Well if it's subtlety you are after
print off employee kills boss articles at work for your scrapboook in a highly visible manner.
bwahahaha
Now *that* would get me arrested for sure. 
Besides, I don't want to kill him. I just want to leave him with his jaw on the ground as I hand him the resignation letter.
Like I told someone here once. If he had kept up his end of the bargain, I'd have no problem.
But since it seems that he has selective amnesia with what he remembers saying (what was required of me) and what he doesn't remember saying (what freedoms I would have), I am feeling less remorseful on a daily basis for having been looking for other opportunities.
The self-employment gig is looking more and more attractive as time goes on. As soon as I get somewhere that there's a decent client base, that's going to be my next move.
You cannot manage what you can't/don't measure
My group used to be seperate from other Development groups, so I didn't make anyone fill in time sheets other than contrators. They did have to fill in absense forms and overtime forms to get paid.
But when we joined the main R&
group, they have a tool to track what projects are being worked on and which tasks are being done against those projects. This is mainly for planning, but there is a "productivity" aspect as well. We expect that the staff spend a minimum % of time working on "main" projects as opposed to side stuff.
It does involve work, but we hardly micromanage. I approve the time weekly, and at the end of the month I get a report. Its helpful to know how much time is spent on support issues, bug fixes, maintenance versus new project development work. But I'm looking for trends, not how every second was spent. Its also helpful at the end of the project to review the plan versus the actuals. Most of my staff spend about 5 mins a day to fill in the times into the app.
Basically I do trust my staff. I trust they will do the right thing and manage their own time reasonably well. I trust if they have a time conflict or a deadline they can't meet, they will come to me and we will work it out. If I couldn't trust them to do a "reasonable" job of managing their time, I wouldn't keep them on. I am not a nanny.
James
How to deal with increasing micromanagement on the job
At this point however, the micromanagement has gotten so bad where I work that now timekeeping is asking me on my submitted hours if my time with no marked lunch means I took no lunch.
To this, I should have said 1 word: duh.
It's bad enough that I have to provide project statuses frequently, and that I (as a salaried exempt employee) am still required to turn in a timesheet as though I am punching a clock.
I am often called a "computer professional" because I am "white-collar" and degreed in a technical field and all of that. But, I feel treated as though I am untrustworthy or incompetent or unprofessional in some manner because any little thing that does not fit the "norm" is questioned.
I feel as though if I don't fit the cookie cutter image, I face an inquisition as to why I don't.
I don't know how you all feel about your current situations, or what they even are. I would be interested though to hear what other peoples' situations are like.
I've never been treated this way in another position, and don't know if I've just been lucky in the past or if I should be even more diligent to find some professional relief through other opportunities.
Hopefully, I can get some idea of what other people in development face and how their management is and the flexibility their allowed without question.
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