My manager has 11 direct reports, runs two cross-functional initiatives, and is in back-to-back meetings from 9am to 5pm every day. She is not a bad manager. She is an underwater manager. The difference matters.
The problem: I need decisions, unblocking, or input on a semi-regular basis, and getting 20 minutes of her focused attention takes a week of scheduling and then half of that time is her catching up on context I already sent.
Things I've tried that actually work:
Async decision packages. I stopped asking "can we talk about X?" and started sending: "I need a decision on X by [date]. Here are the 2 options, the tradeoffs, and my recommendation. Reply with which to proceed or flag if you want to discuss." Turns a 30-minute meeting into a 90-second Slack read.
Front-loading context. She doesn't have time to re-read background. I put the most important sentence first, every time. If she only reads the first sentence, she should still know what I need.
Combining asks. I batch low-urgency things into the 1:1 instead of pinging separately. She can make 4 decisions in 10 minutes if I prep them properly.
Proposing vs asking. "Should we do X or Y?" is harder to respond to than "I'm going to do X unless you flag otherwise by Thursday." Gives her veto power with minimal effort on her end.
The one that didn't work: trying to get more 1:1 time. She doesn't have it. Asking for it added to her stress and didn't actually help.
Not every manager situation is salvageable. But if the problem is overwhelm rather than avoidance, most of this is learnable.