At what time did you start working that day when doing the all-nighter?
Once in a while? Sure.
“We have an emergency, the service is screwed, we really need it not to be”
“We have to deliver by the end of the week but we haven’t finished testing everything, we need some extra effort for the next couple of days to fix and validate as things come up”
These can work, in my experience, but it can’t become routine and you have to be prepared for a higher than average error rate from your people.
> you have to be prepared for a higher than average error rate from your people.
Exactly this. From first hand experience, when forced to deliver under time pressure, I cut corners.
This means, I might be able to deliver the feature. But the tradeoff is it adds technical debt and physical stress, which needs to be dealt with afterwards.
Furthermore, if you have a family, it also takes a toll on family life.
While I get what you are trying to say, but this is not always true. There have been times where I pulled up all nighter and produced good work, specially during college or some project I am deeply invested in. But similar thing can't be achieved in a big org though. If I am expected to work for more than 5-6 hours a day to meet deadline in the office, the quality of work invariably declines.
John Carmack also defended working long hours, and admittedly he is one of the most productive developer.