Essential Management Practices: Don't micro manage

Do you like to micro manage, or are you being micro managed?

That has really got to stop. It is one of the most annoying practices I know about, and one which makes no sense in our industry.

Software development is a form of knowledge management. Developers (obviously) use their heads as their tools. If there is one thing knowledge management professionals despise, it is being told at a low level exactly what to do.

In essence this just tells someone that you don't trust their work or judgment. Not exactly a good way to get motivated employees that feels ownership for the project.

I'm not advocating that you shouldn't follow up work. Absolutely not. In fact, code reviews should be a part of any development organization. I think that is quite different though. Verifying and sharing a solution is different from closely managing how to solve an issue.