3 ms·

How to achieve greater productivity of teams

46 points by mcxx 17y ago

akronim 17y ago
In summary, use cross functional teams of < 10, seated in closed team rooms, working 40hrs/week, scheduled to 80% workload, and if you need to crunch, start 4 weeks from the deadline and prepare to lose out afterwards.
- ajaimk 17y ago
  Well said.
- loup-vaillant 17y ago
  He actually said 35 hours. 40 hours is the number for manual work (at Ford's).
- ZeroGravitas 17y ago
  Another key finding is that your subjective impression of productivity will be wrong if you exceed 35 hours per week. You'll think you're more achieving more even as you dip below the average productivity. For the more Machiavellian among us, he also claims you'll be rewarded by management more on appearance of productivity (i.e. long hourse) than on actual results.
  - loup-vaillant 17y ago
    I have an actual horror story about a colleague's acquaintance which proves him right: (1) On a late project, with only 3 weeks away from delivery, a manager (the above acquaintance) was called to save the day. He found that the team was on crunch mode, and quite tired. (2) First day, at 18 O'clock, he said "Everyone go home, I don't want to see you until 9am tomorrow". He actually made it a policy. (3) Projects miraculously ships on time and on budget (or at least, it slipped far less than originally expected, I don't remember). (4) The team is happy. The manager's bosses are not, on the ground that if the team worked harder (read: longer hours), it would have performed better. As a result, they didn't gave him any more responsibilities. Clearly, as Dan Pink said, "there is a mismatch between what science knows, and what business does".
gvb 17y ago
The .pdf is an image. The following are the references: Crunch in the game industry * http://www.igda.org/why-crunch-modes-doesnt-work-six-lessons http://www.igda.org/why-crunch-modes-doesnt-work-six-lessons (updated) * http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/01/crunch-mode http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/01/crunch-mode Best team size * http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1501 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=150... * http://www.teambuildingportal.com/articles/systems-approaches/teamperformance-teamsize.php http://www.teambuildingportal.com/articles/systems-approache... Sleep and problem solving * http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/21/sleep.crativity.ap/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/21/sleep.crativity.ap/inde... (broken) Sickness and Overtime correlation * http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15461524 http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15461524 Prioritization * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Things_First_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Things_First_(book) 4 day work week * http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1093/is_1_42/ai_53697784 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1093/is_1_42/ai_53697... * http://rop.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/28/2/166 http://rop.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/28/2/166 (subscription required) * From http://www.shrm.org/Education/hreducation/Documents/Creating%20a%20Flexible%20Workplace_Final.pdf http://www.shrm.org/Education/hreducation/Documents/Creating... (pdf) Team spaces * "Rapid Software Development through Team Collocation" IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Volume 28, No. 7, July 2002

46 points by mcxx 17y ago

In summary, use cross functional teams of < 10, seated in closed team rooms, working 40hrs/week, scheduled to 80% workload, and if you need to crunch, start 4 weeks from the deadline and prepare to lose out afterwards.

ajaimk 17y ago
Well said.
loup-vaillant 17y ago
He actually said 35 hours. 40 hours is the number for manual work (at Ford's).
ZeroGravitas 17y ago
Another key finding is that your subjective impression of productivity will be wrong if you exceed 35 hours per week. You'll think you're more achieving more even as you dip below the average productivity. For the more Machiavellian among us, he also claims you'll be rewarded by management more on appearance of productivity (i.e. long hourse) than on actual results.
- loup-vaillant 17y ago
  I have an actual horror story about a colleague's acquaintance which proves him right: (1) On a late project, with only 3 weeks away from delivery, a manager (the above acquaintance) was called to save the day. He found that the team was on crunch mode, and quite tired. (2) First day, at 18 O'clock, he said "Everyone go home, I don't want to see you until 9am tomorrow". He actually made it a policy. (3) Projects miraculously ships on time and on budget (or at least, it slipped far less than originally expected, I don't remember). (4) The team is happy. The manager's bosses are not, on the ground that if the team worked harder (read: longer hours), it would have performed better. As a result, they didn't gave him any more responsibilities. Clearly, as Dan Pink said, "there is a mismatch between what science knows, and what business does".

gvb 17y ago

The .pdf is an image. The following are the references: Crunch in the game industry * http://www.igda.org/why-crunch-modes-doesnt-work-six-lessons http://www.igda.org/why-crunch-modes-doesnt-work-six-lessons (updated) * http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/01/crunch-mode http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/01/crunch-mode Best team size * http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1501 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=150... * http://www.teambuildingportal.com/articles/systems-approaches/teamperformance-teamsize.php http://www.teambuildingportal.com/articles/systems-approache... Sleep and problem solving * http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/21/sleep.crativity.ap/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/21/sleep.crativity.ap/inde... (broken) Sickness and Overtime correlation * http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15461524 http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15461524 Prioritization * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Things_First_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Things_First_(book) 4 day work week * http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1093/is_1_42/ai_53697784 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1093/is_1_42/ai_53697... * http://rop.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/28/2/166 http://rop.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/28/2/166 (subscription required) * From http://www.shrm.org/Education/hreducation/Documents/Creating%20a%20Flexible%20Workplace_Final.pdf http://www.shrm.org/Education/hreducation/Documents/Creating... (pdf) Team spaces * "Rapid Software Development through Team Collocation" IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Volume 28, No. 7, July 2002