At work, I currently have 4-5 different PM's on 4-5 different projects. Each of them has no idea what the others are asking, and I am constantly bombarded with one off tasks via hipchat or in-person requests. The point is not to complain about work, but to agree that management would do well to recognize the importance of process scheduling and queueing, and that a failure to do so is only detrimental to their own objectives.

I don't have _that_ many PMs, but when I have multiple people asking me to do simultaneous tasks, I email all of them, asking them to prioritize the list for me. I'm polite about it. And it mostly works out. But I never, ever shy away from doing this.

Very good idea - since it both puts the onus on them, and makes them realize the conflicting demands on your time.

>when I have multiple people asking me to do simultaneous tasks, I email all of them, asking them to prioritize the list for me.

exactly, as programmers we should be able to understand and apply basic concurrency management techniques.

Your manager/team lead should be shielding you from such

Why haven't you got a public list of this that you ask them to add to and argue amongst themselves on the priority?

Also, your manager is shit.

Have you considered telling the 4-5 PMs what the others are asking?

>I currently have 4-5 different PM's

That sounds like Agile done right! /s

A book just came out which addresses this: "Agorithms to Live By" (http://algorithmstoliveby.com/)

Just took a quick look at the link. Concept seems interesting. Have you read it, and if so, any opinion on it?

I've read it. It was an easy read. No mathematics. Every occurrence of "NP-complete" was replaced with "intractable" and there are tons of anecdotes, many I hadn't heard before. I didn't come away from the book feeling profoundly altered, but I didn't regard it as a waste of time either. If you're looking for something to read on the train, this will do a solid job.

Sometimes you encounter a book that covers material you already "know", but seeing it in a sort of coherent narrative structure can be the thing you need to change the way you think about and perceive the world.

I enjoyed it. Gives an interesting perspective on the mind and human behavior

Management doesn't care what percentage of your brain you use as long as you're shipping.

..but you do. Because it helps you to finish tasks quicker

Don Reinertsen mentioned it. At least in a talk, and maybe in his book "The Principles of Product Development Flow".

That's only 1 example, but in my personal estimation he's one of the two most effective management theorists I know. Though I wish he were a better explainer. (The other of course is Shanley Kane.)

If you're an engineer and have trouble getting past project management methodologies that feel like bullshit (or conversely if you care a lot about them but have trouble convincing your team to) you must read "Principles of Product Development Flow".

It's definitely a pretty dry read in parts, but battle through it.

Thank you. I couldn't remember the name of the book or the author. There's a lot of queuing theory in the book, along with the mathematical conclusions (eg 100% utilization = arbitrarily long queue times). Fantastic book, I think I'm going to have to make sure it's on the kindle for some upcoming flights.

Oh, also Joel Spolsky mentions it too: (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000022.html)

(But it's not worthwhile for me to trawl through the managerial lit, so no doubt there's more examples.)