RE: Death of the AS/400 (was Death of the RPG Programmer, List Activity)

Ted Barry wrote"

>Unfortunately there is a trust factor to telecommuting.  
>What kinds of measurements can companies use 
>to insure you're doing the work? 

Um.  The same ones you'd use to see if the programmers are productive when
they're in the office?  You know: "Joe, how are you coming on the XYZ
project?"

>Results of course, but some people might be faster 
>workers than others and just cram all of their work 
>into 2 or 3 days and get paid for 5. 

If everybody thinks that it would take an average programmer 5 days to
finish Project XYZ and I get it done in 3, should I be penalised or
rewarded?  Does being out of the office alter the answer?

>It seems very rare.

That's because the "out of the office" programmer is automatically suspect
of somehow being a slacker simply because she's not visible.  I got the
exact same attitude when I worked the night shift.  Because the day folks
didn't see me, I must be "living the life"; slacking off with no management
to crack the whip over me and keep me in line.

The tacit assumption is that without management to crack the whip,
programmers would all be writing video games or some such sillyness.  As if
my manager could tell another manager what I'm doing all day anyway.  It's
management showing their fear of losing control and nothing more (unless you
count job justification...)  :-)

The reality:  When I worked nights I got much more done because:
a) I didn't have managers pestering me to fill out this status spreadsheet
or that email on THEIR whim; I scheduled such things when they best fit the
work that night
b) The blasted phone didn't constantly interrupt me; the day crew left me
suitable instructions or a phone number to call to get them
c) I didn't try to artificially plan my day around everybody else's
lunch/meeting/break times; I planned my night according to the work I needed
to get done
d) Because of the temporal separation (sounds like Star Trek!), all
communication between shifts was WRITTEN and CONSISTENT.  The penalty was
heavy for messing this up.  This kept a running "Here's what you must do"
and "Here's what I did so far" list.  Essentially a paper implementation of
an evolving project plan.  Putting it in writing almost forces one to be
clearer than the typical verbal description of work I get now.

The bottom line is that if your management doesn't trust you away from your
desk, they certainly don't trust you when you're at your desk and that's
just the way it is.  Too bad for us.

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY


Billing Concepts Corp., a NASDAQ Listed Company, Symbol: BILL
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