He’ll assign a task, tell you exactly how you should do it, and then "stop by" repeatedly to check on progress.
Let's not forget the rest of the story: Dick is not a dick by accident. He chooses this management style to keep his people on edge. Do you recognize any of these other things...
1. Dick will omit one or two critical considerations about the task that you have no way of knowing. You're expected to gain this knowledge by osmosis or through the ether. It's your fault, not his, if you don't.
2. Dick assigns no priorities to any of the tasks he assigns. Since by definition, there will always be something not done, he will choose that thing to delve into. You can't win.
3. Dick waits until 4:55 to start a conversation. Once is an instance. Twice is a coincidence. After that, it's a pattern.
4. Dick only uses first names. If you don't know who he's talking about, you're the idiot.
5. Dick will pull his people off partially finished projects all the time for the emergency du jour. Then he will act as if he never did this when the bumped project is not done. Again it's always your fault, not his.
6. Dick will always find some outlying case no one has ever thought about and drill down 8 levels deep until he's the only one who knows what he's talking about. Everyone else is an idiot.
7. If Dick wants something, he yells. If he doesn't get it, he yells louder. If he still doesn't get it, he cusses.
8. When you least expect it, Dick is manic. The greatest guy in the world, as happy as can be, and everyone's buddy. Don't worry, things will be back to normal tomorrow.
9. Dick never uses formal functional specifications and rarely commits to anything in email. That way, when things are not built exactly the way they are needed, he can't be pinned down. It's always someone else's fault.
10. People come and people go, but Dick is still a dick and always will be.
11. You keep Outlook calendar up to date with all your meetings, but Dick will schedule his own (useless) meetings over them because he thinks he is that important. Dick will never keep his Outlook calendar up to date as that would allow you to know where he will be.
12. Dick is the manager, you are the programmer. He earns more than you, meaning he is more prized than you by your company. So, he must be doing something right, and you better understand what it is, if you want to get ahead.
Let's not forget the rest of the story: Dick is not a dick by accident. He chooses this management style to keep his people on edge. Do you recognize any of these other things...
1. Dick will omit one or two critical considerations about the task that you have no way of knowing. You're expected to gain this knowledge by osmosis or through the ether. It's your fault, not his, if you don't.
2. Dick assigns no priorities to any of the tasks he assigns. Since by definition, there will always be something not done, he will choose that thing to delve into. You can't win.
3. Dick waits until 4:55 to start a conversation. Once is an instance. Twice is a coincidence. After that, it's a pattern.
4. Dick only uses first names. If you don't know who he's talking about, you're the idiot.
5. Dick will pull his people off partially finished projects all the time for the emergency du jour. Then he will act as if he never did this when the bumped project is not done. Again it's always your fault, not his.
6. Dick will always find some outlying case no one has ever thought about and drill down 8 levels deep until he's the only one who knows what he's talking about. Everyone else is an idiot.
7. If Dick wants something, he yells. If he doesn't get it, he yells louder. If he still doesn't get it, he cusses.
8. When you least expect it, Dick is manic. The greatest guy in the world, as happy as can be, and everyone's buddy. Don't worry, things will be back to normal tomorrow.
9. Dick never uses formal functional specifications and rarely commits to anything in email. That way, when things are not built exactly the way they are needed, he can't be pinned down. It's always someone else's fault.
10. People come and people go, but Dick is still a dick and always will be.