movingamountain
Member
Hi all, I have been working on a tool for my company that handles a specific task our company runs into often related to PLC's. This is a tool I have been making in my spare time (never on the clock), and I would say it's about 70% complete.
About a year ago, I presented this tool to my manager and he seemed somewhat interested but there wasn't much follow-up. He asked me to follow up with another department and seemed to more or less brush it aside. At that time the tool was only about 10% complete so I developed it in my spare time as a hobby and a challenge. Today it sits at around 70% complete, within striking distance of being finished.
This week I randomly received a meeting invite to work with somebody from another department, whose task is essentially to create the same tool I have already made (or partially made). It seems like the ideas he had (was given) were very similar to the ideas I presented in that meeting a year ago, though maybe I was not the only person to have these ideas.
I'm not upset that the company has decided to make their version of this tool, but I guess I would like to use the one I have made thus far and receive some compensation or recognition for it, because I am a selfish human being and want to be recognized for my hard work. Besides that, I have just spent a lot of time on it and would like some kind of "attaboy" instead of them simply going around me to make this tool. Maybe it's my fault for sharing the idea before it was finished, classic rookie mistake.
The person working on the tool is really nice and I have no ill will toward them or anything like that, I guess my question is, what would be the best path forward for suggesting the use of the tool I have created instead of a brand-new one from scratch which may not be as good as mine (or could be better)? And what would be a smart way to request compensation for it, like a one-time bonus, or an hourly raise for my contribution or something like that?
I know I am not owed anything since I worked on this in my spare time. At the same time I don't want to give away all the hard work I've done to a new person who did not put in the work, and would rather collaborate to help drive the development of the tool rather than simply handing over all of the hard work I have done on it.
Thanks
About a year ago, I presented this tool to my manager and he seemed somewhat interested but there wasn't much follow-up. He asked me to follow up with another department and seemed to more or less brush it aside. At that time the tool was only about 10% complete so I developed it in my spare time as a hobby and a challenge. Today it sits at around 70% complete, within striking distance of being finished.
This week I randomly received a meeting invite to work with somebody from another department, whose task is essentially to create the same tool I have already made (or partially made). It seems like the ideas he had (was given) were very similar to the ideas I presented in that meeting a year ago, though maybe I was not the only person to have these ideas.
I'm not upset that the company has decided to make their version of this tool, but I guess I would like to use the one I have made thus far and receive some compensation or recognition for it, because I am a selfish human being and want to be recognized for my hard work. Besides that, I have just spent a lot of time on it and would like some kind of "attaboy" instead of them simply going around me to make this tool. Maybe it's my fault for sharing the idea before it was finished, classic rookie mistake.
The person working on the tool is really nice and I have no ill will toward them or anything like that, I guess my question is, what would be the best path forward for suggesting the use of the tool I have created instead of a brand-new one from scratch which may not be as good as mine (or could be better)? And what would be a smart way to request compensation for it, like a one-time bonus, or an hourly raise for my contribution or something like that?
I know I am not owed anything since I worked on this in my spare time. At the same time I don't want to give away all the hard work I've done to a new person who did not put in the work, and would rather collaborate to help drive the development of the tool rather than simply handing over all of the hard work I have done on it.
Thanks