Micromanagement

Micromanagers are the bane of any IT project (or any project for that matter). These are typically individuals who rise to leadership roles prematurely, for reasons other than their management skills. In some cases, the best techie in the team is made the manager while in others, someone having cordial relations with the Client or with Senior Management is given the top job

Managers in the first category know that their team members are not as good technically as they are. This makes them believe the Limp Bizkit song that goes "if you want something done right, you just do it yourself". Of course, if they can stretch themselves to handle the extra load, this would not be a problem. But even if they do manage it for some time, they tend to burn out

The second category of managers are inherently insecure and always keep looking over their shoulder. Their idea behind micromanaging is to ensure that no alternate power centers develop within the team. If any team lead or senior team member shows some initiative or takes some independent decisions, this category of manager moves swiftly to cut them down to size

Whatever the reason for micromanagement, it is a fact that no team member enjoys working under such conditions. A tightly controlled team can never produce future leaders. Team leads who are used to being micromanaged would naturally try and practice the same style when they themselves become managers. And thus, this unsavory and undesirable system continues