One thing guaranteed to upset your project manager is uncertainty. It’s not the duration of a task that creates anxiety, it’s the lack of clarity around that duration. Whether you’re coding, fixing an issue, or designing something, managers become anxious when they’re left guessing about progress.
Managers usually aren’t overly concerned with how long a task will take, unless there’s a firm deadline looming. Instead, their stress stems from uncertainty and ambiguity. 1
The solution to uncertainty? define timelines as much as you can, break down tasks if the manager cant understand the complexity of the task or to highlight bottlenecks in the time to completion , and communicate openly about progress and obstacles.
By providing details and clear updates, even if the timeline is lengthy, you significantly reduce their stress and, in turn, cut down on constant check-ins and nitpicking.
Remember, clarity is your friend. Keep your project manager informed, and you’ll keep them off your back.
- if you do have one that constantly challenges the time estimated to complete a task by a subject matter expert, then you have a whole different problem that probably comes from someone else underestimating the task publicly. [↩]