3 ms·
My company’s core philosophy is that there are only 20 productive “creative” hours of coding in the average week. We employ our devs and ask that they aim for 1
by wkirby 5y ago
My company’s core philosophy is that there are only 20 productive “creative” hours of coding in the average week. We employ our devs and ask that they aim for 17 hours of billed time to our clients; the remaining 3 hours is spent on our internal sync and calls with clients. The rest of the week is theirs: if they want to keep coding, do it; if they want to mow the lawn, that’s great too.
After almost 8 years with this model, I think the evidence is overwhelming that we maintain somewhere between 85 and 90% of the productive output of our 40+ hour/week counterparts.
I’m excited at the prospect of a positive shift in work/life balance coming out of the massive WFH experiment that’s happened over the past 18 months.
- throwaway6734 5y agoThis sounds like a fantastic place to work.
- SketchySeaBeast 5y agoSeconded. I've never had a place where I wasn't supposed to bill a full 40 hours and it's hell. Any distraction or disruption ends up eating into your not work time, or you fudge the numbers and bill for work when you're not working. I could absolutely be fully productive and provide the most value to the client for 20 hours a week.
- wkirby 5y agoIt's ok. The workers refuse to unionize though, which is a real problem.
- spopejoy 5y agoCan you elaborate, what do you think a union would provide that's missing? Also, are you in management there (and thus more pro-union than the rank-and-file which is quite remarkable)?
- wkirby 5y agoI’m a cofounder. At a surface level this is a running joke between me and my team: they won’t unionize no matter how many times I insist they do. More fundamentally I come from a strong Union family. My father is a professor, my grandfather worked for petrochemical companies after the war, his father came from West Virginia and so on. I think that the high salaries and plentiful amenities gloss over the need for a real strong union presence in software. It’s exactly when workers have the power that they ought to capitalize to entrench that power. All we have to do is look at how companies like Amazon churn through H1B workers to see how brutal dev work _can_ be. While development skills are still a relatively scarce commodity we owe it to the next generation of bit pushers to create a strong voice for the rights of labor. Our power as a workforce can then be better leveraged to improve conditions for workers everywhere. Unions are not — and have never been — perfect, but that shouldn’t be a reason not to fight for fair labor practices in every industry.
- spopejoy 5y ago> they won’t unionize no matter how many times I insist they do Wow ... I would think if management is convinced it would make life better for the workers, management could make the case, bring in the organizers and get it done. There are definitely some ripe topics: H1Bs as you mention; age discrimination for sure; wage fixing. Of course the labor-friendly status quo disincentivizes "job security" but I'm sure you agree that's not the only or even primary reason for a union. I'm not trying to imply it's simple or easy -- I'm pro-labor, a founder, and a dev, and I'm _very_ confused about what unions mean for us and would like to build a cohesive narrative.
- autarch 5y agoIs your company hiring?
- wkirby 5y agoNot at the moment. We always post in the Who's Hiring thread when a position opens.
- throw737858 5y agoI worked in similar company, I could do all my weekly work in 10 hours. But company did not like my side projects.
- wkirby 5y agoWe _love_ side projects --- that's why we started our company, because we didn't want Bezos to own our zombie card game.