A manager went to his programmers and told them: "As regards to your work hours: you are going to have to come in at nine in the morning and leave at five in the afternoon." At this, all of them became angry and several resigned on the spot.

So the manager said: "All right, in that case you may set your own working hours, as long as you finish your projects on schedule."

The programmers, now satisfied, began to come in at noon and work to the wee hours of the morning.

-- Geoffrey James
The Tao of Programing