8 ms·

"26/ Ppl are generally happier: focus + flow + roadrunner mode (only 2 speeds, 100% & 0%) + fast results = happiness for both emp & co" Wow, I just don't know

"26/ Ppl are generally happier: focus + flow + roadrunner mode (only 2 speeds, 100% & 0%) + fast results = happiness for both emp & co" Wow, I just don't know what planet this employer lives on where employees supposedly _enjoy_ sitting around idle until suddenly "holy crap tight deadline must crunch to make it!" Every once in a while, fine that stuff happens, but if a job were consistently putting me in "roadrunner mode" for every project, I'd be out of there in roadrunner mode too. Preferably before the anxiety and pressure turns into burnout.

psifun 10y ago
There seems to be an element of paying attention only to the immediate product of a management style, and not the longer term implications of it. On the other hand, maybe they're thinking that if they get people young, hungry, and cheap enough, they can wring enough productivity and burn through them without any concern.
tychoman 10y ago
Tiago here. Roadrunner mode probably sounds a lot like the "crisis mode" we're all used to in most orgs, but it's actually more like supercompensation principle in all types of learning and training. You focus w/ everything you have, and then recover. Most orgs try to balance capacity, which results in this steady state of draining yet not really productive work. Theory of Constraints (which is what this thread is based on) says you should instead balance flow.
- xorgar831 10y ago
  But why not say "starting working at the correct time" and address the issue head on vs. playing psychological games?
  - tychoman 10y ago
    But what is the correct time? There is a whole subfield of project mgmt dedicated to exploring the theories around this question. And the line between "psychological games" and "psychology" is very thin, some would say non-existent.
    - xorgar831 10y ago
      Exactly my point, figure out the correct time and optimize for that, introducing what's effectively a neurosis seems kinda of neurotic way to work :)
      - tychoman 10y ago
        But there is no correct time. That's a deterministic paradigm, whereas tasks are probabilistic events, with a distribution of possible points. Take a given task, and there are versions or scenarios where it takes 1x units of time, all the way to 100x. What critical chain does is help the worker play with the 3 sides of the PM triangle, time, budget, and scope, in a way that optimizes for the global throughput, not just their little local optimum.
        xorgar831 10y ago
        That makes sense. Yep.

psifun 10y ago

There seems to be an element of paying attention only to the immediate product of a management style, and not the longer term implications of it. On the other hand, maybe they're thinking that if they get people young, hungry, and cheap enough, they can wring enough productivity and burn through them without any concern.

tychoman 10y ago

Tiago here. Roadrunner mode probably sounds a lot like the "crisis mode" we're all used to in most orgs, but it's actually more like supercompensation principle in all types of learning and training. You focus w/ everything you have, and then recover. Most orgs try to balance capacity, which results in this steady state of draining yet not really productive work. Theory of Constraints (which is what this thread is based on) says you should instead balance flow.

xorgar831 10y ago
But why not say "starting working at the correct time" and address the issue head on vs. playing psychological games?
- tychoman 10y ago
  But what is the correct time? There is a whole subfield of project mgmt dedicated to exploring the theories around this question. And the line between "psychological games" and "psychology" is very thin, some would say non-existent.
  - xorgar831 10y ago
    Exactly my point, figure out the correct time and optimize for that, introducing what's effectively a neurosis seems kinda of neurotic way to work :)
    - tychoman 10y ago
      But there is no correct time. That's a deterministic paradigm, whereas tasks are probabilistic events, with a distribution of possible points. Take a given task, and there are versions or scenarios where it takes 1x units of time, all the way to 100x. What critical chain does is help the worker play with the 3 sides of the PM triangle, time, budget, and scope, in a way that optimizes for the global throughput, not just their little local optimum.
      - xorgar831 10y ago
        That makes sense. Yep.