Why I Can't Work a 9 to 5 Job

I worked a 9 to 5 job three times in my life and it about killed me. I just can't function in such a fixed format. And I really don't get the concept of face-time when it puts productivity as the secondary goal. To me, meeting your deadlines should be the primary goal, regardless of how it's actually done. In fact, that was one of the main issues I had at Postal Innovations, that whole concept of face-time over meeting goals. It was coming from the managements lack of confidence in their employees and desire to micro manage EVERYTHING.

I'm not so naive to believe that there is no benifit to face-time. There certainly is, particularly when starting new projects or dealing with some serious issues. I'm just saying face-time for the sake of face-time above all else is pointless. Face-time in order to appease a managers issues with control isn't a productive use of my time.

Also, there are some people that need to be micro-managed and/or thrive in a 9-to-5 job. Working something unstructured like I thrive in is probably only for a minority of the people. But even those that do thrive off structure shouldn't be held to face-time just because, they should be deadline driven. It's the way I manage my peeps and it works very well, but that's just my management style and the type of people I have working with me. In fact, I probably don't manage enough sometimes, but that's a different deal all together.

Anyway, this link got me thinking about it again.

So what are all of your experiences with face-time and micro-management?