The "Water Fueled Car"

[kandrathe]

Hi,
You mean the USA Federal Government? You know, the one that's dominated by cronies of big oil?
Like a bad teacher, most managers can do little more than take a head count and watch how much time the employee spends away from his desk.

Lol. Pesky reality dashing my hopes for pragmatic progress. :lol:

Outsourcing to India outsources the management function, telecommuting requires managers that can actually evaluate a person's productivity.

My experience with outsourcing is more that it moves the mismanagement offshore as well, then the lawyers all win. I've been managing IT shops for many years now, and it kind of freaks them out when I do away with the time reporting systems. Many people have become relient on using time reporting as a CYA, rather than be productive and proactive.

I tell them that they can keep doing it if they want to, but it might only be good for figuring out how good they can estimate their time. It's been my experience that they are just a weekly lie, and if you really want to manage people you measure results. I like to think of this style as more "keeping it between the ditches", rather than "follow the white line". Often there is no white line, unless someone takes the time in advance to clear the path and paint it and those trail blazers are often wrong as to where the road should really go. After 20 years in the software construction business I'm really tired of trying to explain to CFO's why the actuals are three times higher than the estimates.

Currently I'm managing a group of 24 people in two teams, one team is server/networking and the other team is software. They have the option of telecommuting if they want. I have a bi-weekly meeting and we go around the table pretty quickly (3-5 min each) and discuss "what did you get done, what are you doing for the next two weeks, and what are your obstacles". It's amazing how productive people are when they are answerable to their peers for planning and carrying their own weight. I also make sure the "to do" pile is just slightly more than the available work force. It gets real obvious to everyone involved when people are sand bagging.