Where's the Integrity?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, "Where is the integrity?"

In "Report Sees Cloud Trend for OSS Developers," Herb Torrens reported "Interestingly, more than 51 percent [of developers surveyed] also admitted to us that they spend time on nonwork-related open source projects while at work."

In "May We Have Your Attention, Please?" Businessweek reports "The average knowledge worker has the attention span of a sparrow. Roughly once every three minutes, typical cubicle dwellers set aside whatever they're doing and start something else—anything else. It could be answering the phone, checking e-mail, responding to an instant message, clicking over to YouTube (GOOG), or posting something amusing on Facebook. Constant interruptions are the Achilles' heel of the information economy in the U.S. These distractions consume as much as 28% of the average U.S. worker's day, including recovery time, and sap productivity to the tune of $650 billion a year, according to Basex, a business research company in New York City."

Whether for a contract or permanent position, when I'm getting paid, that time is my client's. Not my own. As I've said before, would you work as a sales clerk at Wal-mart and take $50 out of the cash register for yourself to keep? That's what you're doing to your employer when you spend personal time on non-work related things. No wonder the cost of developing a website is so much when half of the employees are goofing off.

May dishonesty keep you awake at night and integrity grant you blissful sleep, and when it does....

May your dreams be in ASP.NET!

Nannette Thacker

 

8 Comments

  • I do not like your analogy of taking money out of the till. It would be better for you to say "would you take longer than you need on your bathroom or tea break", or would you talk to someone on your mobile in the storeroom when you are meant to be unpacking boxes. The answer for many would probably be yes, at least until their boss tells them to return and serve a customer.

  • I think this is a phemonenon that can be reduced but cannot be entirely dismissed from IT related work. If I am not under stress or monitored once every 20 minutes I am likely to get distracted. On the other hand if I am under constant stress or monitored my work efficiency will also drop by about 30% on the long run. Show me someone who is efficiently coding for 8 straight hours with half an hour lunchbreak _all the time_. I bet I am be as efficient as him/her having my few minute breaks and getting back to coding refreshened.

    Its not that 28% percentage of distraction time that makes projects "cost so much". Those reasons are to be found elsewhere in my opinion.

  • Does posting to your blog at 10 AM on a workday count as non-work-related activity?

  • Hmm,
    What's your definition of a work day? A day you report to work and get paid for it? Mine too. Yes, if that's the case then "posting to your blog at 10 AM on a workday counts as non-work-related activity."
    But, if you're implying that I was posting to my blog at 10:00 am on a workday and someone's paying me for it, let me educate you...
    I'm self-employed, between projects. I'm not cheating anybody. Nor has anyone ever paid me during the time I post to my blog.
    Just FYI, you cannot go by Blog Post dates and times. I can write a series of 10 blog posts on a Sunday and pre-date them all to publish at 9:00 AM over the course of two weeks -- which I do all the time.
    You may think I wrote it during that time-frame, but I wrote it on Sunday.
    Nannette

  • I'm not sure there is much value in this discussion, Nannette seems to have an absolutist view on the topic.

    There are many sources of distraction in a work environment and they are not all the fault of the distracted person.

  • Gergely,
    I was replying to David, at the top of all posts.
    In regard to what you say, yes, I agree there are reasons why projects overrun and cost way too much, but couple that with the fact that the developers are not spending 100% of their paid time actually developing and it's no wonder web development costs so much.
    I was hired by a man from California to develop a website. There were 4 of us. The project manager, the developer (me), the designer, and the marketing manager. We completed in less time, for less cost, what an entire team of 30 couldn't get done working at a national website. That goes along with the "20% do all the work, 80% do all the goofing off" theory. If you find and employ those 20% you've got a goldmine.
    In fact, I had one boss call me his "goldmine." But it all goes back to integrity. If you feel like doing personal things on the job is "cheating" and you are against "cheating," then you won't do it. Our school system is full of cheaters and my children come home from school saying how they see cheating all around them. It's no wonder the work-force is full of people who see nothing wrong with it. It started in school and everyone seems to be doing it, so it must be okay.
    But I bet during that one-on-one interview with the boss that they wouldn't be so free to tell their boss all the times they were doing personal things as though it's all right, and expected.
    If you can't tell your boss you are doing it, and you try to cover up you're doing it when he enters your cubical, then it must be wrong. Right?
    :)

  • Anon,

    >>There are many sources of distraction in a work environment and they are not all the fault of the distracted person.

    Sure there are... but 25% of your day? 1 in 3 minutes?

    I've said before I'm not talking about normal, brief distractions. I'm talking about the kind that you wouldn't want your boss to know about...

    I'm talking about the distractions that ARE the fault of the distracted person.

    Can't you see the difference? I can.

  • As a manager of over 30 .NET developers, I was very surprised you had no supportive responses. It seems several were vocally against, while others simply remained silent.
    I've seen a lot of alt-tabbing when I walk past cubicals and I see a lot of goofing off.
    If I bid a project and it comes out over budget because the developers are spending 1 in 3 minutes on personal things; my employees are still getting paid; yet guess who loses out?
    When I had to lay off 5 developers; guess who were the first to go?

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