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Burnout is real – how to avoid it

atlassian.com

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Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#11

Post by vfc1 »

agloeregrets wrote: post #6

What is funny about this is that Atlasssian’s Jira product is designed for two week “sprints”, a term referring to the idea of running quickly at a rate above a sustainable pace with no intent to keep running after the end. But these sprints normally are done repeatedly with no actual stop or sight of a finish line. Employees just churn through tickets with no designed breathing room or planned downtime. Jira is prob…

In JIRA your performance is constantly measured comparing the actual work against the estimates, which are usually not under the developer control.

There are reports produced that developers don't get to see that the manager does to compare developers this way.

Of course, this can be easilly gamed. The most cunning developers will go out of their way to get the tasks that are clearly defined in scope and that they are familiar with, while others always end up getting the short end of the stick.

Guess who is going to look better under that report. Developers are overloaded, and will actually avoid to raise new issues or suggest improvements and new tasks, with fear that they will get more work on top of the workload that they can't already handle.

JIRA is really used by middle management to treat developers as essentially replaceable assembly line workers in a factory context.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#12

Post by dominotw »

vfc1 wrote: post #5

Burnout is an inevitable consequence of the modern workplace for a lot of people. A lot of those who don't have any problem with burnout are the ones burning out other people. In the modern workplace, workers are often given a task without being given the good conditions to take it through, or a good overview of the context that the task is part of. A good percentage of the tasks but not all are hot potatoes, and it…

> a clueless middle manager who has never coded the simplest of programs in his/her life.

I've never had manager who hasn't coded ever in his life. WhatI had most of the time was a manager who hasn't coded in a longtime.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#13

Post by [deleted] »

dominotw wrote: post #12
vfc1 wrote: post #5

Burnout is an inevitable consequence of the modern workplace for a lot of people. A lot of those who don't have any problem with burnout are the ones burning out other people. In the modern workplace, workers are often given a task without being given the good conditions to take it through, or a good overview of the context that the task is part of. A good percentage of the tasks but not all are hot potatoes, and it…

> a clueless middle manager who has never coded the simplest of programs in his/her life. I've never had manager who hasn't coded ever in his life. WhatI had most of the time was a manager who hasn't coded in a longtime.

[deleted]

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#14

Post by JulianMorrison »

vfc1 wrote: post #5

Burnout is an inevitable consequence of the modern workplace for a lot of people. A lot of those who don't have any problem with burnout are the ones burning out other people. In the modern workplace, workers are often given a task without being given the good conditions to take it through, or a good overview of the context that the task is part of. A good percentage of the tasks but not all are hot potatoes, and it…

Pretty much, the answer to this kind of thing is unions. The employer is going to feel free to treat you like a replaceable cog to be run over speed until the teeth strip - unless enough people like you can coordinate, to force them to the negotiating table. And unless you vote for politicians who will have your back.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#15

Post by dagw »

dominotw wrote: post #9
agloeregrets wrote: post #6

What is funny about this is that Atlasssian’s Jira product is designed for two week “sprints”, a term referring to the idea of running quickly at a rate above a sustainable pace with no intent to keep running after the end. But these sprints normally are done repeatedly with no actual stop or sight of a finish line. Employees just churn through tickets with no designed breathing room or planned downtime. Jira is prob…

> “sprints”, a term referring to the idea of running quickly at a rate above a sustainable pace why would it it be "above sustainable pace".

That is literally the definition of the word. If you can run for more than, at most, a minute or so at a given pace you are pr. definition not sprinting.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#17

Post by vfc1 »

dominotw wrote: post #12
vfc1 wrote: post #5

Burnout is an inevitable consequence of the modern workplace for a lot of people. A lot of those who don't have any problem with burnout are the ones burning out other people. In the modern workplace, workers are often given a task without being given the good conditions to take it through, or a good overview of the context that the task is part of. A good percentage of the tasks but not all are hot potatoes, and it…

> a clueless middle manager who has never coded the simplest of programs in his/her life. I've never had manager who hasn't coded ever in his life. WhatI had most of the time was a manager who hasn't coded in a longtime.

I've had both, and I don't know what is worst to tell you the truth. The ones who have coded a long time ago think that their experience in another language/ecosystem still allows them to estimate tasks in a completely different environment, when in fact it doesn't.

The non-technical manager will focus more on the business side and will be easier to manage in many situations, but the problem is that that type fo manager will neglect tasks that are purely linked to technical debt, refactoring etc that don't add new functionality to the system but are still really important.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#18

Post by vfc1 »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #14
vfc1 wrote: post #5

Burnout is an inevitable consequence of the modern workplace for a lot of people. A lot of those who don't have any problem with burnout are the ones burning out other people. In the modern workplace, workers are often given a task without being given the good conditions to take it through, or a good overview of the context that the task is part of. A good percentage of the tasks but not all are hot potatoes, and it…

Pretty much, the answer to this kind of thing is unions. The employer is going to feel free to treat you like a replaceable cog to be run over speed until the teeth strip - unless enough people like you can coordinate, to force them to the negotiating table. And unless you vote for politicians who will have your back.

Yes, I think unions under some form are sorely needed for this profession, as well as a recognized ethics code, like it happens in professions like medicine or accounting.

If we are going to be treated as factory workers, we should defend ourselves as factory workers by creating unions.

Unfortunately, due to the volatility of tech skills and the overuse of one-month contracts, I don't see this happening anytime soon, but I agree it's the only solution.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#19

Post by hysan »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #10
hysan wrote: post #4

Good compilation of the advice you often read about on the internet. However, a big factor in all of the solutions is having the support of the entire org/company. If your company doesn't believe that burnout is an issue and ignores your "no"s, gives you zero control over what is on your plate, and pressures you culturally, then to take back control, you are stuck fighting another battle on top of burnout. I've found…

> If your company doesn't believe that burnout is an issue and ignores your "no"s, gives you zero control over what is on your plate, and pressures you culturally, then ...give notice and quit. No company would do this if they weren't completely toxic.

Far far easier said than done for many people. You never know a person's life situation - medical issues, financial obligations to family, etc. This also shifts the onus of the situation back onto the individual. Again, you are the one who determines if you burnout. No control? Just leave. If you stay, it's your fault if you burnout.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#20

Post by JulianMorrison »

agloeregrets wrote: post #6

What is funny about this is that Atlasssian’s Jira product is designed for two week “sprints”, a term referring to the idea of running quickly at a rate above a sustainable pace with no intent to keep running after the end. But these sprints normally are done repeatedly with no actual stop or sight of a finish line. Employees just churn through tickets with no designed breathing room or planned downtime. Jira is prob…

They're called "iterations" over here and it's probably precisely because of that implication. It was always an unfortunate term.

A team that is doing agile right is not "sprinting", they are completing as much work as they can do at a long term sustainable pace.

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