Tony,

I've been away from the board for a couple of days. How did it go with your mangager? Poorly I suspect. I really feel for your situation. It sounds horrible. Still, I think you did the right thing by telling your manager your intentions.

I think the more specific and clear you can be about what you want the better you'll fare in the discussion with your sr. manager. I think I understand what you want, but I think you need to be much more specific.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but since you asked :-). Your point #1 starts out with what you want, but then goes into a discussion about how the organization is not being managed properly. Don't get me wrong! I think you are exactly correct about it, but I think you should consider focusing exclusively on what outcomes you want for yourself.

By specific, I mean things like this:

1. I want to spend no more than 20% of my time on support requests (or 0%, or whatever you are comfortable with).
2. I do not want to be pulled off my projects. It is important to my professional integrity that I see a project to completion. I do not want to be involved with projects that have last minute staffing changes that compromise quality.
3. I want to be involved in the innovation aspects of software development. That means I want to be assigned to the following projects (list) and have the following team roles (list).
4. I want my pay rate adjusted to a favorable market rate given my experience and track record. I would be satisfied with $X.

etc. Something like that. Be very specific in your desired outcome.

If you are specific, they will need to respond to your specific requests. It helps to have them written down so you work through them carefully. Then, ask yourself: will this really satisfy me? Be honest. Ask for what will make you happy, *not* what you think is reasonable or what they'll give you. If you have specific "demands", they won't be able to feed you a line of BS like "I'll talk to her", or "we'll find something", or "its just until after such and such." You need to nail them down. Not confrontationally, just openly and honestly.

After your meeting, you can respond with an email (copying your boss), thanking the sr. manager for his time and listing, in writing, what your desired outcomes are and your understanding of the actions he will be taking.

I think the whole point of this discussion is for you and the sr. manager to determine if a situation can be created where you will be happy in your job. In order to make that a worthwhile session, you need to be specific in what you think that situation is. Including, by the way, having another manager if that is required (though in that case you would not copy your manager in that aspect of the discussion). But, if that is 100% true, that you can't be happy working for this person, then you need to say so.

Again, FWIW,

Jim