How about what I had to live with for 8 years in Navy Satellite Communications: 2-48-2-72. It consisted of 4 watch sections, with a rotation of 2-12 hour days, then 48 hours off, 2-12 hour mids, then 72 hours off. I enjoyed this and had plenty of time to be involved in the projects that the day staff was involved with. You always knew your schedule and could have a family life as well. It'll screw with your sleeping schedule but overall it worked for the military and I'm sure it'd work in a NOC environment. Doug At 08:46 AM 10/3/97 -0500, Barry Caplin wrote:
Hi,
We're in the process of developing a 24x7 NOC, and can agree upon about everything except scheduling. I asked this question to the list a couple of months ago. I've been manager of a new NOC for about 6 weeks now.
- M-F 9-hour shifts, Sa-Su 2x12-hour shifts - Downside is the Sa-Su people are just "extras". This is basically what I went with. To integrate in the weekend people I have them do some half shifts during the week. I also have two of the people that willing to be a bit flexible on short notice. I have a two level on-call setup for problems that need extra help. Also, the more expert people can dial or ssh in as needed. Burnout can be a very real problem and I haven't come to that yet. I have hired a mix of experienced and inexperienced (college age) folks. I fully expect that people may either burnout or gain great experience and get better jobs, but that's always a risk. It could happen to me too!
Barry
Barry Caplin People's Choice TV Network Operations Center Manager work: bcaplin@pchoicetv.com home: bc@mtiweb.com PGP fingerprint = 9F E9 5C B6 A2 AD 85 AE 1E 4D 11 0B C2 85 60 93 finger bc@mtiweb.com for PGP public key