Some of the most productive I have ever been is when I have had no team, no PM, and just an high-level objective that needed to be achieved sometime in the next

Some of the most productive I have ever been is when I have had no team, no PM, and just an high-level objective that needed to be achieved sometime in the next few weeks. I worked 3-4 hours a day, went to gym, enjoyed time with friends and family, and everyone was shocked at how much work was completed. Once we started building formal structures around the project, a lot of the progress slowed down. Organizing people is hard. Being burnt out and frustrated takes a lot of time and energy. Someone can work hard 40 hours a week and get nothing accomplished (besides trying to get decisions made). I'm honestly starting to think that the people who aren't very invested get a lot done because they don't get distracted by politics. If all of your work energy is spent on getting work done, you'll do surprisingly well