This. I can produce code for 4-5 hours a day, and my dumb face generally fills up a large percentage of the ticketing system's "done" column. Sure, there are e

This. I can produce code for 4-5 hours a day, and my dumb face generally fills up a large percentage of the ticketing system's "done" column. Sure, there are emergency situations when a 14 hour shift is needed, but keep that up for long, and you and your project will suffer the consequences (found that out the hard way just recently). Has anyone here worked at a place where developers truly spend a 10 hours a day coding at full productivity? More likely they're lying to themselves: either they spend an inordinate amount of time at the water-cooler, or they're so slogged down can't remember what being productive feels like anymore. I also find that most days, by the time I've sat down to write a feature, I've already fleshed out how I'm going to implement it. A lot of the "work" happens in the shower, or while doing groceries, or while biking around the city. Then once a day I turn on my computer, bang out my solutions, do some code reviews, and turn that ungodly glowing screen right the hell back off. Not that it means spending the rest of the day idle... not working oneself to oblivion means time and energy left over for learning new things, doing math puzzles, playing with interesting technologies, reading, or simply relaxing and letting one's brain have some defrag time while staring at the ceiling. Many of the most useful patterns I've used to solve tough problems I only learned because I was playing with subjects wholly unrelated to my work. I can't imagine this not being true for everyone. I believe G.H Hardy said in "A Mathematician's Apology" that any more than 4 hours of mathematics a day was counterproductive. (As with everything: YMMV. But for me this holds true.)