
Ask HN: Does starting early have positive impact on a tech team's productivity? - flyankur
	Hey,
I work at a fairly large startup and my management thinks tech team should start at 8.00 am in the morning. Every engineer in my team does not want to start at 8.00 am, although they have no problem working late.<p>1) How do make them understand they should measure the output and not the number of hours. 2) What kind of metrics&#x2F;framework can I provide them to show the productivity of my team?<p>Thanks
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brudgers
To me, a data driven argument is probably a losing battle. Punching a
timeclock management like it's an assembly line is, in this context, likely to
be more about control than productivity. If that's the company culture, and
there are companies where it is, then the alternatives are compliance and its
consequences, non-compliance and its consequences, or switching company
cultures.

To put it another way, if there is strong buy-in from above, then the policy
is likely to change when someone notices that a bunch of engineers have quit.
If there isn't strong buy-in from above, then when your manager writes you up
for not being there at 8am, the manager will get some
training/coaching/mentoring/scolding.

But right now, the management didn't ask for staff's input when developing the
policy, telling management they're wrong is unlikely to work.

Good luck.

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PaulHoule
Depends on the individual.

Some sales people believe 8am or even earlier is the time to make calls. It is
a way to stick out of the pack, and it works for some of them. If you are on
the US east coast and selling into the west coast it is a non starter.

I have seen workplaces in Los Angeles that shift the workday earlier or later
by 1 or 2 hours to avoid rush hour.

