Should a project manager push developers to work more hours due to mistakes of manager schedule setting?
Last updated: October 11, 2022 Read in fullscreen view
Recommended for you
- 02 Nov 2021
What is Terms of Reference (ToR)? 1001 - 18 Oct 2021 Key Elements to Ramping Up a Large Team 820
- 03 Apr 2022 Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) 780
- 01 Oct 2020 Fail fast, learn faster with Agile methodology 695
- 01 Aug 2024 The Standish Group report 83.9% of IT projects partially or completely fail 642
- 14 Oct 2021 Advantages and Disadvantages of Time and Material Contract (T&M) 577
- 20 Jul 2022 Software Myths and Realities 537
- 19 Oct 2021 Is gold plating good or bad in project management? 521
- 13 Apr 2024 Lessons on Teamwork and Leadership from Chinese story book "Journey to the West" 515
- 18 Oct 2020 How to use the "Knowns" and "Unknowns" technique to manage assumptions 494
- 02 May 2022 What Is RAID in Project Management? (With Pros and Cons) 476
- 13 Jan 2020 Quiz: Test your understanding project cost management 455
- 08 Oct 2022 KPI - The New Leadership 444
- 14 Jun 2022 Example and Excel template of a RACI chart in Software Development 406
- 18 Dec 2023 The Cone of Uncertainty in Scrum & Requirement Definition 405
- 23 Sep 2021 INFOGRAPHIC: Top 9 Software Outsourcing Mistakes 300
- 12 Aug 2022 What is End-to-end project management? 275
- 03 Jan 2023 Organizing your agile teams? Think about M.A.T (Mastery, Autonomy, Purpose) 270
- 17 Oct 2021 Does Fast Tracking increase project cost? 259
- 07 Jul 2022 Managing Project Execution Terms 257
- 10 Dec 2023 Pain points of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) 254
- 28 Dec 2021 8 types of pricing models in software development outsourcing 252
- 19 Apr 2021 7 Most Common Time-Wasters For Software Development 250
- 09 May 2022 Build one to throw away vs Second-system effect: What are differences? 245
- 11 Jan 2024 What are the Benefits and Limitations of Augmented Intelligence? 241
- 13 Dec 2020 Move fast, fail fast, fail-safe 237
- 31 Oct 2021 Tips to Fail Fast With Outsourcing 228
- 26 Sep 2024 Successful Project Management Techniques You Need to Look Out For 223
- 06 Jun 2022 Change Management at the Project Level 221
- 06 Feb 2021 Why fail fast and learn fast? 217
- 22 May 2022 What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make? 212
- 06 Nov 2019 How to Access Software Project Size? 192
- 18 Aug 2022 What are the consequences of poor requirements with software development projects? 183
- 15 May 2022 20 Common Mistakes Made by New or Inexperienced Project Managers 179
- 01 Aug 2022 Is planning "set it and forget it" or "set it and check it"? 174
- 10 Nov 2022 Poor Code Indicators and How to Improve Your Code? 164
- 02 Dec 2021 3 Ways to Avoid Scope Creep in IT Consulting 150
- 26 Dec 2023 Improving Meeting Effectiveness Through the Six Thinking Hats 136
- 17 Feb 2022 Prioritizing Software Requirements with Kano Analysis 129
- 01 Mar 2023 Bug Prioritization - What are the 5 levels of priority? 129
- 10 Apr 2024 The Parking Lot Method: Unlocking a Simple Secret to Supercharge Your Productivity 124
- 10 May 2022 Levels of Teamwork 116
- 07 Dec 2023 12 project management myths to avoid 113
- 02 Jun 2024 Reviving Ancient Wisdom: The Spiritual Side of Project Management 106
- 24 Nov 2023 The project management paradox: Achieving MORE by doing LESS 101
- 30 Nov 2023 Project Managers, Focus on Outcomes — Not Deliverables 99
- 05 Jan 2024 Easy ASANA tips & tricks for you and your team 93
- 02 Nov 2022 Difference between Change Management and Project Management 89
- 21 Jun 2024 Dead Horses and the Escalation of Commitment 84
- 05 Jun 2023 Fractional, Part-Time (virtual) or Interim CTO: Who Will Cover Your Business Needs? 76
- 12 Mar 2024 How do you create FOMO in software prospects? 63
- 23 Jun 2024 Best Practices for Managing Project Escalations 54
- 14 Mar 2024 Why should you opt for software localization from a professional agency? 51
- 01 Mar 2024 10 Project Management Myths 47
There are some managers who like to put schedule risk off onto the dev team. If the team gets behind, make them work more hours until they catch up. This practice is E.V.I.L. It is like if your director asked you, as manager, to pay the company back from your own paycheck if your team goes over budget. The budget is the same kind of prediction of the future as a software schedule is. And as manager you are just as responsible.
Estimating schedules is hard, because it is predicting the future. There is a school of thought that this practice is so hard that teams ought to refuse to do it.
How should you handle a developer who is not good at predicting the future? Should you punish them by making them work more hours? Or should you get them a better crystal ball in the form of some kind of class on scheduling?
If you have a developer who is wasting time, always has facebook open, spends all afternoon yakking with the other devs, takes extended smoking breaks, etc., you should definitely push them to work harder. (I mean, duh.) If your developers are at their desks doing the job of developing software, punishing them for being late is both cruel and counterproductive.
Explore more on these topics
Guest Blogging: The Definitive Guide
Top Trending Topics
Share This