Re:Ask HN: "Send people home at 5." Was this part of Re-Work...
by Mz on Friday July 15, 2011 @05:44AM
(#2766812)
The book does point out some interesting side-effects of long hours such as "it lets you get away with lousy execution" and "you don't need more hours; you need better hours". I can say that both of these are valid statements given my (limited) experience. While I initially felt that self-selected hours were better across the board, I'm now starting to have second thoughts on the matter.
There are pros and cons to anything. Just make sure you have your eye on the prize and not on some proxy for it that you think is what is needed. In other words, if someone is putting in long hours to get the job done because they aren't staying adequately focused, work on the focus piece of it rather than on a specific time frame to work in. And don't forget that we are all human and no matter how much you do right, sometimes someone will be short of sleep, under the weather, distracted by a personal issue, etc. If it is short term, just be tolerant and supportive. If it is chronic, work with them to try to resolve things (or, if intractable over a long enough period of time, consider letting them go).
Different people work best in different conditions. Developers are often introverts and will tend to not be real happy campers when having to be surrounded by people and putting up with their chatter and general distraction. My ex and my youngest son are both seriously introverted and we homeschooled. I was the family extrovert. My computer area was in the middle of a high traffic zone where everyone could interpret me to talk to me. I handled it fine. The two extroverts had desks in secluded corners of the apartment where they could turn their back on the world and also shut the door. So if you can arrange the physical space the right way, that might resolve the need some people have for quiet and solitude in order to focus. And this is not just a personality thing. Some types of work need some certain environments to be done well. If you can't arrange the physical space to be adequately quiet when all hands are on deck, then letting the developer stay late is a timing option to address this issue.
In short, I think you need to do more analysis than what I see in your post. You need to know more clearly what the problem is and you need to think more broadly in terms of what your options are for addressing it. This isn't necessarily just a question of "flexible schedule or fixed schedule".
There are pros and cons to anything. Just make sure you have your eye on the prize and not on some proxy for it that you think is what is needed. In other words, if someone is putting in long hours to get the job done because they aren't staying adequately focused, work on the focus piece of it rather than on a specific time frame to work in. And don't forget that we are all human and no matter how much you do right, sometimes someone will be short of sleep, under the weather, distracted by a personal issue, etc. If it is short term, just be tolerant and supportive. If it is chronic, work with them to try to resolve things (or, if intractable over a long enough period of time, consider letting them go).
Different people work best in different conditions. Developers are often introverts and will tend to not be real happy campers when having to be surrounded by people and putting up with their chatter and general distraction. My ex and my youngest son are both seriously introverted and we homeschooled. I was the family extrovert. My computer area was in the middle of a high traffic zone where everyone could interpret me to talk to me. I handled it fine. The two extroverts had desks in secluded corners of the apartment where they could turn their back on the world and also shut the door. So if you can arrange the physical space the right way, that might resolve the need some people have for quiet and solitude in order to focus. And this is not just a personality thing. Some types of work need some certain environments to be done well. If you can't arrange the physical space to be adequately quiet when all hands are on deck, then letting the developer stay late is a timing option to address this issue.
In short, I think you need to do more analysis than what I see in your post. You need to know more clearly what the problem is and you need to think more broadly in terms of what your options are for addressing it. This isn't necessarily just a question of "flexible schedule or fixed schedule".
Best of luck.