Tight deadline.

baseball1988

I work in software development department. Lets say we have a deadline to meet. I was in standby mode for the entire day waiting for X employee to compile a software application so our team can verify issues. My colleagues were also waiting. I was hoping X employee could be done by 3PM so I could be done on time. X employee was reminded early during the day to do it ASAP but he forgot. X employee finally completes it at the end of the day when everyone is going home...around 5:30PM. To complete my portion, I will need at least 1-2.5 more hours to verify. Should I have stayed back? Was it my fault or X employee? I could have stayed back but I started very early at around 8:30am and was getting tired. There were also other technical issues when I tried to obtain X employee's file (some people were logged into the system) and have to wait for people to be done...and i have no idea how long that is going to take. In a way I feel bad for leaving...but what is your suggestion? It makes it seem like it was my fault...??

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Comments

networker050184

They pay you to do the work. Don't leave until its done. That's the way I look at my job and would expect my employees to do the same. My co-workers and I have worked 18-20 hours straight trying to work issues out. If I were your boss I'd definitely be disappointed in your dedication to the job.

As far as this guy holding everyone up, I'd speak to him/her and let them know I don't appreciate working late because they "forgot" to do their portion. If that doesn't help anything speak to your boss.

shodown

It depends on why you left. If you left for family reasons or other obligations then people are usually understanding. If you left to start your weekend booze fest I would be disappointed. You could have ordered Pizza and stuck around as a team and got it done.

networker050184

shodown wrote: »

It depends on why you left. If you left for family reasons or other obligations then people are usually understanding. If you left to start your weekend booze fest I would be disappointed. You could have ordered Pizza and stuck around as a team and got it done.

Very true. I assumed there wasn't an emergency or family obligations. If you left for a legitimate reason that is a whole different story. I often have to take off to look after my little ones so that is understandable.

vCole

I would have definitely stayed back to finish it. Also, 830-530 is an easy day (for me at least). To be honest, the "well I was tired and didn't want to be at work anymore" attitude probably won't get you far in IT.

techdudehere

Tough question to answer without knowing your company and specific situation. For example, are you paid salary or hourly? If hourly and overtime must be approved by a manager in writing, then you did the right thing by leaving. However, even then some situations (where approval is likely) may require you to stay. I would not allow this person to make a habit of this behavior. If it's happening often, then you need to discuss with your manager how this should be handled. Will he get the files to you by a certain time, will you come in late, etc? I do not buy the reason for leaving mattering, because we all have things we need to do. I don't care if you needed to have sex or change diapers, if you leave me stuck doing your job then I am not going to be happy.

martell1000

depends on...

if this doesn't happen 3 times a week i would have stayed.

2.5 hours overtime isn't that much of a deal when you had an idle day or have to catch a deadline.
but if its ALWAYS this way you have my permission to say "**** you get your **** together or pay me more"

ptilsen

I am inclined to agree with Networker, but not without exceptions. If that's what they pay you to do, then yes, absolutely, you need to stay until the job is done under normal circumstances. It sucks, and it's a mark against employee X, but you still have a job to do.

If you took that job without the expectation of this sort of thing, then that's a different story. As long as the employer is up-front about this sort of work and its frequency before-hand, you should do your job an be happy to do it. If the employer was misleading and is getting a lot more of your time than is appropriate for what you're paid, then you should do something about it.

elTorito

As all others have already pointed out, it would've been best to stay to finish the job. Any overtime worked you could've compensated by leaving earlier on another day.

Not everyone will agree with me, but in IT, 'being the last person to abandon ship' is kind of expected, since you're the one responsible for service availability. Just last night, we had preventative maintenance on various components of our systems. We fully expected to be done at 20:00 (having already worked over 11 hours at that time), but ended up staying until midnight due to unforeseen problems. At 15 hours worked, this wasn't even the worst case. I've had 20+ hour sessions as well, where I had only 3 hours sleep before I had to start again the next morning...

Yeah, sometimes it may feel unfair that you're still slaving away at fixing things while others are already enjoying the weekend and boozing up, but that kind of work ethic is what gets you noticed, and in the end, promoted.

KeithC

The only reason you should feel bad is for not being more proactive. For example you could of mentioning to your manager this issue, if you were standing around all day in "standby mode" you should of hovered over employee X, you could of asked those who were logged into system how much longer they needed.

By starting this post you already are showing guilt for the choice you made.

The unknown details may have a different outcome when asking for opinions about your decision.

How are you paid? (is OT acceptable)
Was the deadline yesterday? (were other people not as concerned as you are about this deadline) - I understand it makes you look bad part but was it a soft deadline . . .
Did you and your colleagues make this as a group decision or is it normal thing to miss deadlines due to others? (then suggest changes!)
If everybody was leaving then were others just idly logged into the system?
If you could not perform your test at 5:30 then how were you suppose to perform your test at 3:00 . . .

You do not have to answer these questions just things that pop into my head when making a decision and positives that could be made from the situation. Also if you are so concerned you made the bad choice is it an option to do the testing now? VPN / available access