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from the this-dept-written-at-11:01am dept.
There aren't many companies that insist staff start work every day at such an oddly specific time as Pivotal Software.
Employees at the US firm's 20 global offices all have to be at work and ready to go at exactly 9.06am. At that precise time a cowbell is rung, or a gong is hit, and all workers gather for a brief stand-up meeting that lasts for between five and 10 minutes. Then the firm's programmers hit their computers, with no other meetings or distractions for the rest of the day.
Pivotal's founder and chief executive Rob Mee says it is all about making the working day as efficient as possible.
"I realised that programmers, if left to their own devices, may roll in at 10am," he says. "And if they haven't eaten adequately they will be hungry by 11am, so they'll stop for food, which then makes the afternoon too long. It is not very efficient. "So we thought, 'let's provide breakfast for everyone.' It gives them a reason to get here." So all employees get a free breakfast before work starts at 9.06am.
But why 9.06am? "We thought that if we made it 9am, developers psyching themselves up for the day would think, 'well if it is 9am I'll be late,'" says Mr Mee. "So then we thought, 'why don't we make it 9.05am,' but that is too precise, as programmers don't like over-optimising, so we went with 9.06am. Then it became something fun."
And at the end of the day everyone has to leave the office at 6pm sharp because staff aren't allowed to work into the evening. Mr Mee explains the reasoning: "Programmers don't programme well if they are too tired, so we don't want them working late into the night."
While Pivotal's approach to morning punctuality may seem endearingly nerdish, the business is in fact one of the most successful companies most people have never heard of. Valued at $2.8bn (£2.4bn), its investors include computer groups Dell Technologies and Microsoft, conglomerate General Electric, and car giant Ford.
Do you think it is a good idea? Would it be acceptable to you?
(Score: 2) by goodie on Friday November 25 2016, @04:15AM
I don't know about others, but my schedule would never work according to those hours. I like to do some early work, take care of my kids (breakfast, play, get them ready for daycare when I can etc.) then go to work, work, come home early to pick up the kids, feed them, etc. and once they're in bed, I'll work again. Yes my schedule is probably atypical but a lot of my efforts have been geared toward being able to have that flexibility rather than getting a lot of money. In any case, have somebody tell me to get to work by a specific time, to get out at a specific time, is pure nonsense. It sounds like a factory job. I have nothing against those but I've never had to clock in/out and never intend to.
And oftentimes, when something is nagging me, I don't want to wait until the next day to work on it just because I'm told I can't work after 6. I understand it's a form of protection against abuse but it just goes too much to the other extreme to me.
You can throw all the agile mumbo-jumbo you want at it (their website would win a bullshit bingo game/IT buzzword in no time), I wouldn't sign up for it. Most of the stuff they describe sounds like it's straight up from the Extreme Programming or the Peopleware books, which I have nothing against (and actually think are great reads). Bugs me that they make it sound like they invented that stuff...
But in any case it's just not something you can implement in any organization and with anybody, that's just the reality of it. So as much as I hate having some days filled with meetings, I'll pass.