At some point of time, every sane employee prefers to use what’s know as “Creative Incompetence”. Creative Incompetence means deliberately behaving as if you are incompetent. I think this is the best way to avoid bad management and/or managers. You can behave as if you don’t know and leave everything to them. So most of the times you get away with “It’s been designed by you sir” response

I personally used CI (Creative Incompetence, not to be confused with Continuous Integration !), a lot of times. You fight for something, you show/prove that they are wrong. But still your manager wants to go in the way he wants just because he’s up high in the heirarchy. Then the best way is to use CI. And tell him that “Yeah! you are right, how dumb I feel now after knowing and understanding your esteemed nature of clear cut analysis and risk management. Please review the schedule and make sure that you give me enough time keeping my incompetence in mind”.

Using Creative Incompetence, you get more time to a write 3 page document. More time in the trainings to sleep or browse slashdot on your web-enabled GPRS phone, and of course switch off your every vital organ except your eyes and enjoy the transcendental experience.

Here’s one of the fundamental truth of the Software companies which has hierarchies of employees: In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. This is know as The Peter’s Principle. When an employee grows/crawls up in the hierarchy, he tend to be more incompetent.

Just in case, you are a “Change the world, NOW!” kind of guy/gal go check this for more about the Peter’s Principle and how to avoid that if you own a company. You can even buy the book.