5 ms·
> I was doing all-nighters and basically killing myself I often suspect that the true goal of most time-estimation exercises is to guilt you into working unsus
by commandlinefan 7y ago
> I was doing all-nighters and basically killing myself
I often suspect that the true goal of most time-estimation exercises is to guilt you into working unsustainable amounts of unpaid overtime.
- xupybd 7y agoI honestly don't think so. Companies have finite resources and need to allocate their use efficiently. That's hard to do when you don't know how long it will take / how much it will cost. If you don't think you have the money to meet the estimated project time you need to find ways to reduce the time. Sadly that leads to problems as described in the article. The is an impedance miss match between software development and real world business reality.
- almostdeadguy 7y agoIf your product development process constantly places you into dilemmas where a development effort requires a commitment to cost and timeline that could damage the company if either is overshot, they either: A. aren't testing enough / at all or haven't given any consideration to what is the smallest change needed to deliver value B. have serious organizational problems around coordination C. are running a company completely unsustainably
- xupybd 7y agoD. You are a consulting company and fix price your work.
- jerkstate 7y agoyes, it's called a "forcing function" and management is full of similar techniques
- Insanity 7y agoWhy would you though? I don't see the point in working all-nighters for a company unless you have a stake in the company (shares or owner). For my own company, sure I'll pull an all-nighter before an important meeting, for a company where I am one of hundreds? No thanks. Labour laws tend to be more protective here in the EU though so no fear of being fired by refusing rediculous requests.
- latencyloser 7y agoIf you don't do it, there's always a willing colleague who will. At least, that's been my experience in FAANG and related companies. Since I became...complacent, I guess... and started only working 9-5 for the most part, I can't keep up with my colleagues who are working seemingly every waking minute. It's a great way to get passed up on promotions, not get handed the "good" projects, and just generally be sidelined from decision making. Ymmv of course.
- throwaway713 7y ago> If you don't do it, there's always a willing colleague who will Haha, isn't this the truth. I work at one of FAANG as well and was curious how one of my colleagues was accomplishing so much. His output is astonishing. I checked his work profile and noticed he had commits, notes, and research actions starting at 7:00 AM and going until 1:00 AM the next day, every day, including weekends. I don't think the founder of this company ever even worked that much. I guess there's just some people who never burn out. Meanwhile, my wife gets annoyed about dinner when I work past 6 PM...
- the_gipsy 7y agoOh he will burn out, eventually.
- frank2 7y agoMaybe he uses a script to make commits to give the appearance of working all the time.
- heretoo 7y ago> there's just some people who never burn out I once read there is only concrete that has either already cracked or is about to crack.
- purerandomness 7y agoGive him 6-9 months. He'll disappear, all of a sudden. We all do this. Once. When we grow up, at ~23.