In order to create a feeling of esprit de corps, business managers employ a variety of different techniques. I can remember attending a session of MacHack, the Macintosh Programmer Retreat at a motel in Michigan many years ago where I attended a session held by one of the Project Managers for OS X (or was it OS 9?) regarding how they achieved the management of such a complex and important software project. The bouncy woman wearing jeans and a T‑Shirt offered reminiscences like: “I remember that next we did ‘Peanut Butter Sandwich Day’ on that Thursday, followed by “Hot Fudge Sundae Day” on the following Friday…” The rest of the talk was much like this, with all sorts of cute and eccentric activities that were added to the grueling work schedule to add some breaks, loosen up the workforce, and keep things playful and light-hearted, even as tempers were growing short (and deadlines were growing near). Her talk was far more about an approach to human psychology than business theory or resource management.
At this IBM office, the visiting manager for the current project I’m working on has a military background. Her idea of ‘rallying the troops’ (or in civilian terms, motivate employees in the face of an important deadline) are three words: “Co-location, co-location and co-location”. What this means, is that she thinks the best way to get a project done faster (or better) is to literally put everyone in the same room, or nearly everyone, at any rate. For the most part, the people working on my end of the project, the ‘Information Architects’ haven’t had the same requirements to work in the crowded (yet curiously, extremely cold) cafeteria. The result may have been some more efficient communications and knowledge-sharing (as she explained), but with it came the high rate of absenteeism from colds and flu, which ran through the building as fast as a kindergarten. This co-location (think co-habitation but just for work) has now, with the upcoming holiday season, translated to ‘Everybody’s working on the weekend.’ Yes, on Dec 1st and 2nd , the entire project team (all 200 or so of us) will be here at the office. That includes the Information Architects, along with all of the Business Analysts, Programmers, HTML Programmers, Database Administrators, Testers and various other people on the project. Never mind that for us Information Architects, there’s very little for us to do. After all, our major role in drawing up the wireframes of the user interface for the project was months ago. It would be like a building architect being asked to hang around while the contractors work on the electrical wiring, or perhaps even the carpeting of the building. But that’s the way things work in her manual, so that’s what we must do. Aye aye, captain.
So, I’ll be here on the weekend. Will I sit at my desk, waiting for a call from the programmers in the cafeteria about what default value a field should have, or how a particular button is enabled or disabled depending on the value of some other drop-down menu…? Or, will I be writing in this blog? We’ll just have to see.
Two words, David: “Flash games”… they just did a post about that on Uncov.com. The kind with lots of keyboard input required make you sound even busier… 🙂
LOL!
Good idea. I’m pleased to say that I have not visited said site.
Yet.
Very funny…love the idea that a concept to increase productivity decreases it…sounds like an episode from The Office.
Worse still, if it’s clear that I’m not busy, they will stick me on testing. Ugh.
I am the world’s worst software tester. I don’t find bugs, because I use the software the way I designed it. I don’t try and break it, because that is not the way I think. I like when the software works, and I don’t find it gratifying to find bugs. As far as I’m concerned, they couldn’t find a more inappropriate thing to have me do. I’d sooner man the reception area than test software.
I’d better look busy all day Saturday and Sunday. Productivity in/decrease indeed.
Remember David: vodka while at work; save the beer and mixed drinks for after.
A student of mine said recently that in Venezuela, workers who are asked to work on weekends are paid triple, plus they take a day off in lieu. Perhaps IBM could adopt that rule.
Of course, it’s policies like this that have helped put Venezuela’s economy into a death spiral, but whatever.
It’s particularly annoying that while IBM employees get overtime pay (time and a half, I believe) for doing this, we contractors get the same rate.
All which leads me to conclude that I may try and make up for this by trying to take some days off during the week as compensation. I don’t get paid for the time I take off, so there’s no guilt there, but then again, the likelihood I would miss some meeting or have trouble meeting a deadline increases.
Oh well. Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to Burnaby I go.
You guys crack me up. Instead of looking at it from the perspective of you not wanting to be there, why not see what other roles you can play in the team? Why not check to see if there is anything you can learn about the product, or learn from others… or learn about others?
You have a role and a title there at work. But first and foremost your role is as a human being. Don’t let your job title box you in. It does not define what you can and can not do. This is an opportunity out of the ordinary… don’t sit at your said desk and play flash games, drink vodka or fall asleep. Don’t wait for something to land in your lap… take the initiative, DO something.
My post wasn’t so much about whining about us needing to work, but that it was an artificial exercise in ‘team building’ that in the end, insulted our intelligence more than it challenged us to ‘connect with our team’. As for learning from others about the product, asking questions of the people who indeed needed to be there this weekend would probably have been a bad idea. They were truly under the gun to get the release finished, and getting in their hair is not something they would have liked us doing.
Most of these comments, are, I think, mainly in fun (right, folks?). As for what I actually did do this weekend, a lot of it was helping to tie up some loose ends (helping to figure out the right way for us to account for the most different kinds of mailing address formats), as well as continue to work on screens for the next release (which is not even on the current development team’s plate).
Point taken about avoiding a job title from ‘boxing me in’. BTW, I, um, hope you’re following your own advice on this. 😉
I understand that most of these comments were mainly for fun. But still, it’s the approach and the intent which leaves something to be desired. Perhaps that is where we differ.
As for me, I am currently unemployed and looking for options, so you need not worry. 🙂
Take care.
That’s a shame, but I bet it won’t be for long. You looking for a headhunter? I’ve had a few contact me off and on. Anything in particular you are looking for? Just let me know.
Oh, man. That would have sent me over the edge. You are a more patient person than I.