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If a company I worked at implemented this, and I knew about it, I'd quit. Despite the tagline about nobody liking micromanaging (not to mention being micromanag

If a company I worked at implemented this, and I knew about it, I'd quit. Despite the tagline about nobody liking micromanaging (not to mention being micromanaged), this is software that explicitly encourages micromanaging. None of the metrics they track are directly tied to productivity, they're just ways for managers who don't trust their employees to be Big Brother with fewer uncomfortable personal interactions.

lbr 13y ago
I agree. This product is mislabeled. It doesn't help you avoid micromanaging - it allows you to do so efficiently. I think we can agree that this would be useful in low skill jobs. But would be perceived as insulting at most respectable companies who respect their employees.
- dwd 13y ago
  Insane, goes totally against the idea of less is more. The more inane coding for the sake of coding the better your numbers. Where do you plug in the whiteboard or your notepad/sketchbook or is there a Theta/Alpha wave interface?
- pallandt 13y ago
  Concurred. "William has been coming in early this week." (first tooltip/person on homepage header), irrelevant and borderline creepy to actually log this into some monitoring software that someone is supposed to frequently use. I can almost hear Mr. Burns saying 'Excellent' while tenting his fingertips.
flippyhead 13y ago
I never understood this pessimistic sentiment. It's just more data. Of course when evaluating the data you get, you have to consider the context -- people work on all kinds of things that may or may not be measured. Without it you don't have those metrics anyways.
- nikatwork 13y ago
  Once upon a time, I was working lots of all-nighters and really busting my gut. Yet my boss was getting angry at me for no reason. Wtf? So eventually I sat him down and asked if there was a problem. Turns out he was tracking the wrong user when monitoring my after hours data, and he thought I was lying about my overtime. He was fuming and thinking about firing me. Oh, you say. But he was just misusing the data! He should have collected more or different data! Look, the takeaway is that many managers will use this kind of data as a crutch, not a supplement. The employees will suffer and the biz will lose good staff. How about treating your staff like fucking adults, and if they are hitting the agreed delivery milestones, save your whip for the bedroom? The most effective management system I have used was at Yahoo. You would fill in a daily and weekly TODO list on a wiki page, and the deltas were automatically emailed to your PM. Simple, respectful and effective.
  - flippyhead 13y ago
    > the takeaway is that many managers will use this kind of data as a crutch, not a supplement. The employees will suffer and the biz will lose good staff. How about treating your staff like fucking adults I guess you have to ask yourself with what kind of people you want to work. Good/decent people (including managers) will use whatever data they've got to improve the lives of their co-workers and the prospects of the business. Where I work I have so much faith in the intentions and intellect of my co-workers I welcome sharing this kind of thing as I'm confident it will help me improve. Not every workplace is filled with nefarious bosses out to spy on everything you do!
timdorr 13y ago
Then you would absolute hate RescueTime: https://www.rescuetime.com/ https://www.rescuetime.com/
- RafiqM 13y ago
  I love RescueTime - for myself. I'd absolutely recommend that my employees use it, but with the caveat that I would never ask for the results. They can use it personally to improve their productivity, but it's just not right for someone else to be analysing their reports.

lbr 13y ago

I agree. This product is mislabeled. It doesn't help you avoid micromanaging - it allows you to do so efficiently. I think we can agree that this would be useful in low skill jobs. But would be perceived as insulting at most respectable companies who respect their employees.

dwd 13y ago
Insane, goes totally against the idea of less is more. The more inane coding for the sake of coding the better your numbers. Where do you plug in the whiteboard or your notepad/sketchbook or is there a Theta/Alpha wave interface?
pallandt 13y ago
Concurred. "William has been coming in early this week." (first tooltip/person on homepage header), irrelevant and borderline creepy to actually log this into some monitoring software that someone is supposed to frequently use. I can almost hear Mr. Burns saying 'Excellent' while tenting his fingertips.

flippyhead 13y ago

I never understood this pessimistic sentiment. It's just more data. Of course when evaluating the data you get, you have to consider the context -- people work on all kinds of things that may or may not be measured. Without it you don't have those metrics anyways.

nikatwork 13y ago
Once upon a time, I was working lots of all-nighters and really busting my gut. Yet my boss was getting angry at me for no reason. Wtf? So eventually I sat him down and asked if there was a problem. Turns out he was tracking the wrong user when monitoring my after hours data, and he thought I was lying about my overtime. He was fuming and thinking about firing me. Oh, you say. But he was just misusing the data! He should have collected more or different data! Look, the takeaway is that many managers will use this kind of data as a crutch, not a supplement. The employees will suffer and the biz will lose good staff. How about treating your staff like fucking adults, and if they are hitting the agreed delivery milestones, save your whip for the bedroom? The most effective management system I have used was at Yahoo. You would fill in a daily and weekly TODO list on a wiki page, and the deltas were automatically emailed to your PM. Simple, respectful and effective.
- flippyhead 13y ago
  > the takeaway is that many managers will use this kind of data as a crutch, not a supplement. The employees will suffer and the biz will lose good staff. How about treating your staff like fucking adults I guess you have to ask yourself with what kind of people you want to work. Good/decent people (including managers) will use whatever data they've got to improve the lives of their co-workers and the prospects of the business. Where I work I have so much faith in the intentions and intellect of my co-workers I welcome sharing this kind of thing as I'm confident it will help me improve. Not every workplace is filled with nefarious bosses out to spy on everything you do!

timdorr 13y ago

Then you would absolute hate RescueTime: https://www.rescuetime.com/ https://www.rescuetime.com/

RafiqM 13y ago
I love RescueTime - for myself. I'd absolutely recommend that my employees use it, but with the caveat that I would never ask for the results. They can use it personally to improve their productivity, but it's just not right for someone else to be analysing their reports.