>Having said THAT (g), I guess my approach would be very different than others here. Why? Because, in my view, productivity is like beauty -- it's in the eye of the beholder.

Why did I expect "...it's only skin deep"? :)

>Most "productivity focused" managers with which I've personally been involved would have kittens over each of these expenditures of time.

And when they start taking steps so the programmers know productivity is a concern, they usually end up being counterproductive, i.e. annoying everybody and creating defensive attitudes.

>It's always incumbent on a manager to properly communicate the company's policies. It's also, IMHO, part of the deal to know what's REALLY the target. If I only make 84% billable hours for three weeks running, and the goal is 90%, but I've correctly and efficiently completed everything asked of me and the client is happy -- does that mean I'm less productive than the person who scored 95% billable hours, but is behind schedule and didn't finish anything? And, if the answer is "yes" to that question, is it my responsibility -- or should my manager recognize that I need something more (or more challenging) on my plate?

I've once worked in headquarters of a larger company, and two retail systems had their independent IT systems (still using our software, but on their boxes). One of them had about hundreds of grocery shops which produced a large stack of documents each day - and they worked in one single shift, with time galore to play solitaire or just plain gossip. The other one had about a dozen shops, with far less documents per shop (they sold clothing), and they had much better planning and a faster box, so they had work enough for two shifts.

>BTW, I've been involved in situations exactly like the one I just described. Everything is getting done, we're on or ahead of schedule, co-workers are on track, and the end user is pleased -- but one or more of us gets called on the carpet and dragged over the coals because our "productive billable time" doesn't match the "standards" that somebody pulled out of the air. FWIW, I usually don't last long at places like these (g).

Yup, the above steps were duly taken, the first step towards a destruction of a good place.