It is possible to put a schedule on R&D. I've been doing it all my life. The schedule gets bent, or even broken from time to time, but, if the mgr can ask his questions and not argue with the answers, he'll get good schedules more often than if he sits by my desk and argues until I tell him we can turn out a newly designed processor and support circuits by Monday next.

I don't do that, BTW, I just resign.

As for personality types in management, I believe engineers don't generally fit as well as they themselves believe. The manager's job is to tell folks what he wants, and then see to it that that's what he gets. It's all in how he sets forth the specification, though. Engineers often do the specsmanship thing pretty well, but they're notorious micromanagers.

A decent manager will define a task, ask for feedback on the reasonableness of his schedule estimates, and set milestones to ensure that the schedule is being met. He'll also check to see whether it's slipping or even out of control. He generally won't tell his people how to do what they're doing.

His other role, however, is to keep the finances in order, and that means controlling overtime, if he has to pay for it, and even if he doesn't, because lots of OT means errors in judgment were made in estimating the task size or difficulty. That may have other effects, too. It can also indicate a mismatch between tasks and staff. Maybe more staff is needed, or maybe people have been assigned the wrong tasks.

He also has to keep the company from getting in the way. If they cut his budget to facilitate funding a proposal for another piece of work, well, they've got to get the money from somewhere, but he has to defend his turf, his team, and his budget. Usually, just suggesting schedule slips will help.

RE