Is it normal for good PhD advisors to micromanage early PhD students? I am a first year PhD student in science. I have a good advisor, the kind that will spend time with you (he is busy not emeritus), read what you send him, reply emails, give good advice for future, good project management. I've googled for what are traits of good advisors and what to avoid in bad advisors (e.g. here) and he fits all of good advisors and none of bad advisors.
However the problem is I feel that he has micromanagement style. He is very detail oriented and tries to understand every step you do. I meet him twice a week, and it is basically a do this, show me this next time. He will tell me exactly what to do.
Granted however I am not a very strong student who is capable of independent research right away, but I still like to be able to do explore my own ideas, or at least be able to do things independently, as I think that is the point of the PhD. Hence my question is whether it is normal for advisors to micromanage early PhD students, and whether I should be concerned, because I definitely do not want to spend my whole PhD working like that. Maybe he will turn into a hands off advisor later?
Some PhD students need micromanagement.  Some are harmed by it.
Some supervisors know how to customise things to the needs of the student.  Some supervisors do not know how to micromanage.  Some some do not know how to not micromanage.
Tell your supervisor what you want.  Listen to your supervisor's feedback - what you want might not be possible.  If you have tried this several times and the relationship is failing spectacularly, get a new supervisor.
What you are experiencing is within the range of &quot;normal.&quot;  There's no way for us to know if it is &quot;good.&quot;