Its going to be damn awkward managing someone significantly older than myself. Only if you make it so. There is no reason why it has to be that way. I have oft

Its going to be damn awkward managing someone significantly older than myself. Only if you make it so. There is no reason why it has to be that way. I have often had this "problem" - unfortunately as I am getting older, less and less :-) It has never been an issue for me. Bear in mind, managing is hard. Managing well is harder - many people never get it right. Good management is not based on exploiting the power imbalance between manager and employee. So an age differential (socially a power imbalance issue) should not matter. As to your specific question: a software developer is generally an exempt employee. She or he are not paid by the hour, they are paid to do the job done. However, depending on how much you are paying them, you need to make sure that "getting the job done" can be done in 40-hour-type working week. In terms of office hours, I believe that sheer contact hours are very important in the beginning between co-developers, so that they can have a chance to get in each other's head. After that, you should do whatever works well for you. If you work round the clock, identify a slice of the day where you want to interact with this person that fits with his or hers natural rhythms (ask them!), and call those "core hours" where you expect this person to be physically present. Trust them to develop their own schedule around that, and again, focus on monitoring outcomes, not hours. The most important thing about team schedules is predictability. I would rather have someone who was in the office 6am-noon every day, rather than somebody who was at the office for longer but with an unpredictable schedule. I really have to point you to this blog - askamanager.org - go read the backlog. It is full of some terribly sane advice about managing people. It's not about a technical setting, but people are people. Here's a good start: http://www.askamanager.org/2010/06/deathbed-advice-for-managers.html http://www.askamanager.org/2010/06/deathbed-advice-for-manag... You know what a difference there is between a good developer and a poor developer. The same difference is there between a good manager and a bad manager. If you work at being a good one, you will be.