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I'm glad to see this large-scale shift in attitudes. Many have realized during this pandemic that decades of work can amount to nothing when you lose your healt

I'm glad to see this large-scale shift in attitudes. Many have realized during this pandemic that decades of work can amount to nothing when you lose your health or wealth in an instant, and all you have to show for it is hours in the office. Time is freedom, pursue and protect it at all costs.

zh3 5y ago
"Some people work really hard all their lives, and all they have to show for it at the end is money".
skrebbel 5y ago
This article is about someone lying to their team about how much they work, earning top dollar (pound?) but not working more than a few hours a day. How is that a positive shift in attitudes?
- manigandham 5y ago
  The shift is about prioritizing your time and freedom, not overworking yourself on an endless tasklist that ultimately doesn't matter. I don't agree with the lying but it happens all the time, remote and in-office, as a symptom of clock-watching micromanagement by employers. That needs to go, and employees switching from actually putting in those long unproductive hours to quitting for better conditions is a positive move.
- bruce343434 5y ago
  Apparently they get enough done to suffice?
  - skrebbel 5y ago
    It's called an abuse of trust. Estimating programming effort is extremely hard, even for people who are about to do the actual work. It's even harder to estimate for your boss. A boss that trusts their team will not blink when something that sounds easy turns out to take long. You're advocating for a culture where everybody's forced to estimate their work and is held accountable when they go over. I thought we all got past that?
    - throwaway4aday 5y ago
      I admit this is an extreme case but perhaps we should also examine the opposite scenario that is all too common. Let's say Harold is Gavin's colleague. Harold works the full 8 hours he is at the office, he believes strongly in "flow" so he doesn't interrupt his day with pointless activities like getting up to stretch or taking coffee breaks, he just brings a thermos to his desk and stays fully caffeinated that way. He finds it hard to "turn off" after work so he often spends time thinking about the next tasks he has to do and maybe puts in hours after work as well. At this point pretty much any developer can see where this is going, they know what Harold looks like, maybe they even were Harold at some point. Both Gavin and Harold are heading towards a blow up at some point. Neither of them are going to work out well for their employer in the end. I do think that Gavin is closer to the correct answer though, he's built in a lot of room in his estimates where if something does go sideways he has the ability to correct it and stay within the allotted time. If Harold mis-estimates something he will be working overtime or missing deadlines, perhaps both. Gavin should be working closer to 2/3 time than 1/3, depending on the overall accuracy of his and his boss's initial estimates of course.
- throwaway4aday 5y ago
  Where in the article does it say Gavin is earning top dollar? He is also not lying about how much he works, only how long he works which if he is billing by the hour is a problem but if he is accomplishing all of the expected tasks I would say is more in a grey area. If he is doing all of the required work in a third the time it takes others it's likely he is not in a position that matches his skill level. Maybe he likes it that way, not everyone wants to be running at 100% capacity all of the time. The rest of the article makes it clear why that is a bad thing.
- akaij 5y ago
  > This article is about someone lying to their team about how much they work The article is about that if you only read the first five paragraphs. Gavin and his shenanigans aren't the real focus of the article.

zh3 5y ago

"Some people work really hard all their lives, and all they have to show for it at the end is money".

skrebbel 5y ago

This article is about someone lying to their team about how much they work, earning top dollar (pound?) but not working more than a few hours a day. How is that a positive shift in attitudes?

manigandham 5y ago
The shift is about prioritizing your time and freedom, not overworking yourself on an endless tasklist that ultimately doesn't matter. I don't agree with the lying but it happens all the time, remote and in-office, as a symptom of clock-watching micromanagement by employers. That needs to go, and employees switching from actually putting in those long unproductive hours to quitting for better conditions is a positive move.
bruce343434 5y ago
Apparently they get enough done to suffice?
- skrebbel 5y ago
  It's called an abuse of trust. Estimating programming effort is extremely hard, even for people who are about to do the actual work. It's even harder to estimate for your boss. A boss that trusts their team will not blink when something that sounds easy turns out to take long. You're advocating for a culture where everybody's forced to estimate their work and is held accountable when they go over. I thought we all got past that?
  - throwaway4aday 5y ago
    I admit this is an extreme case but perhaps we should also examine the opposite scenario that is all too common. Let's say Harold is Gavin's colleague. Harold works the full 8 hours he is at the office, he believes strongly in "flow" so he doesn't interrupt his day with pointless activities like getting up to stretch or taking coffee breaks, he just brings a thermos to his desk and stays fully caffeinated that way. He finds it hard to "turn off" after work so he often spends time thinking about the next tasks he has to do and maybe puts in hours after work as well. At this point pretty much any developer can see where this is going, they know what Harold looks like, maybe they even were Harold at some point. Both Gavin and Harold are heading towards a blow up at some point. Neither of them are going to work out well for their employer in the end. I do think that Gavin is closer to the correct answer though, he's built in a lot of room in his estimates where if something does go sideways he has the ability to correct it and stay within the allotted time. If Harold mis-estimates something he will be working overtime or missing deadlines, perhaps both. Gavin should be working closer to 2/3 time than 1/3, depending on the overall accuracy of his and his boss's initial estimates of course.
throwaway4aday 5y ago
Where in the article does it say Gavin is earning top dollar? He is also not lying about how much he works, only how long he works which if he is billing by the hour is a problem but if he is accomplishing all of the expected tasks I would say is more in a grey area. If he is doing all of the required work in a third the time it takes others it's likely he is not in a position that matches his skill level. Maybe he likes it that way, not everyone wants to be running at 100% capacity all of the time. The rest of the article makes it clear why that is a bad thing.
akaij 5y ago
> This article is about someone lying to their team about how much they work The article is about that if you only read the first five paragraphs. Gavin and his shenanigans aren't the real focus of the article.