Yuck, I'd quit your team. That level of micromanagement is demoralizing and it hurts the company. "Sorry support, I have zero autonomy. I can't talk to you unless my manager adjusts some number in some spreadsheet"
Sorry! I'm not doing it in just my team; that's how it's across hundred of teams in my org.
I believe I was not clear: it's a rotational support - where every engineer is encourage to spend a sprint worth of time in every quarter on working on support tickets. You've complete autonomy - you don't want to work on support tickets, it's alright. No one is forcing you. You want to spend next two weeks on a training or self-learning - go for it.
> > Your capacity is adjusted accordingly. ...
> That level of micromanagement is demoralizing and it hurts the company.
The micromanagement identified is not in the type of work which is most appropriate to success, but instead in the "detailed capacity accounting." This level of "accounting" does not convey trust in an engineer, thus demoralizing them by way of eliminating their autonomy (freedom from external control).
Encouraging engineers to "spend a sprint worth of time in every quarter" or the "next two weeks on a training or self-learning" is laudable, but does not qualify as providing autonomy or the lack of micromanagement. The reasons why are A) the decision is still solely yours and B) clearly time-driven instead of collaboratively prioritized.
You've complete autonomy ...
Not if you decide when, how long, and with what fixed frequency someone can work on tasks which impact "velocity."
This is exactly what I would not want my team to suffer. They need to feel inspired, and those who are not inspired will know it themselves, and so will everyone they work with. I don't need a spreadsheet to tell somebody's commitment
mandeepj|3 years ago
I believe I was not clear: it's a rotational support - where every engineer is encourage to spend a sprint worth of time in every quarter on working on support tickets. You've complete autonomy - you don't want to work on support tickets, it's alright. No one is forcing you. You want to spend next two weeks on a training or self-learning - go for it.
AdieuToLogic|3 years ago
Encouraging engineers to "spend a sprint worth of time in every quarter" or the "next two weeks on a training or self-learning" is laudable, but does not qualify as providing autonomy or the lack of micromanagement. The reasons why are A) the decision is still solely yours and B) clearly time-driven instead of collaboratively prioritized.
Not if you decide when, how long, and with what fixed frequency someone can work on tasks which impact "velocity."rufflez|3 years ago