IT managers hate non-technical project managers ignoring technical demands
12 posts across 8 communities in the last 60 days; 42% from r/sysadmin.
“Something I've been wondering about is how IT teams are expected to keep everything running smoothly, solve technical issues, maintain security, and support other departments, yet they're often treated as a cost rather than an investment. Is this is common across the IT…”
“Management: If nothing is wrong, why do we have sysadmin on staff? [re: IT Turkish get-ups]”
“the best answers will probably come from asking about specific problems rather than asking what they “wish they had.” things like scheduling, no-shows, client follow-ups, payments and admin work can uncover pain points people deal with every week but don’t think of as a problem…”
IT managers express frustration with non-technical project managers who set unrealistic goals without considering technical constraints, leading to failed projects and wasted resources. This creates tension in teams and forces IT staff to repeatedly justify technical limitations.
SOURCES (16)
“I think it’s because many folks - and I don’t know OP at all here - don’t know the first thing about managing software which is used by others. Owning something people rely on is constant work. You need to ensure the system is stable…”
“Something I've been wondering about is how IT teams are expected to keep everything running smoothly, solve technical issues, maintain security, and support other departments, yet they're often treated as a cost rather than an investment. Is this is common across the IT industry, or does it depend on the company and its management? For those working in IT, does your organization take infrastructure and staffing seriously, or does it usually take a major problem for management to pay atte”
“I had the same problem was not detailed oriented really at all. I was able to kind of make up for it because I was willing to help out and would propose solutions to fixing things. So my manager would kind of cover for my bad since of detail because I made up for it in other areas. I would frequently make mistake on excel sheets for example because I would get going to fast to try and get everything done and miss something stupid. Well that good grace finally stopped when I moved up the ranks an”
“Management: If nothing is wrong, why do we have sysadmin on staff? [re: IT Turkish get-ups]”
“the best answers will probably come from asking about specific problems rather than asking what they “wish they had.” things like scheduling, no-shows, client follow-ups, payments and admin work can uncover pain points people deal with every week but don’t think of as a problem worth mentioning. also, ask what they currently do to handle those issues and what they’ve already tried. [re: business student has questions for solo service based business owners]”
“Sometimes, even with best efforts I have the genuine feeling of explaining a very complex thing to a blind duck. Like, it's the fault to none : some people can't grab all the details and my best is bound to my own comprehension. Bur Lord, fuckind duck tho.”
1)Don’t make assumptions 2)whatever they say you also test it yourself
“Hi guys, I am a IT professional. I develop , manage server , domain , SEO , UI /UX , Database of our e-commerce website. Along with that I do data analysis of our business too. Now , everything was going good. But one day my boss mate this one MBA guy who is non techy but uses AI. He doesn't know one thing but boasts about it like he is master of everything. Now , his business website is just informational but our is dynamic with database. He just has one contact us form. Now , he has made t”
“How do you deal with a manager that is confidently wrong about basic IT infrastructure and fundamentals? They did a thing in 2005 so therefore we must do it today. No research. No checking with the team to see what they think. No google. We are hybrid m365 so anything in the admin console is a foreign concept (conditional access etc….) Its so laughable that I don’t want to sound like the “know it all” but at the same time I can’t possibly in good conscience actually roll out some of these half b”
“That's unfortunately not a problem you can solve with tech. You've either got to raise to the problem user's manager, hire a junior IT engineer to handle the 1st line stuff, or you get the business backing to be able to push back and say "submit a ticket or no work gets done", and "show me what you've tried already". At the extreme end you could raise to HR and ask for IT competency tests in hiring, if the workload is costing the IT department noticeably more”
“The response from BA you have mentioned sound like an excuse BA is falling on by asking schedule question. BA job is to define 'What' simple.”
“This situation reminds me of the old saying about being all hat and no cattle. You have a BA who wants the prestige of the role without the sweat equity of finding the truth. If they cannot identify the stakeholders or the gaps, they are not analyzing anything. They are just waiting for a schedule to tell them when to start caring. I have always believed that leadership is learned at the end of a spear, and you just handed that BA a very sharp lesson. I am curious if you think this is a training”
“I did an interview for an IT job and I wasn’t able to pass the technical part because I wasn’t able to prioritize the following issues: 1- An user with a document that they can’t access 2- An user who can’t change the password but can still use the computer 3- An user who received an email that’s very odd and was sent outside the company 4- An user who have a call in 15 minutes and can’t access Zoom on their pc How I treated it was: 3, 4, 2 and 1 How would you prioritize this and why? subm”
“No what you're talking about is asking a person to do some of the work and then if they don't you know that the request isn't that important to them. That's not what happened here. I'm not asking them to do work I'm asking them to answer a question. It's not quite the same thing it's not apples and apples”
“I am part of hiring process for my team. It's pretty hard finding a project manager with technical background. The non-technical project managers are all about meeting target goals without actually taking into consideration of technical demands for technical development and QA cycles. And I have laid off my fair share of non-technical project managers based on this.”