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Manager's Schedule vs. Maker's Schedule
theodp writes "Ever wonder why you and the boss don't see eye-to-eye on the importance of meetings? Paul Graham explains that there are Maker Schedules (coder) and Manager Schedules (PHB), and the two are very different. With each day neatly cut into one-hour intervals, the Manager Schedule is for bosses and is tailor-made for schmoozing. Unfortunately, it spells disaster for people who make things, like programmers and writers, who generally prefer to use time in units of half a day at least. You can't write or program well in units of an hour, says Graham, since that's barely enough time to get started. So if you fall into the Maker camp, adds Graham, you better hope your boss is smart enough to recognize that you need long chunks of time to work in. How's that working out in your world?" Ironically enough, I have a meeting to attend in three minutes.
Did they tell you to bring all of your desk items with you in a box?
Ironically enough, I have a meeting to attend in 3 minutes.
Please, oh please, tell me it's about firing your web developer!
Comment of the year
This reminded me some Dilbert: ;-)
http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2001-12-15/
http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-11-23/
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Awhile back, we got a new head of our department. He decided that he needed to see how everyone used their day so he required everyone to fill out a form to track our time. I joked that my time tracker would look like this:
8:00am - 8:15am - Checked/Answered E-mail
8:15am - 8:30am - Entered time tracking for 8:00am - 8:15am
8:30am - 8:45am - Entered time tracking for 8:15am - 8:30am
8:45am - 9:00am - Entered time tracking for 8:30am - 8:45am
9:00am - 9:15am - Entered time tracking for 8:45am - 9:00am
etc.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
And me of some Userfriendly
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19980705
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
You couldn't just put a dummy there with a voicebox repeating "No", "No way" and "We can't do that"?
Or was the one in your company already employed as a SAP programmer?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If you don't want to seem pedantic, provide an example of the correct usage. "Ironically, I have a meeting on why my project is behind an hour" or something like that.
e) Meetings need to have rules forbidding the adding-on of endless afterthoughts and sidenotes.
I am not a crackpot.
It's also why with some intelligence you can dump half of the projects you are given immediately (without notifying upwards) because they'll get cancelled down the line anyway. Why waste time on them. There are some criteria in the decision making of course - dump smaller projects first, and do cursory project design at a high level beforehand so that if you are about to get burned, you can hack something out by working late a couple of weeks.
In the past 8 years, I have NEVER ONCE been burned by doing the above. I.e., all of the projects I've dumped, were cancelled before two weeks before they were due, but often well after they were meant to have been started.
Please note that you need +4 to luck, +6 to guessing ability and +2 to charm for the above to be a viable work ethic. That, or be Wally from Dilbert.
as do slashdot threads. :-P
fixed that for ya
f) and donuts.
Pedantic is French for "stop making me aware of my ignorance!". Grammar snob/nazi and prescriptivist, likewise.
Don't apologize for correcting someone's error. If they are offended, that's their insecurity.
That reminds me of an amusing saying:
"I'm sorry if the correct way of doing things offends you."
-- Unattributed
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
This worked wonderfully for me! I declined a meeting and got yelled by two different managers. It didn't matter that I didn't have any possibility to attend the meeting since my car broke up, busses didn't go that day and even the airport was closed for the month. It would have been 500 km walk to the meeting. The next time I'm calling for sick leave.
You don't know what you don't know.
Is that in addition to the 1.5 hours a day you waste reading Slashdot? :)