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Manage by Technology? Bad Idea

Consider this real world scenario: Acme Inc. is converting a monolithic COBOL mainframe application to J2EE and Oracle. There are massive blocks of COBOL that need to be rewritten. The development strategy includes an on-shoring element. A number of contract employees are brought on board for the duration of the...

By Paul Rolich | Updated on April 30, 2013
Consider this real world scenario: Acme Inc. is converting a monolithic COBOL mainframe application to J2EE and Oracle. There are massive blocks of COBOL that need to be rewritten. The development strategy includes an on-shoring element. A number of contract employees are brought on board for the duration of the project. The programmers for hire are paid hourly and are expected to work 40-hour weeks with any overtime sanctioned by management.

Bob (a development manager) notices that some of the coders seem to be spending a lot of time getting coffee or going to the restroom. Some of them even appear to be daydreaming or doodling. Bob decides that in order to increase efficiency he is going to change the way they are paid.

Instead of punching in at the time clock like the other hourly employees they will be paid when they log onto to their workstations. The workstations will be modified to force a log out during any period of inactivity after one minute. At the end of each shift the workstation logs will be off-loaded and the log-in/log-out activity will be translated into key clock punches. Up to two five-minute “breaks” will be allowed for each developer per shift. So now Bob has solved the productivity problems he observed. Right?

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