Client bitching about hours- pisses me off!

[DallasDad]

When a bunch of us finished our 4 year apprenticeships in 1980 most of us went on to Engineering departments and a few into the new fangled 'Logistics' or 'CAD' teams.
One of the guys must have had a funny turn.
He took a job with the Time and Motion department!

He was not a popular bunny after that especially with the guys on the shop floor earning almost as much in bonuses as their hourly rate

I remember a particular Shop Steward (The ex Bass Guitarist in Vanity Fare iirc) called Tony Goulden who was not best pleased when he came a calling.
It is quite amazing how long an MOD ATP could take with someone beside you with a stop watch.

[DallasDad]

What's that got to do with the thread you might be thinking.

Well bugger all probably, but do time and motion people still exist?
I have never seen one during my IT career which has been quite a long one so I often wonder how some companies ever manage to dream up some of the daft SLAs I have come across.

[northernladuk]

What's that got to do with the thread you might be thinking.

Yup

Well bugger all probably, but do time and motion people still exist?
I have never seen one during my IT career which has been quite a long one so I often wonder how some companies ever manage to dream up some of the daft SLAs I have come across.

And I'm still no clearer... But thanks for your inputs.

[MrMarkyMark]

Reads like a sockie reunion this thread. In fact it even looks like it was started by one the whinging style being so close to someone else's

[psychocandy]

My first contract (Dublin, late 90's) I was given the advice of a contractor who was leaving that I should be the first on site in the morning and the last to leave every night. So I did that for 6 months, and it nearly killed me. Well, not quite, but you get the drift.

Since then I've taken the approach that I'd be absolutely mortified if a senior guy at client site commented on my hours (or appearance for that matter). As for people I'm working alongside, they can always be brought around with charm and donuts.

Sod that. My attitude is that I'll do the hours I see fit. If client expects lots more for free then find another mug. I've got a life to live.

As for senior people commenting, it still happens I think no matter how many hours. Its is their interest to screw as many hours out of you as they can. If they can joke around, make you feel guilty, and get you to do 10 hours a day then its win for them with very little effort

[seanraaron]

Sod that. My attitude is that I'll do the hours I see fit. If client expects lots more for free then find another mug. I've got a life to live.

As for senior people commenting, it still happens I think no matter how many hours. Its is their interest to screw as many hours out of you as they can. If they can joke around, make you feel guilty, and get you to do 10 hours a day then its win for them with very little effort

I can't understand why you'd feel guilty about doing a normal shift. Surely OT is only by necessity? The idea that it should be as a matter of course or you're not serious is nonsense.

[smatty]

As for senior people commenting, it still happens I think no matter how many hours. Its is their interest to screw as many hours out of you as they can. If they can joke around, make you feel guilty, and get you to do 10 hours a day then its win for them with very little effort

Except it's not a win for them unless your contract is to stack shelves or do something else completely menial. There have been plenty of studies showing that productivity does not increase with time spent past a certain limit. Managers will know that so they're unlikely to demand 80hour weeks from techies as they'd end up with outages all over the place and projects falling apart, it's just office banter and you're being too sensitive about it.

[FrontEnder]

Except it's not a win for them unless your contract is to stack shelves or do something else completely menial. There have been plenty of studies showing that productivity does not increase with time spent past a certain limit. Managers will know that so they're unlikely to demand 80hour weeks from techies as they'd end up with outages all over the place and projects falling apart, it's just office banter and you're being too sensitive about it.

I don't think that's particularly well known. There are plenty of managers who think it's fine to do loads of hours and expect people to just do it. They think because they can/do means that others should.

It's a nonsense attitude, which is counter productive, but they don't see that and it's difficult to convince them of this.

[expat]

I don't think that's particularly well known. There are plenty of managers who think it's fine to do loads of hours and expect people to just do it. They think because they can/do means that others should.

It's a nonsense attitude, which is counter productive, but they don't see that and it's difficult to convince them of this.

That's because they have no concept of a job where you actually do something, and so could do it more or less well. Unlike their jobs where you can "manage" for as many hours as God sends. But then Management is more of a status than an activity.

[LondonManc]

One should not simply manage, one should excel.

Happy to put extra hours in to get a project over the line at key periods, especially when something is going out with my name on it. You only get one chance to do a first implementation of something. Six months on, nobody will remember it being two weeks late but they'll remember if it was crap.