We are working from home & my manager keep asking me about progress every 10 minutes!

I have come to a the brink of mental breakdown. I have shut down my Skype and not answering calls and I have lied to the team that I am having internet problem just to get away from them.
Ever done that ?

Can't say I have, I quit once because of it though.

Yes, it's just the virtual equivalent of taking your laptop with you to a quiet room.

There's people who do that, and there's those who don't understand it because they've apparently never needed to concentrate.

You could be straightforward to your manager and tell him than every 10 minute update doesn't help and if they will be too demanding to maybe add people to help with the work so it can be done faster?

I have once set a meeting with myself only so it would show in Skype I am in a meeting and deter them from chatting. I've also used a focus room once in a while to be able to work without someone chatting me up in person in an office space.

Suggestion: Write a script that answer to you boss "unchanged, I can't concentrate because you interrupt me permanently" when he asks you again

I've seen some people take a one week sudden leave usually sick leave just to get away and have a breather.

@iamai , I tried but he is not able to understand it or does not wants to understand, whatever the case it is causing problem everywhere and everyone in the company.

@iamai , I think this is what I am doing. I tried to explain this but he does not listens. He does not care about code quality. Only features are needed.

I am staying away because of this behavior.

@AngryDev9981 that's the hard part. we can't control or change other people. How about raising it to person higher rank or person of equal rank who can give advice? But really it's hard to work with people who are micromanaging unnecessarily. I can understand why you'd want to get away.

@iamai , during fasting it is much more harder. I have talked to boss about it micromanagement in company and he said that he will talk to managers when we go back to office.

@iamai agree

You need to talk with them and explain that you can’t be asking every ten minutes for a progress report unless you’re supposed to be maybe pair programming with somebody.

Explain them that constantly interrupting your flow like this is making it hard for you to concentrate on your work because you keep getting into things and then having to stop to answer skype calls.

Suggest an alternative, such as a call every three hours if it’s absolutely necessary. It’s a sign of mistrust though. So you might wanna brush up your resume and find a company that believes in you

My internet drops so often that I and can slow down to <1Mbps it is my main reason as to why I can't get things done.

I change provider in a week so that won't be an issue

@chrisalexthomas , thanks for suggestions. Explanations went all in vain so later is right option for me. I myself don't like this hide and seek i played today :-|

Hide and seek also works. Don’t feel ashamed of needing to have distance from bad managers. Consider it a mental health tactic to ensure your sanity. I sometimes take mental health days from work when I feel I’m having to step back. It stops you from burning out. The worst thing in the world is burning out and then hating your job. Or worse, your hobby.

@AngryDev9981 It's really better to just face the conflict. Hide-and-seek and lying won't really solve the problem. Besides you know what you need to do the job well, your manager should learn to reassess how to handle the different needs and personalities of their employees.

@chrisalexthomas , So you mean I shouldn't feel guilty? Lying makes me guilty and the situation I was in today that made me write this rant sometime makes me rethink my career. I am planning to get a new job instead of getting a new career.

I work from bed till I feel ready to shower, only after that I open up outlook and skype to allow these disruptions. Which is great way to waste the remainder of the day, while I stare away at my lovely aquarium petting the cats belly.

I just stopped giving a fuck in general.

@AngryDev9981 there are good managers and bad managers. Find another job that appreciates you

I've done this, one job I had was WFH and my boss would hassle me daily, day start email, end of day email with everything id done, always questioning time set aside for studying and calling me partway through the day to ensure I'm working.

Bad times.

@chrisalexthomas , i am already applying. Hoping to get interview call despite COVID-19 lockdown.

when I first moved to barcelona back in 2006 I worked for a company with near slave wages and I would get pulled into meetings and grilled about the status of a experimental project I was working on. Experimental means that I have to do a lot of research and figure things out. Not everything can be on time.

These meetings would be almost like a kangaroo court. I would have two people with my skype open, reading back to me the words on the screen and then asked whether I was being truthful, or having to contest things said from memory whilst they read their own words from the computer.

One time, this boss had a problem with some Indian company who claimed I broke the app (I didn’t), say in skype “I’m coming over” and then literally boot open the door with his foot and shout what the fuck do I think I was doing and walk up to me (I stood up in the seconds I had realizing what was happening) and stood nose to nose screaming about how I was lying and being unprofessional

@chrisalexthomas, so you resigned or got fired ?

Resigned. The funniest part was the genuine look of surprise on their faces when I did it. I was thinking. You’re surprised?!?!?!? But yeah, they honestly were