How much do your PMs work on average than? I find there is always something to improve and to work on. I can't see where I could find a reasonable line to draw on what gets done and what not. Or is the role of the PM narrow enough that the teams throughput is the bottleneck?
Your answer actually presses on a core motive for why I want to go part-time. Bluntly said: I'm mostly in it for the money and just enough to comfortably get by (I'm still enthusiastic about any arising challenges and I think I'm seen as a motivated employee, too). There are two reasons for this:
1. I want to have room to educate myself further. I e.g. find it hard to research and learn at the job, where urgent much too often gets prioritized before important. Within my responsibilities I can of course set the focus my way, but in the bigger picture it's much harder to convince upper management to focus on important, not urgent. I'm sure though, there are companies that have a better culture here than my current employer.
2. My areas of interest are either notoriously under-payed, work-intensive to get in to or both (science, music, art, etc.). Doing any of these for a living also means compromising on the kind of science or culture you produce.
I therefore decided to find work that is intellectually stimulating at least, but not in my core interests and make room for interests, personal growth and variety on the side.
If the chance arises to combine interests and work better I will definitely take it (maybe in science there is a niche for me), but I see less of a chance there, so I don't focus on this path.
I also might find a profitable side-project that could one day replace my employment. That's another path I would like to keep open (I really like the early start-up phase and starting with a side-project doesn't require a huge financial risk or money for runway).
I have no fear over micromanaging... my plate is usually full enough not to waste time on that. However I find it much harder to let employees grow in areas they are not sufficiently autonomous yet. Giving the freedom to take a more responsibility for things beyond the narrow focus of what they usually do often results in things not getting done at all or not very well.
I definitely agree on the "bang for the buck". I can't offer the amount of energy I can put in to each of 3 days for 5 days in a row.
regarding 1.: This is a real surprise to me and I'd of course have to carefully communicate such step before taking it, but that's indeed very interesting!
regarding 2.: Sadly I don't see the option to find a new offer and than ask for less hours or leave, this company is sloooow acting on such things...
regarding 3.: luckily I have some remote and part time experience in my vita already :)
I'll definitely consider buying your book! Even though it seems quite programmer-focused. Thank you for your advice!
Thanks for your reply! I mostly agree. Saturating peoples time in a small team is usually quite easy though :).
How do you manage oversight over the different PMs at your company? Someone has to split development resources among the stakeholders and their requirements, no?
A little question on the side: How common is it for companies to exclude breaks from working hours? In germany you have to take a 30 minute break after 6h. Now for most companies here this makes 9to5 a 9to5:30 (a 42.5h week) and the extra 30m are unpaid.
I feel like it would be much nicer for everyone to just price those minutes in and leave after 8h (no good work happens in those extra 30m I bet).
I like small high-res mice. Sadly high-res are usually gamer mice which often means not small not wireless not cheap.
I used a r.a.t. m for a while, but the drivers suck. Now I got the Logitech G900 (got it for a lucky price), but it is biiig. Especially nice with it: you can map a lot of buttons (and a shift button for even more).
I really liked a few cheap dongle mice, but I break the keys to quickly on those.
If clicking hurts: map some keyboard key to the mouse button.