One of my friends was recently (last Friday) chewed out for showing up to work at 11:30 - after he worked back to 2am the night before to get the job done. From his point of view, he was (metaphorically) slapped in the face for going the extra mile, and is now quietly seeking employment elsewhere.

I am relatiely new to the ways of companies, but I have noticed that there are always a couple of truely superb technicians/programmers wandering around, who had much leeway in ordering their affairs - but they were insanely dedicated and got the job done, often under conditions that would have other people handing in their resignations - such as working a month with no break (all weekends), late nights, whatever was necessary.

This was partially due to their relationship with the managers, who made it clear that they understood give and take - on the late nights the managers would sometimes show up with beer and pizza.

However after DEC was bought out, management practises changed, to the point where one worker was reputed to have told his boss that if he wasn't transferred in a month, he'd quit.

I regret that I can't offer you a positive story on how good management improved productivity, I can only recount what I have observed, that poor management and a focus on improving profits has driven away the good workers. Perhaps you could use this as a cautionary tale.

Your main problem appears to be that you are dealing with people who have no idea of what is going on, so they need to measure something to convince themselves that they are getting value for their money. I wish you the best of luck in explaining the development process.

____________________
Jeremy
I didn't believe in evil until I dated it.