In my job, we are supposed to completely finish our sprint tasks, no exceptions. This has led to the team being ultra conservative in picking up tasks, to the p

In my job, we are supposed to completely finish our sprint tasks, no exceptions. This has led to the team being ultra conservative in picking up tasks, to the point that our productivity is down the drain. But if you see our numbers, they’re fantastic, as we finish everything we pick up in a sprint! Artificial numbers. Grand sounding words like spike, velocity, scrum, bandwidth etc which don’t mean anything to anyone, other than middle management. Using 10 different fancy tools/products when a 100 line script would do the same thing. Endless meetings (I can’t get a 4 hour block to concentrate on a task). These are the things that suck the joy out of actually creating something, to help users do their jobs better. Above all else, dudes (mostly dudes) that work 14 hour days without being asked, without being requested. I remember doing that myself as a young man. Now that I am old and a bit less stupid, I can see how this is the most negative thing in a team. I don’t know what the solution is. Maybe freelancing? I dunno, it has its own problems. Maybe ask in interviews how much time is spent on meetings, before accepting an offer? That might not work either, interviewers aren’t obligated to be honest.