----- Original Message -----
From: "Adam C. Lipscomb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 8:38 PM
Subject: Re: Angry enough to spit
> If a programmer doesn't want to work for a company that makes him spend
some >time at work actually working, he can (a) quit and look for another
job or (b)
> suck it up and do his job.
I'm not sure this is really the choice that is given by a no-surf policy. I
lead a group that had a project to get out. I didn't crack the whip every
day, but I got the team to believe in the project. It didn't make sense to
make the folks stare at a bug for an hour straight when they weren't getting
anywhere. Instead, I let them work as they felt most comfortable.
No one was really slacking, though. You could tell it by how intent they
were at the work. When push time came, everyone worked nights and even
weekends to get things out. But, the difference might be the time frame of
the effort. When one has a one year project or a two year project, one
cannot go full out all the time; one might have individual problems that
take weeks to solve in a 2 minute flash of insight. Personally, I've
developed a whole pack of distractions to eliminate the technical equivalent
of writers block. The productive people on my team did the same sort of
things.
> He's not chained to the desk, and no one is
> going to send the bloodhounds out after him if he decides to find another
> employer.
>
It depends on the field. I worked for a company where a V.P. said "who
would hire you" when someone complained about the lack of raises for two
years, while the top management got large bonuses. When he went to work for
a competitor, he was sued for stealing what was in his head. He was told
that he could not possibly design something new without stealing trade
secrets. You could say work for a non-competitor, but after spending 20
years becoming the top person in his field, changing fields did not seem
like a good option.
Dan M.
