Overtime is evil
November 14, 2007
The more I try and read what others are saying on the world wide interweb, the more I realize that there are a lot of people out there who are a hell of a lot smarter then myself. Jarkko Laine is one of those people. While looking around his site, I found what is deemed a “popular article“. The title alone got me to read it (Never Work Overtime Again) and after reading it I can honestly say that he nailed it perfectly. Nothing could be done to improve the statements made therein.
I can honestly attest to what he’s saying, seeing as how I have worked insane amount of overtime at my current place of work. The worst part about it that I have noticed is that I bust my ass off by working overtime just so we can hit the all-important, all-omnipresent deadline and then turn around to find another one looming overhead. It’s painful, and to be honest it’s aggravating, infuriating, and depressing all at once. Point 2 – “If the deadline set for your project [...] next deadline will be as tight as this one. If not tighter.” – is so true it hurts. I have stated many times at my current reside that the time lines are made without actually talking to us (in some cases) and this in turn screws us, the development team. I don’t know if my statements fall of deaf ears, but I have noticed that recently I have not had to work the overtime I used to… with the exception of last week. That was rough.
Anyways!
I cannot say whether this tight-lining the deadlines is purposely done, but I can tell you that it leads almost instantly into point 4 and 5. Working overtime burns you out. I worked 7 weeks straight at my job at one point. It was our whole development team’s trial by fire. We pulled it off, but there is nothing to brag about pulling a 45 hour work day. No matter how hardcore you feel, you look like shit and your appearance will scare small children.
The second half of the post is the really important part though. It’s the part that attention needs attention paid. It’s easy(ish) to state what evil will be wrought from working overtime, if given enough time to think about it. It’s another thing entirely to actually come up with ways to stop doing it. I have trouble with this part, as I’m sure many other people do. It’s hard to say no to the people who sign your paychecks and keep you from living out of your car. Trust me on this one, it’s hard to do and I’m still trying to figure out how to get the idea across.
Jarkko makes good points on how to get rid of overtime; points 4 through 7 on the second list are easy to do and I feel are just good practices to… well… practice! Number 8 is the truly difficult one. If you do this wrong, people will feel you’re not a team player, only looking out for yourself, etc. When talk like this hits managements ears, you’re in for a world of hurt and/or welfare checks. I’m not saying you should live in perpetual fear of your higher-ups (though a little fear is healthy, or so I’m told) but shooting yourself in the foot by arrogantly declaring that you are a slave to overtime no more will not win you any points.
I’ll clearly state that I’ve got a screwed up work-ethic, and so overtime though a horrible concept, I perceive as an occasional requirement. I think I may have gotten it from my father, but I’m not entirely sure. I’m slowly working on being able to work without having to complete projects via overtime but it’s an ongoing process.
Categories: Amazing! Miscellaneous Technology
Tagged under: Amazing!, Jarkko Laine, Miscellaneous, Overtime, Technology, Working
