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Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

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Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#31

Post by s_kilk »

city41 wrote: post #3
ams6110 wrote: post #2

I quit a job when I felt burnout developing. The cause? Pair programming. I just cannot that close to someone for the majority of the workday without feeling constant low-level stress and annoyance, and I can't focus and think about problems in that setting. When you have to sit in your car for 15 minutes every morning just to summon the resolve to get out and go into the office, something's wrong with your work envi…

I also left a job due to pair programming. That company pair programmed 100% of the time. It concerns me that might become a norm. I wrote a blog post on why I think that's a bad idea: http://www.mattgreer.org/articles/pair-programming-is-not-a-...

I wonder if these kinds of teams are lead by extroverts, who appreciate having a captive audience for their peopley, extroverted shenaniagns.

Having a stable of people who are contractually obligated to put up with their outgoing personalities.

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#32

Post by pyb »

city41 wrote: post #3
ams6110 wrote: post #2

I quit a job when I felt burnout developing. The cause? Pair programming. I just cannot that close to someone for the majority of the workday without feeling constant low-level stress and annoyance, and I can't focus and think about problems in that setting. When you have to sit in your car for 15 minutes every morning just to summon the resolve to get out and go into the office, something's wrong with your work envi…

I also left a job due to pair programming. That company pair programmed 100% of the time. It concerns me that might become a norm. I wrote a blog post on why I think that's a bad idea: http://www.mattgreer.org/articles/pair-programming-is-not-a-...

Pair programming is great, but that can only happen between willing and compatible participants. As you say, it should never be imposed from 'above' to any arbitrary pair of colleagues!

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#33

Post by joyeuse6701 »

treehau5_ wrote: post #25

Yeah I have expereined this very thing at work right now, but the great thing about being a human is you can change and adapt at the face of adversity. In my case it was either get fired/quit spend a month or two getting a new job and hear it from my wife or suck it up and be the person myorganization wants me to be -- it wasn't that hard at the end of the day because I get paid handsomly, get to sit in an air condit…

Tolerance is largely relative I think. You could have a crank that spits out pennies so long as you crank it. Invariably we will tire of turning the crank because it's monotonous uninspiring unfulfilling work. The argument could be made that someone somewhere does not have the opportunity to so easily spin a crank for money so we ought to be grateful, but the mind's adaptability is a double edged sword. You exalt the mind for it's adaptability, but it's the very same adaptability that accustoms us to our environment, and leads us to be ungrateful for the conditions we live in.

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#34

Post by JoeAltmaier »

pyb wrote: post #32
city41 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also left a job due to pair programming. That company pair programmed 100% of the time. It concerns me that might become a norm. I wrote a blog post on why I think that's a bad idea: http://www.mattgreer.org/articles/pair-programming-is-not-a-...

Pair programming is great, but that can only happen between willing and compatible participants. As you say, it should never be imposed from 'above' to any arbitrary pair of colleagues!

Agreed. I 'pair program' with my consulting partner. That is, we sit in the same lab and do our own thing, coming up for air to discuss an approach or algorithm, or even to review code. But 99% of the time is spent at our own tasks. This kind of 'pair programming' works best for us.

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#35

Post by JackFr »

joyeuse6701 wrote: post #33
treehau5_ wrote: post #25

Yeah I have expereined this very thing at work right now, but the great thing about being a human is you can change and adapt at the face of adversity. In my case it was either get fired/quit spend a month or two getting a new job and hear it from my wife or suck it up and be the person myorganization wants me to be -- it wasn't that hard at the end of the day because I get paid handsomly, get to sit in an air condit…

Tolerance is largely relative I think. You could have a crank that spits out pennies so long as you crank it. Invariably we will tire of turning the crank because it's monotonous uninspiring unfulfilling work. The argument could be made that someone somewhere does not have the opportunity to so easily spin a crank for money so we ought to be grateful, but the mind's adaptability is a double edged sword. You exalt the…

Inspiring fulfilling work is a luxury not everyone can afford, and it is a conceit of the modern world that meaning and fulfillment in your life should come from your employment.

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#36

Post by brightball »

joyeuse6701 wrote: post #33
treehau5_ wrote: post #25

Yeah I have expereined this very thing at work right now, but the great thing about being a human is you can change and adapt at the face of adversity. In my case it was either get fired/quit spend a month or two getting a new job and hear it from my wife or suck it up and be the person myorganization wants me to be -- it wasn't that hard at the end of the day because I get paid handsomly, get to sit in an air condit…

Tolerance is largely relative I think. You could have a crank that spits out pennies so long as you crank it. Invariably we will tire of turning the crank because it's monotonous uninspiring unfulfilling work. The argument could be made that someone somewhere does not have the opportunity to so easily spin a crank for money so we ought to be grateful, but the mind's adaptability is a double edged sword. You exalt the…

At the same time crank turning is a job where you need to do little else than show up, freeing your mind to think about things other than work.

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#37

Post by trevyn »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #34
pyb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pair programming is great, but that can only happen between willing and compatible participants. As you say, it should never be imposed from 'above' to any arbitrary pair of colleagues!

Agreed. I 'pair program' with my consulting partner. That is, we sit in the same lab and do our own thing, coming up for air to discuss an approach or algorithm, or even to review code. But 99% of the time is spent at our own tasks. This kind of 'pair programming' works best for us.

That sounds like a nice, collaborative work environment, but I would not file it under any definition of "pair programming".

Edit: 99%? So you spend less than five minutes collaborating per 8-hour workday?

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#38

Post by dasmoth »

treehau5_ wrote: post #25

Yeah I have expereined this very thing at work right now, but the great thing about being a human is you can change and adapt at the face of adversity. In my case it was either get fired/quit spend a month or two getting a new job and hear it from my wife or suck it up and be the person myorganization wants me to be -- it wasn't that hard at the end of the day because I get paid handsomly, get to sit in an air condit…

I'm glad it's worked out for you. Not convinced this is really the "bootstraps" narrative, though -- isn't that more along the lines of "quit and get the job you want"?

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#39

Post by angersock »

treehau5_ wrote: post #25

Yeah I have expereined this very thing at work right now, but the great thing about being a human is you can change and adapt at the face of adversity. In my case it was either get fired/quit spend a month or two getting a new job and hear it from my wife or suck it up and be the person myorganization wants me to be -- it wasn't that hard at the end of the day because I get paid handsomly, get to sit in an air condit…

Having a wife changes the formula a lot, as does having a support structure in place.

Re: Motivational Incongruence and Well-Being at the Workplace

#40

Post by dasmoth »

jMyles wrote: post #19
ams6110 wrote: post #2

I quit a job when I felt burnout developing. The cause? Pair programming. I just cannot that close to someone for the majority of the workday without feeling constant low-level stress and annoyance, and I can't focus and think about problems in that setting. When you have to sit in your car for 15 minutes every morning just to summon the resolve to get out and go into the office, something's wrong with your work envi…

This phenomenon is one of the distinct situations where I have found that the effects of cannabis are helpful. Smoke a bit with your partner, go for a walk, maybe apologize or retract some things if necessary. Maybe stop being such a perfectionist and just merge what does work now.

I have no objection to canabis or those who choose to enjoy it, but the idea that I might need psychoactives to handle the work environment -- even when I'm doing something I'm widely considered to be pretty decent at -- is repellant.
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