4 ms·
As much as I agree with that I'm still at a loss as to why butts in seats management is still so dominant today. Because managers up a level have no other way
by ktRolster 10y ago
As much as I agree with that I'm still at a loss as to why butts in seats management is still so dominant today.
Because managers up a level have no other way of knowing if you're being productive or not. So they look and see if people are ferociously typing. This is not a joke.
- goodcanadian 10y agoYes, a place where I used to work once sent out a memo trying to encourage more regular work hours because management couldn't find people, and the office always looked half empty. The thing is, it was the operations staff for a astronomical observatory. The "missing" people were generally traveling and/or working at night!
- quantumhobbit 10y agoI used to work in research physics and recall hearing a similar story, probably embellished with each retelling. The version I heard had the staff complying with the order and working 9-5, then management complains that no observations are being made at night.
- goodcanadian 10y agoWell, in this case, I personally received the memo. Knowing my co-workers, however, I highly doubt anyone actually changed their behaviour due to it. Other, similar, management antics included scheduling meetings first thing in the morning and complaining that the telescope operators never showed up.
- quantumhobbit 10y agoHaha. I have no problem believing that this has happened at several different observatories.
- mintplant 10y agoI mean, this is the internet—it could very well be the same one!
- maxxxxx 10y agothat's why I am sometimes envious of sales guys or traders. Their work is easily measurable.
- Retra 10y agoIn my experience, the more easily measurable the work, the less fulfilling it is.
- superuser2 10y agoThe value they add is easily measurable, but it's still quite difficult to tell whether their performance is due to individual merit or external factors. For example, in any given year some traders are wildly successful (and reap huge bonuses) but year to year their performance is variable enough to be noise - it's not clear that really good traders really exist. Some are just bound to get lucky. Similarly sales guys may appear great because their product sells itself, or terrible because of a downturn in the business cycle or sector. It's not insane to want a read on "how hard are you working" or "how skilled are you" that is independent of all the messy confounding variables of the market.