

    - "Lets split this ticket"

    - "This isn't a task, it's a story"

    - "This isn't a story, it's an epic"

    - "This isn't an epic, it's an initiative" (advanced users only!)

    - "Lets refine this further" (read: "I don't understand a word you said")

    - "Lets discuss afterwards" (read: "Without me please, because I don't understand, and also don't want to understand")
  • 12
    You let that go on a few steps too far. As soon as he said "no, what have you DONE" for the second time, you should have said "dude, what the fuck are you actually asking? Explain it to me in an intelligible way and I'll try to answer, but right now I don't know what the hell you want me to say or what the hell you're even really asking me."

    Maybe tone it down a little bit of course, but honestly, not that much.

    Don't let people walk over you like that. If it's a legitimate question, they'll be able to explain and then you can try to answer "properly". Otherwise, it's just dick-measuring, and you gotta be able to stand up and slap that kind of shit down quick or it'll just become standard practice. Don't worry about getting fired because (a) chances are you're not the only one in the room thinking the same thing, and (b) if you DO get fired, you were extricated from a bad situation. Life is too short to stay in bad work situations, especially in this field.
  • 6
    @soull00t
    Your PM is trying to nail you down on his bullshit micromanaged incapacities.
  • 2
    Yeah, leave! ♥️
  • 3
    @fzammetti it is weird how adapted i'm already to his... style. XD he also treats other scrum team members like that, and honestly i believe he doesn't do that to be a dick, but just has his own, weird, unreachable standards and this weird, direct, patronizing way to hold people to these standards.

    i'm making so much fun of his managing style all the time with a colleague that i don't even feel that bad about it anymore, but two devs already left the team 🙃

    i've been thinking about talking to him directly one on one about this topic (also since i was afraid that even more people could leave the team, and also because he affronts a lot of other people in our company and i'm not sure if he is aware of that). i even believe that he would be open and listen and maybe think about it, but i didn't find the courage yet because this would mean to directly criticize his way of communication, and honestly i'm not sure how to put this in a diplomatic way.
  • 4
    Just lie everyone else does.
  • 4
    It sounds like what he should have asked was, “What have you moved to the Done column?” 🙃 Because everything you did is what you’ve done. That’s just terrible communication on his part.
  • 1
    Time to leave this job I think
  • 3
    Click Google: new jobs
  • 3
    Sounds like a place I wouldn’t wanna work
  • 1
    I Think it was done for me several times in past hahahah
  • 1
    @soull00t normally in our team we have a 360 degree feedback session in which I can give a feedback to the SM.
  • 2
    @soull00t why do you want to talk to him( her?)? Just save the story for you exit interview.

    I don’t see why victims of emotional abuse need to ask the abuser to be nice.
  • 1
    @SlowlyButSurly i see your point. but I prefer open, transparent and constructive communication, so talking about it only in my exit interview would be way to late, in my opinion. before handing my notice, i have a lot of chances to speak up about my problems and struggles. maybe things can be changed to the better. but if i feel like nobody takes my concerns seriously, then it is time to leave...

    in this case, however, talking directly with the abuser didn't help at all. it only gave me some papertrail so i could prove that at least i tried to resolve the situation in a constructive way and it wasn't my fault...
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