How do you deal with bad managers?

I'll give you an example. One of my managers requests a feature and then a week later claims it isn't working correctly, and asks me to change it again.

Another example, we were in a meeting and she requests a feature, then 5 seconds later requests something entirely different. It's like she didn't even remember what she requested 5 seconds ago. Everyone in the meeting saw it, but nobody said anything about it.

I'm on my way out of this company, but I'm just curious how other coders deal with it. I've watched this woman completely destroy 2 systems I've coded now.

I'd also recommend email for paper trail. Then if something really goes hot, contact the boss of that manager directly. The idea is not to improve your relationship to your manager, but to get her fired because she's so clueless that she doesn't even have the brains to properly delegate. This is what makes her unsuited for a management role.

@Fast-Nop this. You shouldn't be trying to get on with idiots, they're enemies. Keep a paper trail and then just play the game.

They ask for something and it's not working then show it is. When they still ask it to change, you're allowed to tell them they're gonna have to wait cos it's a fucking change request.

For them, become one of those people that strictly follows the rules. Your skills are a blessing and you have to let them understand that you doing shit for them outside of any normal workflow is a privilege, not a right.

I've made many people upset because I'd do stuff for some people and others have to wait. You can't always get out of bullshit but you sure as hell make them wait. As long as your work is quality, fuck em and do you.

Had someone email me 10 mins before end of day for some shit needed for a meeting in the morning...went home. Everyone cried, realised they can't do anything, dropped it.

@Fast-Nop and @CodeBane are right: you cannot work with these people.

You can occasionally enlighten them to their behavior, but often they are already aware of it and will continue anyway, and thus will not change; or, they are too dimwitted to understand and therefore cannot change.

If they are either unwilling or unable to improve, they are obstacles to clear from your path, and you should treat them as such.

If the obstacles are insurmountable, find a different path.

@Root actually, I did encounter one of these in my career. He was such an incompetent asshole that he harmed the company. Plus that he had fired my predecessor for talking back too much.

When he tried to blame me for his moronic decisions, he made it personal. That was his last stupid decision before he was surprised to find himself being moved to an irrelevant post. Looked like he mistook my disinclination to perfidious office politics for inability. :-)