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> Burnout doesn't happen everywhere. It tends to happen when bad or inexperience people run projects. Definitely. I would also add that burnout at least for m

> Burnout doesn't happen everywhere. It tends to happen when bad or inexperience people run projects. Definitely. I would also add that burnout at least for me is a function of ROI. In my experience, teams are willing to put in crazy hours if doing so regularly results in success and favorable outcomes for them. If you force teams to put in crazy hours and the effort results in failure more than a few times, it decimates morale and very quickly leads to burnout. If you're asking teams to give their all you had better be able to deliver.

danielheath 5y ago
IMO burnout comes from failing to ship something worthwhile; the feeling that “despite how hard you worked, it didn’t matter in the end” is at the core of my experience with it. You find yourself thinking “I was sure that would be good and worked hard, and it turned out not to be. Now I am sure my new project will be good, but how can I know it’s going to go differently”.
- nerdponx 5y ago
  I've been here myself, and I've seen it in others. Having too much responsibility to early in one's career I think is a significant risk factor, especially combined with certain personality types. Moreso if you lack a strong professional network and/or mentorship. This situation is often correlated with clueless and/or ineffective and/or hostile management, which is it self an exacerbating factor. I don't think it's the only cause, but it's probably a common one.
- toast0 5y ago
  I think you get to burnout pretty quivk with overwork and no worthwhile ouput, but you can also get there with overwork and good output over a long enough period, too.
  - danielheath 5y ago
    It’s not enough for the output to be good; you have to feel like it was worthwhile. Building and shipping great software that goes on to have few or no users? Burnout. Building widely used software but you come to believe it does more harm than good? Also burnout. Avoiding it requires believing in the value of the things you have done; imo overwork can only speed up the process, but will not cause it if you believe in the rightness of what you are doing.

danielheath 5y ago

IMO burnout comes from failing to ship something worthwhile; the feeling that “despite how hard you worked, it didn’t matter in the end” is at the core of my experience with it. You find yourself thinking “I was sure that would be good and worked hard, and it turned out not to be. Now I am sure my new project will be good, but how can I know it’s going to go differently”.

nerdponx 5y ago
I've been here myself, and I've seen it in others. Having too much responsibility to early in one's career I think is a significant risk factor, especially combined with certain personality types. Moreso if you lack a strong professional network and/or mentorship. This situation is often correlated with clueless and/or ineffective and/or hostile management, which is it self an exacerbating factor. I don't think it's the only cause, but it's probably a common one.
toast0 5y ago
I think you get to burnout pretty quivk with overwork and no worthwhile ouput, but you can also get there with overwork and good output over a long enough period, too.
- danielheath 5y ago
  It’s not enough for the output to be good; you have to feel like it was worthwhile. Building and shipping great software that goes on to have few or no users? Burnout. Building widely used software but you come to believe it does more harm than good? Also burnout. Avoiding it requires believing in the value of the things you have done; imo overwork can only speed up the process, but will not cause it if you believe in the rightness of what you are doing.