When something is wrong the queries fly down the hierarchy. This puts the middle manager in an awkward position because the middle manager doesn’t know what’s going on but his boss is looking for an answer. So he looks to the guy who works on it daily and basically says:
“Give me something that can protect me from my boss. Some kind of argument or plan of action that can get my boss off my back.”
It’s an odd phenomenon but in my experience it happens quite often.
If you’re the guy who works on it daily you should expect this behaviour and the ones who deal with their boss best are those who react to the problem immediately. They’re the first to know when there’s a problem and by the time their boss comes round they have a well thought out plan in place and they’re already executing it. The boss is just looking for reassurance that someone is taking responsibility and there’s a plan in place to get it solved if you can get ahead of them it’ll save you a lot of stress.
Thomas Duggan 