What is a 'friendly' way to let managers know that having good developers is a privilege?

Question

I work for a small company, where we recently had a change of managers. The new manager has no experience managing developers, and the old manager has moved into a development role to fill in gaps left by senior developers leaving the company and being unable to find replacements.

I was recently pulled aside, because I tend to only be in the office for 6-7 hours, or go out to run errands in the middle of the day, when my work doesn't require collaboration with other developers and I'm not behind schedule. I was asked to be present in the office for 8 hours, for no reason other than that my absence may make other employees think that they can step out for a while or work shorter days, as well.

I believe he also pulled aside another senior developer and told them the same thing, which bothers me, because this developer is less understanding and I don't think the company can continue if he were to leave.

The reality is that any of our senior developers can walk out the door and have a new job with as much as 30-40% higher pay within a week. Most of us are only staying here for the casual environment, and being able to mix personal time into our work days.

How can I let this manager know that he isn't in a position to have any expectations of us, beyond that we produce quality software according to schedule? I'm having trouble figuring out how I can convey this without coming off as a douche, or being threatening.

Answer 1

Your manager's job is to manage you. You want to tell your manager that you will leave if he tries. This is going to be an adversarial discussion no matter what. If you want to get the point across without giving him an ultimatum, first you need to understand his reasoning, and then you need to gently explain yours. Whatever he says, respect his authority as manager and end the conversation on good terms.

Understand his Reasoning

"Try to honestly see things from the other person's point of view."

- Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

You suggest that this new manager is only talking about the eight hour day because he has never worked with developers before. Are you sure? The old manager could have been removed because he didn't enforce the rules. Maybe upper management noticed people were constantly out of the office and asked the new manager to improve on that. Maybe he is worried about being short-staffed because other developers are leaving.

Each one of these are a very different problem from his perspective, and require different finesse to work around on your side. Rather than going in and laying down an ultimatum, the first thing you should do is to ask him what his reasoning is. For instance:

Hey boss, I wanted to follow-up on that conversation we had about working hours. Since joining the company we've tended to have flexible working hours and encouraged to have a healthy work-life balance so long as the job gets done on time. Since we're going to be working together, I want to try to understand your goals for managing me that way. Would you mind explaining the change?

The point is to say, "This feels kind of sudden, so as a mature adult I want to understand it" rather than to go on the offensive. This gives him a chance to think about it, explain, and maybe even shock you by having a good answer.

Gently Explain your Opinion

"Don't criticize, condemn or complain."

- Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

You may disagree with his reasoning. You may think it's stupid and will make everyone quit. And it may. But telling him that directly won't do anything but make him upset. You need to gently explain your position, for instance:

Part of the reason I've been so loyal to this job and this company is the flexibility it allows me. I understand you want me to be here 8 hours a day because <reason x>, is there any way to find a way to satisfy what you need, and still allow me some flexibility when I have things I need to take care of during work hours?

By looking for a way to compromise, and asking him to lead you to the answer, he will be far more willing to give you some leeway rather than if you just demand it regardless of what he wants.

Respect his Authority

At the end of the day he is the manager and in charge of making these decisions regardless of whether or not you agree with them. Respect that.

If he compromises and lets you have a bit of flexibility, say, "Thank you very much, I look forward to working with you."

If he doesn't compromise at all and tells you to work 8 hours a day and take vacation time if you have errands, say, "Thank you very much, I look forward to working with you."

Issuing an ultimatum will not change his mind. If you really can't live with his decision, start interviewing elsewhere, and issue your letter of resignation. Threatening to quit won't make your work life any more pleasant (it will just make matters worse), so better to quit on good terms. By negotiating with your feet you will get much better results than butting heads with your manager.

Answer 2

The reality is that any of our senior developers can walk out the door and have a new job with as much as 30-40% higher pay within a week. Most of us are only staying here for the casual environment, and being able to mix personal time into our work days.

How can I let this manager know that he isn't in a position to have any expectations of us, beyond that we produce quality software according to schedule? I'm having trouble figuring out how I can convey this without coming off as a douche, or being threatening.

I literally had a conversation about this subject with my boss yesterday. My team has been working about 50+ hours a week with paid overtime but I (as the lone developer on a team of non-devs) after Christmas decided I don't want to do this continually. I am effectively taking a 30% pay cut by dropping those hours.

But I am in a very similar situation, where I am fully aware my skill set would let me make more money elsewhere and it would be easy to find a job should I choose.

Here is what I did:

1. Do not usurp your bosses authority. Your boss is your boss, manager, and ultimately responsible for your continued success. Make sure this is clear during the conversation. You want your boss/manager to understand you still respect your bosses authority or else any conversation like this is going to come across as threatening.
2. Find ways to make it "win win." Your entire perspective needs to change from "how do I get what I want?" to "how do both my manager and myself get what I want." This is important. It's not you vs the manager (this appears to be your mindset). Your goal isn't to "win" this discussion, it's to find mutually agreeable common ground.
3. Your manager is not the enemy. Again, do not approach this looking to "fight" or "win." This is important if you want this conversation to go well.

That being said, we've covered an attitude you have to have in order to make a conversation like this successful. You now need to have a "win win" reason and justification.

Here is what I did in my approach:

• I was honest. I do not think working 50 hours makes me more productive on the whole than working 40. If I am working less I have incentive to maximize my productivity, etc. This is beneficial to my boss because ultimately his responsibility is to get the most value out of me as possible. If this is 60/hr weeks because I'm lazy or 40 because I'm willing to be hyper focused then this is beneficial. Specifically:
  • I don't get as much done when I'm burned out
  • I lose morale significantly when I'm "counting hours" vs "getting stuff done"
  • I enjoy being productive and as a result want to optimize my working schedule
  • I make extra work easily by not being rested (bugs, non-optimal/good code, etc) which counters the balance
  • I'm not at work primarily for money
• Found ways to communicate the mutual benefit of working less and more quality work. You absolutely have to do this. You can't make an ultimatum. Your manager has to understand there is mutual benefit.

You may want to discuss some of the company culture and how the flexible schedule lets you get your work done more easily because you are relaxed and that the team dynamic really is good at this.

Be aware too your new boss may be new to the culture your team has. That's going to be difficult for him/her to adjust to. Be mindful of this and recognize they don't have the experience of your team culture you do.

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Just an aside, your post does somewhat read like "I really like being able to not work hard and have a cakewalk job because my boss knows if he expects hard work I'll quit." If you have this attitude I guess the entire above post doesn't really apply...

Answer 3

Your manager is your manager. Unless the company specifically doesn't allow your role to be set to fixed hours, or doesn't allow your manager to set fixed hours, or you have a contract controlling this, then your manager has the authority to do so.

If you don't like it, you can tell your manager, but remember that this authority is often reserved to managers, not to employees.

You might take the approach that this is a new policy and you, being used to the old policy, are going to need some time to adjust your non-work schedule to meet this new requirement, though that acquiesces and your question seems to want to fight.

You could try and explain in terms of things that your manager cares about, such as, 'Boss, I know you prefer having regular hours, but when I'm able to use flex time, I end up doing extra work in the evenings, after I get home. If we stick to regular hours, this benefits to the company will go out the window and we'll need to re-estimate our deliverables.'

You could try telling him/her that flex hours were advertised as a benefit when you took the job, and that this is an important benefit to you. You'd like to understand his/her process for re-obtaining that benefit.

You could professionally tell your boss that removing the flex time benefit causes an equivalent reduction in your compensation, and that you feel that you are due increased compensation in some other form if they choose not to provide you with this particular compensation. Be careful with this, though, as it can be taken as very confrontational if not handled very carefully.

If you really don't like it, you can try talking to HR, if you have an HR department, or you can always find a new job.

Answer 4

Most of us are only staying here for the casual environment, and being able to mix personal time into our work days.

Start off by telling him that, prefacing it with "Hey boss, I have a hard truth to share. I believe that...". You'll be doing him a favor -- insight like that is critical for your manager to do their job effectively. If he's cut out for his new role, he'll be genuinely grateful that you brought it up with him.

Having said that, I see a few red flags:

1. New manager has no experience managing developers
2. Attendance is the laziest (and least useful) metric for a manager to focus on
3. Reason why devs work at your company (essentially because they don't have to work a full day)
4. Wording of #3 (why you're "staying here", as opposed to why you "like working" here)
5. Implications of #4, combined with the fact that it's a small company

If you don't mind me being candid, you probably owe it to yourself to find a new job. It may not always be easy for you, or for us software developers in general. We're fortunate to be working in a hot field; don't squander the opportunity just so you can work part-time hours while getting full-time pay. Trust me, it won't be worth it in the long run (unless you're doing more than running errands during your off-time).

But that's just my opinion (based on working 10+ years in tech), feel free to take it or leave it.

Answer 5

I've recently quit my job after securing a position in another company and I'd like to share my opinion about this situation.

If the management doesn't know about current market prices for your position just let them know very discreetly and privately, being as frank as possible. Tell them how important it is to keep the system alive and how much it depends on the current developers, give them a layout of how critical each developer is and how much training and knowledge it takes to refill that position. Then give them time to adjust (a week tops) as they will need to double check this information.

At this point, they should call you and your colleagues with new payment options or better work conditions. If they don't that probably means they don't mind that they have failed to assess the developer market (which just means they are irresponsible), they are broke, or they don't care that the system runs and have an exit strategy.

Edit:

I would like to add that as long as you don't hate this company, try to stay until your wishes are fulfilled. Management may try to keep you satisfied with a position change that will not cost them anything, or a token change in priviledges or wages. Be persistent to overcome this managerial step, refuse the offers if they do not satisfy you, give them as many chances as possible. It's only business. Don't just throw away everything you've done in there.

Answer 6

I find it helpful to think of my relationship with my employer as a business relationship. I am providing a service and receiving benefits. They are providing benefits and receiving a service. If, at any point, I believe the relationship is unbalanced I can either seek to adjust the relationship, or find a new position with a better fitting relationship.

This means that I'm responsible for deciding what path to take. If I like my current employer, and they decide to force me into a set schedule, I'll let them know that there needs to be something provided on their side of the relationship to make up for it. If I can't accept the new requirements, I let them know that it's unacceptable. It's then up to them to decide if the business relationship is worth forcing the issue, or adjusting their business to match my requirements.

If we can't resolve the conflict, we end the relationship. It's not because either party is bad, it's just that things have changed on one side or the other enough that we are no longer a good fit for each other.

In your case, management has changed, and they're giving you a new schedule. They've provided reasons - whether those reasons are valid or not doesn't matter from your perspective. You've so far been able to keep working with them because they provided flexibility, but now they've taken that away and haven't replaced it with something else that would make keeping this relationship alive worth it for you.

You can negotiate with them, and/or look for an employer that will fit your needs better.

Answer 7

I feel and have voiced on other occasions that developers should be measured by their work quality and output and not by the time they put into working. I think this is an old way of dealing with desk-based positions that has creeped it's way into development.

I would call a meeting with this new manager and ask if he feels your work quality and/or volume could be improved. If this is the case then you may well need to put in the extra time. If this is not the case then I'd ask why he would want you to sit at your desk for an extra hour if he is getting what he needs from you in the time you are already putting in and what he expects from this extra hour.

If you have 8 man-hours of work to do and finish it in 7, why should people who can only finish it in 9 have reason to want to leave work early because you do? You (like many developers) need a relaxed environment to work in and forcing you to stay when you are ahead of schedule is not relaxing. Tell him you accept a lower than average pay in your current position because you like the freedom you have in this role, that it makes your work environment enjoyable and putting unnecessary restrictions on you is taking away the very reason you enjoy this company.

Answer 8

No-one is indispensable. An uncomfortable truth but something you might consider when looking at whether you like the new regime or not.

The new manager may not be experienced in the ways of developers but if he is a good manager then he will learn. If he learns then all will benefit.

Is he doing 1-1 chats to see how you are doing? This is a common practice in software development environments and is a sign of (at least the attempt) to follow good governance.

'Having a little chat' can be a sign of questionable performance management practices being brought in, you can't make a judgement without evidence. Maybe speak to your colleague about what was/wasn't said.

As for your previous manager's job shift back to development, what did he say about the matter?

On balance the best approach is to be non-confrontational, gather your information, then make a decision. Ultimately you need to be in a comfortable working environment where the company appreciates you and you feel like you are doing the right thing.

Answer 9

I'm still a student, but I faced a similar problem at a previous internship.

My route was to avoid threatening (as far as possible) and simply go with "These are my job requirements, that involve me developing x and y on schedule z. To the best of my knowledge, I am actually significantly ahead of all my deadlines. I'm not really sure why it's a problem for me to run errands during my day if I fulfill all my requirements and don't inconvenience anybody."

The answer I got was essentially "grumble grumble ... need to work x hours ... grumble grumble ... can't have people slacking off" at which point I asked how I was slacking off. The conversation ended there, with no further complaints from their end.

If your manager is "just" a manager (meaning no previous developer experience) there is a decent chance he's still working on the old "put in the required hours" idea. It's worth gently pointing out that you are fulfilling all requirements.

In terms of the other developer you mentioned, pointing out how important that person's work is can make the manager more sensitive to them. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a "nice" way to tell him he's being an idiot...

On the other hand, this doesn't sound like the most marvellous of jobs, so perhaps it's worth looking around anyway?

Answer 10

Get him a copy of Tom DeMarco's Peopleware and put a marker in it to the page on Spanish theory management (STM). STM refers to the concept of mining people as a resource the way the Spanish tried to get rich by mining South America for gold rather than allowing them autonomy to innovate (the British innovated instead during the same era and it was a lot more successful) and DeMarco is pretty damning of it in his book.

Maybe leave the book lying around somewhere the bosses vision, so that he picks it up (accidentally) and has a read through it and understand the difference between a "knowledge worker" and a "seat filler". I've had "Spanish theory" bosses and as a developer it's the last thing you want, unless maybe the money is good enough for you to tolerate it.

If he reads it all should be well and good. If he doesn't then maybe just leave a browser page open with contractor rates visible on it so that he might initiate a conversation with you from a less autocratic stance.

This guy is new in and probably feeling insecure - so be his friend, bring him into what you do by explaining and involve him in the estimation and share the drama with him. You will close the communication gap and everyone can get back to being productive.

Answer 11

Your "Rockstar Programmer" mentality has caused you to fail to recognize what is important to your supervisor. He may feel (right or wrong) that keeping several lesser developers happy is more important than keeping you, so be careful.

Start the conversation with your understanding of the job requirements when you accepted the job. Make a note that no one has previously complained about your 7 hr work day, but make sure you are very sure no one in fact has complained. Another area to focus on is the fact you get your work done. Concentration is key, so getting errands out of the way can be a great way to clear your mind for work. This could backfire and your boss will just give you more to do.

The reality is that any of our senior developers can walk out the door and have a new job with as much as 30-40% higher pay within a week. Most of us are only staying here for the casual environment, and being able to mix personal time into our work days.

The mere fact that you have continued to stay indicates you value the casual environment over more pay, so how do you see this as leverage? Instead of 8 hours a day, these jobs could put you into 10-12. The extra pay you indicated doesn't add up.

Answer 12

OP, this is a good question.

Eight hours in a day is an arbitrary number. It may be stated explicitly in your contract (which, I'm sure, your employer will conveniently forget about when he would like you to work more than that much,) but this is still arbitrary. Eight is just a number. It could be seven, it could be nine.

Take, as an example, the recommendation, commonly held, that you should drink eight glasses of water a day. As it turns out, this is based on the recommended water consumption for a 35 year old man weighing 250 pounds. The eight glasses of water is based on certain assumptions which may or may not be true in your case.

I feel there are two questions here - is it reasonable to work a flexible amount of hours, or otherwise ask for other special provisions that might not be considered standard, and is it reasonable to expect your manager to understand and cooperate this.

The answer to these questions is yes and no, respectively.

Do I Have To Work Eight Hours?

No, of course not. As stated above, this is just an arbitrary number. It is based on assumptions about how long a person can be productive, and how much time a person needs for their personal life, that may not necessarily be true for you.

You are probably the only person who knows for sure how many hours you should work. Personally, I am not very productive after six or more hours of working. When someone tells me I should be productive for eight, I ask them where did you get that number from, and what assumptions are you making?

CEO's and other execs are notorious for leaving at three, or otherwise setting their own hours. This is not because they are lazy - most CEO's are very hard working. However, since they have no one to answer to, they manage their day based on their needs, versus a roughshod benchmark, meant to apply to everyone.

Is it reasonable to assume there is a way to convince my boss to see things this way?

It is certainly not a reasonable assumption to make. Your boss is a human being, and it is therefore completely impossible to ever know, for sure, how he will react to something or how to get him to behave in a certain way.

Typically, the reason a boss will operate under a quota-based system of hours, is because they are confused and scared. Constantly existing in a state of uncertainty about their job security (because they are not very good managers, those that assume all employees require the same thing) they try to exercise as much control as possible over the situation.

People that are confused and scared are not reasonable. If you offer a person running for their lives from a stampede of cattle $500, he will probably run right by you. This is because such a state of mind makes us very resistant to outside input.

What Should I Do?

In my opinion, you should not do something that you think doesn't make sense, even if your boss tells you to.

It's important to independently evaluate everything that you are asked to do, and make sure it makes sense, before you do it.

I say this because to do so builds critical thinking, and independence. When you do something you think doesn't make sense, just to appease a manager, you build co-dependence and complacency.

At the end of the day, if you spend years of your life acting in a complacent manner, you will become complacent. And it's your life, so it's up to you.

If your boss is not reasonable, you should quit. Right away. As they say, "the person who lost their job for a dumb reason, always finds a better one fast."

Answer 13

Don't confront. Explain your point of view in management language - how it improves productivity, rather than selfish personal benefits.

The 8 hour work-day is based on assembly lines and heuristic tasks. As a software engineer, you require plenty of short bursts of focus and rest in between. It's entirely possible to work 8 hours a day and accomplish nothing.

After some experience and a lot of research (about a year of tracking everything I do), I find that the optimal amount of work for a software developer is maximum 200-300 minutes a day. This is minutes. It does not come down to 3-5 hours a day. This is more often 4-5 hours, depending on the level of discipline.

You can find your own optimum based on your personal research, but those are my personal findings.

After this, I write a report based on what all of those minutes are spent on. For example, 200 hours spent fixing camera bug, 50 minutes spent on cache, 75 minutes spent on refactoring and commenting.

Offer to do the same thing for your manager. Employees will be happy to work 200 minutes/day. Managers are happy, because it gives them a sense of control if everyone writes a report on everything. Managers just hate it when you spend three hours programming say... a blinking icon and demand to know why it took so long.

The side effect is that it's also a tactful way of explaining that meetings are a waste of time. It will also be helpful in predicting the time required to accomplish some tasks... so if developer A does a UI thingy in 200 minutes and developer B does it in 350, management knows that the range of time required to do the same thing in the future is between 200-350 minutes. And if it exceeds that time, they can tell what's going wrong.

Excess time is best used relaxing, because relaxation helps you be more productive in the future and improves morale of the company. You'd admitted yourself that the high morale of the company means a stronger retention rate and less money spent on pay. Make this benefit of morale clear to him.

If he's just stubbornly insisting you work 8 hours despite it being more productive for working less hours, then he's not a good manager; he simply wants control and power. It's fine if he's simply inexperienced and doesn't know how things work. All of us learned on the job. But if he's stubbornly refusing not to learn, quit or get him replaced. Refusing to listen to the people he's managing will bring down the whole team and the whole company.

Answer 14

Unfortunately you are now experiencing the collision of the mentality difference between the office workers and software developers. Here are the facts about the office environments that you must accept as soon as possible:

• Your manager can't understand your technical value. He doesn't have the skill set or technical background to understand your difference from other developers. You may think you are valuable because you are solving huge technical problems faster and better than anyone, but it actually makes no difference to him. If you leave, he will hire "another developer". The new developer may report the issues you solved as "unsolvable", but if his/her report is solid your manager will be fine with that. He/she may make mistakes that costs the company tons of money, but since your manager can't figure that out, it's not a problem. If he/she sits on his/her desk for 8 hours, he/she will make your manager happier than you.

• Your manager have your responsibility over his/her managers. If you don't show up on time or leave office midday, his/her manager will ask about it, and he/she will have a hard time answering. This will turn to you immediately.

• People are usually jealous and resentful by nature. Thus, if you do less hours then your colleagues, they will get angry inside, no matter how good is your skill set is, or you already outperform them and even you have no task assigned and you will be drinking tea and do internet surfing for the rest of the day. And your manager have to keep the office stable, even he/she agrees with you. Just don't take it personally.

• Your agreement with your employer states that you must be at work for 8 hours, or else you wont be paid. I think it's a good reason beyond all above.

These are the facts that you cannot escape. By being in similar environments for 10 years, here are the solutions that I could come up with:

• Work slower. If you accomplish all your tasks and drink tea during the rest of the day, you will be "The guy who drinks tea half of the day". If you struggle whole day and barely accomplish a task, you will be "A hard worker employee who keeps his/her performance until the last minute".

• You might ask for working from home for once or twice a week. If they don't see you are not doing anything, they will be happy as long as you complete your tasks.

• If none of them works, there are "safe heaven" tech companies that they don't ask where you are, if you do your job well. (Coincidentally, they are usually the best companies of the world) You might consider switching to one of them.

Answer 15

One's productivity may decline after n number of hours, and yet still remain above 0%. Assuming that yours begins to reduce after six consecutive hours, your boss will still get more out of 2 hours at 50% than he will out of 0 hours at 100%.

We're all less productive at the end of a workday. The way mature people deal with this is by organizing the day to put items that work well with depleted productivity. I might do the lion's share of my development in the morning and save required training material for the end of the day. Or I might organize my inbox. Or if I have something that requires more routine, plain-jane stuff, I'll do that.

One problem with your question is that you think that your boss is treating this like a business transaction and you aren't--that he's paying for 8 hours and he wants 8 hours, and you just want it to be about the productivity. In truth, you're treating it like a transaction just as much as he is. You're just using a different currency. You're paying your boss with quality software--we'll take your word about the quality, for the sake of argument--and you want a flexible, 6-7 hour day. Neither of you are more or less noble than the other in this scenario. You only disagree about the price.

The main problem with your question, however, is that you take your job for granted, and you seem to do it because you overvalue your own abilities. Work is work, and at the end of the day, we do it because somebody needs a job done and we need money to make ends meet. That work is work means that it often involves slogging through the last few hours of the day at reduced productivity. Valuable workers are those that (as I mentioned earlier) find ways to balance the decline in productivity with easier--though still necessary--tasks that are better-suited to reduced productivity.

Having truly good developers is a privilege, you're right. But where you're wrong is in labeling yourself one on the basis of your skills and output alone. When you elevate your desires to a level of arrogance and consider yourself above reproach, you have negatively offset any ability that you may possess.

Answer 16

Over a lot of years, I've found that creative people work best on as loose a leash as possible. Every once in a while, somebody abuses this, and you have to deal with that on an individual basis. Usually that means enabling them to move on. Be sure you're not in that category.

Perhaps your current supervisor was put in place to "tighten up" a culture that's gotten out of hand. If that's so, don't fight him, work with him. Help him to be a success and he'll work with you. Consider that he might have been put in place to enable some egregious offenders to move on.

If your flex time, which is one of the best and cheapest benefits an employer can offer, has become a problem, work out a compromise. Work with your supervisor and develop a schedule you can both live with; schedule your time to go run, make sure the schedule shows that you'll be in your chair as much as he needs you to be.

Once upon a time (30 years ago), I too ran in the middle of the day. When I was running, I didn't think about footsteps , I'd think about whatever problem currently had me puzzled. Some of my best "ah-ha" moments came while I was running along the levee. The change of scenery and the fresh air can work wonders. I have only three full time, salaried developers, but I pay for a corporate gym membership in the best place in town, just to get them out of their chairs.

Above all, do whatever you need to, to avoid making it confrontational. That's a situation that's never a win for anyone.

Go to work tomorrow determined to be part of the solution. You sound like a strong contributor, working in what could be a good situation. Work to keep both.

Answer 17

Having read through the answers, I haven't seen a managers perspective.

Let's say I have 5 developers. They are meeting deadlines, no major issues, etc. However the total time at work per week for the group is around 160 hours. In that situation I'm firing one of them.

Why? Simply put I have more capacity than I have work and that excess capacity is expensive. It makes far more financial sense to have just the 4, even if I pay them a bit more.

FYI - my background is 20+ years in development, 15 of those managing others. Plus another 8 owning a company.

The manager is right. If you are frequently not in the office and only working around 6 hours a day then the other workers (especially non-developers) will likely feel resentment of the fact. Especially if they have to wait to talk to you because you are out "running errands" pretty often. The other workers know you are an expensive resource, and some will likely already harbor some level of resentment. By not being at the office during normal business hours you are rubbing it in their face.

For a company, having developers is not a privilege; I have no idea where you got that from. It sounds like you have a nice cushy job, so it's up to you whether you want to blow it.

I don't think the company can continue if he were to leave.

You should put that out of your mind, as it's not just wrong but sets a bad tone. Companies have certainly survived entire departments walking out. Sure, it puts a dent on things but there is always someone willing to step in where you left off. I've personally been involved in several variations of that situation: I've had a group walk out on me, I've fired an entire department and I've been part of a large group that walked out because some stupid demands weren't met. In all cases the company survived and ended up better for it.

How can I let this manager know that he isn't in a position to have any expectations of us, beyond that we produce quality software according to schedule?

If, as a manager, I thought you felt this way I'd show you the door immediately. That attitude is toxic and shows a complete disregard for authority and your coworkers. You are already in a very comfy position being well paid compared to others and having an apparently easy job. At a minimum he should expect you to act like you want to work there.

Answer 18

Specifically to the point of educating your manager: I'm not a Christian and you don't have to be either in order to take something away from the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Unless your workplace recognizes a union or other collective bargaining framework, it has an independent agreement with each employee. Employees can be made to see this without causing resentment, and that's a normal thing for their manager to deal with. It's not inherently your job to follow the working pattern of the majority.

If the employer has recently become completely inflexible as a matter of policy then you have a real problem -- they don't want employees who work like you any more. Then your attempt to educate your manager may result in your manager educating you, which is also fine. This may go beyond your new manager to the point where the problem is intractable.

Specifically to the point of getting your hours back: a number of situations could apply based on your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). If you are going to get the time back, probably an important thing is for you and your new manager both to be up front with other employees that you are not sneaking off, and sneaking off is not tolerated: you have permission to leave for a reason that perhaps is none of their business or perhaps can be shared. You might also offer to be as discreet as possible if you do this while some of your colleagues are very busy. Promise you won't loudly announce at 4pm that you've implemented today's story, checked in the code, and you'll see them in the bar whenever their inferior brains get them done for the day ;-)

Anyway, possible situations:

• You have legal standing to continue your existing practices, and your new manager in effect is asking for extra work for no pay. BATNA: you refuse the request.

Then your manager is asking for a pretty large favour (an hour or more a day is a lot even if you only do it when you're on schedule). You need to communicate this and make sure he understands there's nothing in it for you at present. You can, if necessary, go over his head if he fails to acknowledge your rights, but the friendly way to approach it is to persuade him, without making a threat, not to make you do so. You need to work hard now not to set up a confrontation that means refusing later will humiliate the new manager. So make sure you both explore and agree the real situation before anyone says anything they can't back up.

• You don't have legal standing, but if you're going to have to be in your seat for 8 hours a day then you'd prefer to do it for a different employer paying 30% more. BATNA: you leave.

Then you are negotiating what services you will provide to your employer at what rate. This is sometimes incredibly easy and sometimes incredibly difficult, it all depends how quickly one of you is ready to either fold or call (what they hope is) the other's bluff. Explain that flexible working is extremely valuable to you, that you've appreciated it to date, that you do not believe you've been taking your employer for a ride. Perhaps some formal conditions could be laid down as to what your agreement is, and in the name of fairness those same conditions could be extended to other employees where appropriate. If you want to signal that you're not bluffing, then an offer in hand from another employer is about as strong a signal as you can get or should need. From what you say in the question would be easy to obtain. Yes, that's a threat, but once you have opened a formal negotiation on honest terms a threat is not unfriendly, it's just business.

A long shot, but assume you're currently on schedule almost all the time and hence working 5 days at 6.5 hours a day (32.5 hours a week). This doesn't suit your employer for reasons of consistent working hours among employees. Assuming you're mentally capable of working longer days, perhaps you could both agree to 8 hours a day 4 days a week, with either no change in salary or a token change. Your colleagues can be left free to assume you're paid 80% pro rata if they choose so that they're not too envious: even if payscales are public I assume your salary is confidential. Get your errands done on your day off instead of during your working day. Agree that when deadlines bite you will work a 5 day week for TOIL.

• You don't have legal standing, and you prefer this employer for reasons other than flexible working hours. BATNA: you accept the request.

Then you're asking your manager for quite a big favour, and there's currently nothing in it for him as far as he knows. You need to approach this by making a rock-solid case that your flexible working is in your employer's interest. Your previous manager might be useful, if the new manager respects him at all, because he can explain why he tolerated what you did before (that is to say, why it is valuable to the business to let you do it, in terms of making you happier and more productive). If you fail to make your case and end up working the hours and finishing your projects early, instead of leaving early and finishing your projects on time, then maybe your new manager does know a little bit about managing developers after all. Sometimes you get managed; mentally prepare yourself now not to hold a grudge.

Answer 19

I was in exactly the same position about ten years ago. Very difficult to negotiate this - there are very few managers of this sort, especially if they are new on the job, that will appreciate "friendly" recommendations from their underlings about how to manage things when they've just come in and intend to "do things their way". If you are not careful, you may find yourself out of a job.

In my case, there was someone "higher up in the food chain" that did understand something about managing developers, and I turned directly to them. They told me I could safely ignore the new manager. If you have that option, perhaps try it.

Still, be very careful - make sure you know the territory well.

Otherwise, IMO, if you don't want to look for a new job, your best bet is to play the new guy's game for a while - kiss up and be good: In six months or a year, if you do good work, you'll have established credibility with the new guy. Then things will loosen up and you'll be able to gradually move back to your old mode of working.

Answer 20

The friendliest thing you can say is the blunt, honest, tactless thing. "Well Bob, the only reason I'm still here is because I like the fact that I don't really have to work a full work week. It's worth the 30-40% paycut to me."

Now imagine being somebody's new manager yourself and hearing that for the first time. Because that really is what you're saying here. You don't like it there but you're putting up with it because it's okay to not take your job that seriously.

How badly, as a manager, do you really want to keep that guy?

I've been there, but it's really not something to take a power-position on. What you really want is change. Either a new job or some improvements at the current one. You'll have a more receptive manager if you take the job seriously when he asks you to and you'll be in a more relaxed position to try and negotiate once you put some feelers out and become confident you could in fact pick up new work relatively quickly.

But really, why, if you're good enough to find a new gig so easily, are you putting up with whatever this situation is? I'd personally much rather have an 8 hour day of mediocrity in programming than a 6-7 hour day of frustration. It sounds like its past due time for more devs than just yourself to find a new place to work. It doesn't hurt to try and change things before you go though. At the very least it might help the developers they have to hire to replace you.

The problem isn't that he doesn't know what it takes to keep you. It's that you're still there and he's not going to understand why any better than I do in any respect beyond general career inertia where finding a new job is painful enough that you'd rather put up with the crummy one you have.