Comment by ThalesX
7 years ago
For me, after years producing software, I've set myself up to be able to say no.
I disregard urgency when it exists for urgency's sake, coming out of business despair or a gut feeling. I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday.
Working with multiple companies on executive and / or consulting levels, I feel like a lot of business rush is done because business 'needs it now' in the hope that it will improve the bottom line because it's easier to expect a miracle than it is to take a good look at your fundamentals.
The businesses with the most solid foundation I find are the ones that rarely need to rely on speed and instead rely on quality and produced value... once in awhile, a feature idea comes up that can propel the company - especially in the face of competitors - and it needs to be done as fast so that the producer can get as much value out of it before the competition catches up. That's a good reason to expect speed.
Today's society expects hyper growth, hyper speed, hyper scale, but that is because this is what is mostly advertised and we as humans have a tendency to expect the world to work as is advertised, when in reality, there are a lot of smaller companies that don't create anxiety filled working days for their employees.
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday.
I feel sorry for you.
As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business.
My health is more important than their quarterly targets.
In defense of the parent, I can imagine a situation where I'm excited and truly bought into a product as improving peoples lives and am willing to expend the energy to dramatically improve that product in meaningful ways. I think this is something a lot of folks in our industry want, and that's not per se bad though it can lead to negative outcomes.
I had a project like this once. I really threw myself into it. I wasn't dying, but it did have a negative impact on my life in most other dimensions.
Then some kind of politics held the project up (likely for years), and they had me work a different project, so I quit, 'cause it was the success of that particular project that had me coming to work (it was gonna prevent traffic accidents, and it was fun to work on).
I have a healthier work/life balance now, but I don't care about what I'm working on. If they could get the wheels moving on that project again I'd switch back in a heartbeat.
I'm gonna die either way. If I have to put in a bit more work in order for it all to have meant something more than pointless meetings and products that nobody wants, then that's work I'm willing to do.
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Thank you for the defense, it's exactly the kind of situation I'm arguing for.
I think it's also important to note the context of who is doing this kind of sprints. Does he have a family? Does he have other engagements? Does he have other health issues?
It's not for everyone, but I believe in my case, timing them properly, recovering properly afterwards and reaping the benefits has worked in my favor.
I might have given the impression that I am advocating for regular such sprints when in fact I have done this rarely, at pivotal moments, with years in between them.
This is giving money to the rich. Don’t put in any more time than you need to; no product is worth that.
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This culture of sacrificing everything for the bottom line is a cancer on our industry.
Yeah that's a junior mistake. In this case, a person can have a solid 20+ years of great career and still do this basic mistake. World is full of people rich and poor, smart and not so much, who end up regretting their life choices when getting old.
I would say it differently though - do I have +-guaranteed massive return that over-compensates my extra effort and loss? If I get something meaningful, ie paid next 5 amazing vacations, can retire 1 year earlier, pay off massive part of mortgage or something on similar level, then I can at least consider it.
Potentially unpopular opinion but I agree. If there's a definite payoff to burning hard on a given project, I'll do it. Trading a few months or weeks for a paid off home is hardly insane at all.
I feel both sorry for the parent and also relate to it. I have several sprints a year that get me so excited about work, that I will head to work after kids’ bedtimes to code — all night — because I can’t stop thinking about some solution. Sometimes I’m so excited I wouldn’t be able to sleep so might as well work.
Why do you do that for a company that would be throw you away if it made economic sense to do so?
Why don't you find personal avenues in which to exert that creative energy for you, your family, or society?
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Answering as you are referring to my post. The kind of sprints I'm advocating for are few and far in between and shouldn't be taken lightly.
Yeah, that sentence leapt out at me too. Bizarre life priorities, and undermines otherwise sensible remarks.
Happy to be a slave as long as it makes me feel good.
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I think I might have given the impression that I'm advocating for this kind of sprint as a regular occurrence when I'm actually advocating for very spaced out moments (the kind you can count on your hand in your entire career), well chosen and with the proper aftercare.
> I feel sorry for you.
I'm doing O.K., thank you for the concern.
> As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business.
> My health is more important than their quarterly targets.
I wholeheartedly agree, however I believe there are some situations where such a choice is not so bad. If you're young, have no obligations, believe in what you do and will end up a lot better after the sprint, I think it's not such a bad thing. The most important thing I believe is being able to take the time off after said sprint to recover and get things back to normal. It shouldn't be a normality in your life and you should be in total control of the situation.
Also such sprints should be seriously spaced.
>however I believe there are some situations where such a choice is not so bad. If you're young, have no obligations, believe in what you do and will end up a lot better after the sprint
How will YOU end up better after the sprint if you're not working on your own product but on your company's? That will benefit your CEO and shareholders for sure but how does it benefit YOU exactly?
Keep in mind, you have one health in your life and when it's gone it's gone for good whereas there'll be plenty of world-changing unicorns where you can work yourself to exhaustion if that's what you wish. Nobody has ever regretted on their deathbed not having worked more for someone else.
Sure you can say that now, but have you ever worked in a recession?
ThalesX, your comment here is better than the linked article. Well said.
Looking back over the years of software development I've been involved in (jeez, 27) and remembering the things that were developed with all haste, not one of them, not a single one, met with success. There were some that were developed quickly, usually to meet contractual deadlines, that were good and gave the customer what they needed, but even then, if they could have just waited one more month, I think they would have gotten something better and been more successful.
Thank you for the kind words.
If I may add this, I believe two forces are particularly strong when leading us to deliver rushed solutions. One is this expectancy of the market to ever grow, faster, stronger, harder. All. The. Time. The second is stakeholder focus on the short term and using estimates as deadlines to 3rd parties.
These forces get translated by business people into the classic 9 women can give birth to a child in 1 month situation which we can actually deliver because most of them can actually get even more value from being able to sell maintenance.
Hey, as long as lives don't get lost from shoddy implementations all is well; oh wait...
> I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday.
I felt the same way until I caused permanent damage to my eyesight from stress. It isn't worth it.