Micromanagement!

[Stevehewitt]

Hi everyone,

Not worked in a place like this before - maybe i've been lucky previously or maybe this place is just strange.

We're a development house for .net web apps, and i'm the first network admin they've brought in as the network is getting in a bit of a mess without propper management.

I report to a Technical Project Manager, who reports to the Head of Technical Services. (E.G. Head of Ops!)

My query is that I have to fill in a daily timesheet, stating what i've done for the day, a weekly update to my line manager as he needs to have it in his reports to his boss, and a monthy networking report which my bosses boss (head of tech services) has requested.

Combine this with the fact that I have no direct budget - so if we need a new server I have to do a 4 - 10 page report on why, costs, etc.

Does anyone find this is a little over the top, or am I being too dramatic?

Just think 'Micromanagement' comes into mind. A daily, weekly and monthly report on what I'm up to is taking a fair bit of time away from what my job is actually all about.

Am I being to dramatic? If not, any suggestions? (My line manager unoffically agree's, but he has got his orders from his boss - head of tech services - and has to carry them out)

Any help really appreciated!

Cheers,




Steve.

"They have the internet on computers now!" - Homer Simpson

 

[tazuk]

I'm in a position that no longer requires me to report my time - something that seems strange to me as I've always had to in the past. Previous positions required a weekly timesheet (with daily breakdown), however daily time reporting together with weekly and monthly reports sounds a little confusing (and brings back nightmarish visions of Gant charts).

For the daily timesheet I'd simply knock up a Excel template containing common tasks with the necessary formulae to do any required totalling and keep it open during the working day.

Have the management bods specified what information they require in the weekly and monthly reports? Are they just to be compilations of the information in daily timesheets or something more?

One thing worth noting is that you shouldn't forget to document how long it takes you to complete the reports in your timesheet ;-)

TazUk

Blue-screening PCs since 1998

 

[MasterRacker]

Steve, not that uncommon unfortunately.

Non-IT types have a hard time understanding all that IT entails. Without any feel for it, the only thing many can relate to is a bean-counter type breakdown.

Even with a budget you might not be better off. Sometimes you go through the entire justification for your budget, get it approved, then when the time comes to actually spend some of the budget you get to justify again since "the budget is just a planning estimate and now we need to verify that we actually need that item.".



_____
Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]

 

[Corran007]

It all depends why they want your time. At a prior company(where we werent billing customers) we had to report our time. The CIO finally informed us why after we started complaining about it. He was putting all the info into a database and analyzing it. He would then inquire about if he saw negative trends or spikes. For example we had a new product roll out and our help desk calls for that new itme spiked for a month then went down. Because he knew how much we were really spending on it vs well we had to spend alot of time helping users on it he was able to alter and increase the training for the next big application and we had a significatly reduced helpdesk issue. He was also using it to justify staff increases. Saying that our network people have too much to do is not nearly as effective as showing how each of them spend thier time. They eventually were able to get upgraded network gear after they were spending a huge amount of time keeping the existing equipement running. It was chearper to do that than higer a new person.

So, see if you can find the reason for them needing your time vs just your activies. And the justification for equipment not previosly budget for is normal. When your budgeting times comes around for next year make sure you do alot of work on it so when the following years comes you hopefully will not need to spend extra time justifying it

 

[lgarner]

Daily timekeeping is a bit much. We have to fill out a weekly online timesheet, which is also a pain. According to management it's to allocate costs and see where time is being spent, like Corran007 indicated. If you're the only IT there, then it might be a little much; in my case I, my boss and his boss are in 3 different states.

Having no budget is normal. So's justifying expenses. If 4-10 pages is a company guideline, then it's kind of silly. If that's how much it takes to justify your request, then so be it. I just wrote up a cost comparison and justification for 6 new servers and it took about 3 pages.

Generally it doesn't sound like micromanaging to me.

 

[philhege]

We cobbled together a nice little .NET time tracking app, which reads our master project list and the help desk queue and provides a picklist of both. We simply choose the project or work order we're dealing with, and hit the start button. The app writes to spreadsheets that the boss aggregates and forwards to upper mgmt. You just have to get yourself in the mindset of using the app. At first there were a lot of entries for umpteen hours (oops, forgot to turn off the timer before I went home), but with a bit of process or code tweaking, you can get around that hurdle.

My US$.02

Phil Hegedusich
Senior Programmer/Analyst
IIMAK

http://www.iimak.com

-----------
I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa.

 

[Stevehewitt]

Thanks for all your advise.

My manager and I have come to an arrangement.

I'll keep doing the daily timesheets and the weekly summary. However he'll do the monthly project plan and report...!

Cheers,




Steve.

"They have the internet on computers now!" - Homer Simpson

 

[Gooser]

Speaking of micromanagement...

I was once in a position where daily I had to spend an hour collecting statistics on what our automated processes had accomplished overnight. The result was four integers, I then had to send these four numbers to my shop (8 co-workers), an "up the chain" (6 levels), 6 levels up, the numbers were plugged into a PowerPoint slide that was sent halfway across the nation and plugged into a presentation as "what's that unit out East doing?" The slide was never briefed by someone who was "in the know" they were just four servernames and four numbers describing the production level of the automated processes we ran. "The Numbers" as they came to be called, were not stored, tracked or otherwise useful beyond filling four blanks in a PowerPoint presentation. I spent an hour every day, and a colonel spent a half-hour every day doing this so the "big boss man" could keep us under his thumb. Dumbest place I ever worked. I could have made up 4 numbers between 10 and 200 on any given day and nobody would've been the wiser. I asked "why?" I was given my favorite, "that's how we've always done it."

RRGH!

v/r

Gooser

Why do today
that which may not need to be done tomorrow --me