Makes sense but most of these aren't really actionable unless you're at the top. Other than quitting to find a better culture of course. For example, 3. Manage your digital distractions, mentions Tim Cook. I'm sure he can decide to cut down on his notifications, but if you're working at a place where Slack is used, there's 100 channels and you're expected to respond quickly by the management, your only choice is to leave.
Burnout is real – how to avoid it
71–80 of 128 posts
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#72Where and how specifically does Jira build in stress and burnout metrics and avoidance mechanisms into its tools and techniques? And when is it going to mandate a change of langauge in Scrum from "sprint" to some word vastly more reasonable in designating a staged, sustainable, work effort? The English language is in dire need of an idiom connoting the fox advising the henhouse. This post lacks all credibility.
"Sprint" isn't supposed to be sustainable. It acknowledges that for brief periods we set aside distractions/maintenance/cleanup and make progress and THEN back off to a state that lets us recuperate the whole environment. Or it should, anyway.
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#73>> Job burnout is an epidemic
Start of sub-title.
def: a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time
So a wide-spread, non-infectious phenomena that has been occurring... forever?, doesn't really meet the definition.
I'm not debating this is a real thing nor that it may be more prevalent, but a bunch of generic tips that put the entire responsibility on avoiding burnout onto me seems likely to increase the risks rather than address them...
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#74What 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…
Yeah, I'm in the middle of 3 projects right now using sprints as the base time unit.
One project is in Sprint #17 this week.
One is on Sprint #41 as of Wednesday.
One is on Sprint #56 as of this Friday. On top of that, the weekly meeting is set at 4:30pm on Fridays in my time zone. The sprint planning meetings typically go 2 hours.
Each project has a daily stand-up too, each lasting about 30-45 minutes. I get about 3 hours a week total to actually code.
Yes, this has effectivly killed the entire idea behind a sprint and agile in general, we all know, it's super obvious. But the company is now an 'agile' company as of ~2.5 years ago, so we can say so in the job apps. All the interviewing devs know to ask about how long the stand-up is, we tell them the truth, and the job apps stay open when they decline our offers (we also pay under market rates). Our copies of 'The Phoenix Project" remain in shrinkwrap.
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#75What 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.
>> A team that is doing agile right ...
Oh, please stop with the "because you're doing it wrong" defense. Yes, I most likely am doing it wrong, I already know that. Is the fact the process allows the level of flexibility for me to screw up this bad a feature or a bug?
I'd love the opportunity to practice Pedantic Agile but things like customers, coworkers and bosses keep getting in the way.
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#76>Quick...tells his students he’s always available – except between 10pm and 6am. It’s important to put limits on when you’re reachable, he says. Really...this is their example of healthy boundary setting? A professor who says he's available the entire time he's awake, but won't answer emails when he's supposed to be sleeping.
I thought the exact same thing reading this. Average healthy sleep time is 8 hour a day. Even if it's less for some, this professor can be disturbed when he eats ? When he is in his shower ? Seems strange to me.
Depends on the discipline.
Math professors aren't known for showering :)
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If your company doesn't believe that burnout is an issue and ignores your "no's" It's up to you to ensure that your "no's" can't be ignored. Really what shy programmers need is confidence and healthy boundaries.
While true, this doesn't have to actually mean being more assertive at your job. I worked at a place where I constantly had to be very up front about my boundaries and work limits. We would plan something, say some certain things can't be done for 2 weeks, and then two days later someone would come back and be like "So... about those tickets, could we actually squeeze them in this week? As well as all the other ticke…
Unfortunately for every one tech employee willing to set boundaries and say no, there are 10 in line outside the door, resume in hand, willing to say yes and burn themselves out. You can quit in protest but where are you going to go? You’re competing with dozens of talented people straight out of college willing to work 100 hour days for Mountain Dew and a dual screen workstation.
Unless you believe the “Shortage Of Engineers” meme, intense labor competition is a huge contributor to industry wide burnout.
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#78Good 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…
>all of the language in this article (until #8) is centered around you. You are supposed to take full responsibility for burnout. It is your choice. Your lack of self-management is causing your burnout. Yes, this! My company seems to be halfway there: acknowledging that burnout is a problem, but then turning that into helpful advice (eat healthy, take breaks, go work out, etc) that is focused on the individual, ignor…
+1. This past year by workplace has become much more stressful. I've consciously spent more time on self care and exercise (definitely good habits which made me feel better about myself physically and mentally). But that only served to slow the process of burnout; we needed organizational change to remedy the root cause.
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#79All of this advice would be great if following it didn't mean you would be next to get fired.
They forgot "unionize".
Remember, every time you attend a meeting while on your vacation, or answer an email at 10 PM, you're normalizing that behaviour. You're telling your boss it's OK to demand it of everyone.
Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 mana…
I've had both as well as in my opinion the worst: The manager who pretends they can code and knows just enough to be able to trick HR and other managers. It's only happened to me once, but the guy was pretending to be a past Java expert and didn't know the difference between Java and Javascript. I don't mean we grilled him on the differences in syntax. I mean in conversation he would use "java-script" to mean a Java…
Every job in corporate land has the person, at every level, who makes you ask "how is this person still here?"