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One more data point: The team I manage has 9 people, 5 of whom are female. This was purely chance, I'd swear that no preference was given based on any particul

One more data point: The team I manage has 9 people, 5 of whom are female. This was purely chance, I'd swear that no preference was given based on any particular demographics. One thing that makes this difficult is that this year and each of the previous two, I've been one developer short for a significant period due to maternity leave. Add to this the extended vacations (2-3 weeks) that developers who immigrated (from China and India) take to visit family, and it becomes clear that having a diverse team makes scheduling our work quite a challenge.

patio11 17y ago
You apparently share something in common with my boss, and I share something in common with your employees. A conversation that I've wanted to have a few times with my boss: Boss, I understand that you think me taking two weeks off at Christmas is difficult to schedule. If I can direct you to the calendar, boss, you will see that Christmas is clearly marked on it in red ink. You see, it happens at the same time of year... every year. Sort of like, I don't know, Chinese New Year, Divali, etc etc. As you might recall, I was gone last year, and the year before, too, always at roughly the same time. You might remember that in those years, too, I sent you emails six months and six weeks in advance. You might also recall that, when you asked me if there was anything I wanted added to my employment contract at our first meeting two and a half years ago, I said "Yes, I want it explicitly understood that I return home for two weeks every year at Christmas." So now it is three days before my annual vacation, the one time per year that I see my family, and you believe you have discovered an urgent problem in the schedule... to whit, that you have scheduled a project such that it cannot possibly be completed without my presence these next two weeks. Ah hah. Well, best of luck with that. I'll see you in the New Year.
- CWuestefeld 17y ago
  I think you very much misunderstand me. If I was someone who would ask them to cancel their trip, then the scheduling would be easy. I like to think that my staff thinks that this is a good place to work, and that I'm somebody good to work for. I've never asked somebody to cancel a vacation; the farthest I go is to make sure everyone is aware of when deadline pressure is going to occur, and let them make their own decisions about their own priorities. I fully subscribe to the idea "work to live, not live to work". And darn it, that's hard for me to do. The real world doesn't observe someone's wedding on the other side of the planet, so our customers still have needs, as does the rest of our company. I make sure my people get their lives, but it costs me headaches and I get flack when I have to tell others in the company that something will take more time than they think is reasonable.
  - zavulon 17y ago
    "The real world doesn't observe someone's wedding on the other side of the planet" I think your definition of "real world" is not entirely correct.
  - patio11 17y ago
    Are you my boss? I got gruff about taking off three days to go to my little brother's wedding, too! The new Mrs. McKenzie is a wonderful young lady. She started dating my brother after I arrived in Japan. I had met her once before the wedding. Please continue talking about how the real world is giving you flack for the grave sacrifices you are making here. I'll be sympathetic.
    - CWuestefeld 17y ago
      OK, since this got voted up 7 times, it seems I'm being dense. Can somebody shed some light on where I'm missing something? On the one hand, an employee asks if it's OK to take 2 weeks to go to her brother's wedding in India. I say "sure, no problem". And on the other hand, I'm getting pressure from the CEO for some new features, and obviously losing one of 9 developers for 2 weeks impacts that, so I have to tell the CEO that's she's got to wait a little longer. Where am I getting things wrong, or being self-righteous or something?
      - Tichy 17y ago
        I can only speak for myself, but I find it a little bit difficult to understand your point. You might as well "complain" (I know you are not complaining, just stating facts) that employees need 8 hours of sleep, so you have to tell the CEO that they can't work 20 hours per day on the new feature. Or that humans can't multitask and work on two projects at the same time (imagine that, you could get twice as much work done with the same personnel). Humans have needs, so you have to take them into account. So "it makes it hard" sounds weird - it just is what it is, it is not being made hard. You are not losing a developer for 2 weeks, you never had that developer for those two weeks to begin with. Just as you don't have a developer who can work on two projects at the same time. Perhaps employing more people might be an option?

patio11 17y ago

You apparently share something in common with my boss, and I share something in common with your employees. A conversation that I've wanted to have a few times with my boss: Boss, I understand that you think me taking two weeks off at Christmas is difficult to schedule. If I can direct you to the calendar, boss, you will see that Christmas is clearly marked on it in red ink. You see, it happens at the same time of year... every year. Sort of like, I don't know, Chinese New Year, Divali, etc etc. As you might recall, I was gone last year, and the year before, too, always at roughly the same time. You might remember that in those years, too, I sent you emails six months and six weeks in advance. You might also recall that, when you asked me if there was anything I wanted added to my employment contract at our first meeting two and a half years ago, I said "Yes, I want it explicitly understood that I return home for two weeks every year at Christmas." So now it is three days before my annual vacation, the one time per year that I see my family, and you believe you have discovered an urgent problem in the schedule... to whit, that you have scheduled a project such that it cannot possibly be completed without my presence these next two weeks. Ah hah. Well, best of luck with that. I'll see you in the New Year.

CWuestefeld 17y ago
I think you very much misunderstand me. If I was someone who would ask them to cancel their trip, then the scheduling would be easy. I like to think that my staff thinks that this is a good place to work, and that I'm somebody good to work for. I've never asked somebody to cancel a vacation; the farthest I go is to make sure everyone is aware of when deadline pressure is going to occur, and let them make their own decisions about their own priorities. I fully subscribe to the idea "work to live, not live to work". And darn it, that's hard for me to do. The real world doesn't observe someone's wedding on the other side of the planet, so our customers still have needs, as does the rest of our company. I make sure my people get their lives, but it costs me headaches and I get flack when I have to tell others in the company that something will take more time than they think is reasonable.
- zavulon 17y ago
  "The real world doesn't observe someone's wedding on the other side of the planet" I think your definition of "real world" is not entirely correct.
- patio11 17y ago
  Are you my boss? I got gruff about taking off three days to go to my little brother's wedding, too! The new Mrs. McKenzie is a wonderful young lady. She started dating my brother after I arrived in Japan. I had met her once before the wedding. Please continue talking about how the real world is giving you flack for the grave sacrifices you are making here. I'll be sympathetic.
  - CWuestefeld 17y ago
    OK, since this got voted up 7 times, it seems I'm being dense. Can somebody shed some light on where I'm missing something? On the one hand, an employee asks if it's OK to take 2 weeks to go to her brother's wedding in India. I say "sure, no problem". And on the other hand, I'm getting pressure from the CEO for some new features, and obviously losing one of 9 developers for 2 weeks impacts that, so I have to tell the CEO that's she's got to wait a little longer. Where am I getting things wrong, or being self-righteous or something?
    - Tichy 17y ago
      I can only speak for myself, but I find it a little bit difficult to understand your point. You might as well "complain" (I know you are not complaining, just stating facts) that employees need 8 hours of sleep, so you have to tell the CEO that they can't work 20 hours per day on the new feature. Or that humans can't multitask and work on two projects at the same time (imagine that, you could get twice as much work done with the same personnel). Humans have needs, so you have to take them into account. So "it makes it hard" sounds weird - it just is what it is, it is not being made hard. You are not losing a developer for 2 weeks, you never had that developer for those two weeks to begin with. Just as you don't have a developer who can work on two projects at the same time. Perhaps employing more people might be an option?