I was confiding in my colleague, K, about my Old School thoughts:"If you are the project manager (or team lead), if your members come back on a weekend to do work, you should be present, regardless if you can help them or not."
His belief is that, "What's the point of the PM coming back when he is not contributing to the work that they are doing. Furthermore, isn't it wasting the PM's time to do so?, coming for the sake of coming. Everyone should be measured by their deliverables, and not whether they come back on weekends or not."
I do agree to certain extent with what he says. However, I believe this would work only in a very self driven environment, where all the employees are self motivated and committed to the deadlines. More often than not, the employees will grumble about the PM asking them to come back while he himself stays at home. No doubt there could really be no meaning, or purpose for the PM to be there, but I sincerely believe in leading by examples. If you are unwilling to come back, how could you expect that from your team members? In addition, by being there, guidance or clarification can be obtained immediately. Team members can also feel the commitment that the PM has for the project but most importantly, it fortifies the team spirit and bond, which the entire team is willing to go through it together.
Of course, I figured the higher you go, you can't expect yourself to be everywhere, every time. If you are so committed to every level of your reporting line, you will end up with no social life. (especially in IT line).
I wonder how many of you would agree with what I have said. My wife agrees with me, and I figured maybe because we came from a consulting background, and we know both sides of the coin; the PM who dictates the deadline and only questions "Is it done?", and the PM who is part of the phase, and asks "How is it going?"
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