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A connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity

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Re: A connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity

#51

Post by ghaff »

ishtanbul wrote: post #43
zero-sharp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will python help him with meetings and emails? This doesn't sound like a technology problem. Not only that, but he's already working crazy hours. And you're suggesting that he spend more time on work? He's asking for ideas on how to make a career transition with the understanding that his salary will most likely get reduced by 90%.

Im looking forward to the msft copilot integration in office that can answer my emails and write transcripts of calls with to-dos. It will save time, but i think it will just up the ante since the culture is what got us here. And the risk of deals failing means you have to work on many at a time and accept as much as 100% swings in comp year to year. I would love to learn python, i figure with chatgpt i can learn it…

As you say it's the culture of investment banking, Big Law, and some other subsets of certain industries. Those subsets pay extremely well but things like weekend work are just part of the package.

I'm not at all convinced AI is going to radically change the culture of most industries in the relatively near term. There have been enormous changes to the tooling for all kinds of tech over the past few decades and I don't really see big changes to the work culture--other than the pay for software development at "tech" companies often increasing relative to other types of engineering. (It's not clear to me that sort of differential is sustainable.)

Re: A connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity

#52

Post by darkerside »

liquidpele wrote: post #38
memling wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Notice how even if you are an early bird and in the office by 9, you are a lazy slacker when you leave at 5? Then someone rolls in at 11 and leaves at 7 - same number of hours. HARD WORKER. So I generally agree with your post, but is this what constitutes early riser these days? I get having kids and missing the key 7-9am time slot, but is an 11am start time a Usual Thing?

11 or 12 EST is common for west coasters obviously… then if their boss is east coast and an idiot they value them being there “late”

Why does that make them an idiot? To see value in overlapping work hours?

Re: A connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity

#56

Post by lijok »

2devnull wrote: post #42
lijok wrote: post #29

Working continuous overtime is one of the worst diseases you can inflict upon your company. 1. By making changes outside of work hours (comitting code as a software dev), you're upsetting your teammates understanding of the state of the project. Ever had on-call push a 200+ LOC change after hours to hot-fix a bug, then had to have a two hour meeting next morning to figure out what changed and how to re-do the fix pro…

I disagree with some of this. I think if you work with international teams, half of the time of day stuff is in play no matter what. But in general I sort of agree that we should all try to work slower/work fewer hours, for the good of society. But we shouldn’t harass those who have more time and interest in the work they’re doing and want to work more, or those who might need more breaks or work most optimally at a…

Fully agree.

If you have international teams, they shouldn't be working on the same project, if it can be avoided. Having teams with different working hours work the same project sabotages communications.

Re: A connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity

#57

Post by renegade-otter »

memling wrote: post #36
renegade-otter wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working smart vs working hard. Also - optics. Notice how even if you are an early bird and in the office by 9, you are a lazy slacker when you leave at 5? Then someone rolls in at 11 and leaves at 7 - same number of hours. HARD WORKER. People are shallow, visual, and have no attention spans (especially now). You need to be aware of the optics and play them. No, you are not gaming the system - you are getting to the e…

> Notice how even if you are an early bird and in the office by 9, you are a lazy slacker when you leave at 5? Then someone rolls in at 11 and leaves at 7 - same number of hours. HARD WORKER. So I generally agree with your post, but is this what constitutes early riser these days? I get having kids and missing the key 7-9am time slot, but is an 11am start time a Usual Thing?

People regularly walk in from the street just in time for that 10:30 standup.

Then it's 11, then they get ready for the day, then it's lunch time. Then it's lunch coma. Then by 3PM they start gaining speed. By that time, I am already exhausted.

Re: A connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity

#58

Post by from-nibly »

2devnull wrote: post #42
lijok wrote: post #29

Working continuous overtime is one of the worst diseases you can inflict upon your company. 1. By making changes outside of work hours (comitting code as a software dev), you're upsetting your teammates understanding of the state of the project. Ever had on-call push a 200+ LOC change after hours to hot-fix a bug, then had to have a two hour meeting next morning to figure out what changed and how to re-do the fix pro…

I disagree with some of this. I think if you work with international teams, half of the time of day stuff is in play no matter what. But in general I sort of agree that we should all try to work slower/work fewer hours, for the good of society. But we shouldn’t harass those who have more time and interest in the work they’re doing and want to work more, or those who might need more breaks or work most optimally at a…

We shouldn't.harras people. But working extra is working to build a machine that HAS to be worked extra. You are solidifying the fact that work CAN'T get done in the normal hours. And then when the company goes to replace that person they will have to pay extra to get the same thing.

Even if you forget the workers. It's not good for the company.

If you want to be selfish, no judgement, sometimes you gotta do that, but don't be confused about the fact that externally it does harm.

Re: A connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity

#60

Post by rexreed »

zero-sharp wrote: post #40
daniel-s wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learn Python, automate your work. Develop a relationship with someone that knows Python, have them automate your work. Alternatively, learn VBA if you live in Word. Alternative 2, just learn to be more proficient with the tools that you use. If there's something that I have discovered it is that many people's office jobs could be automated—or at least much more efficient—if they were developers. Any task that you do…

How will python help him with meetings and emails? This doesn't sound like a technology problem. Not only that, but he's already working crazy hours. And you're suggesting that he spend more time on work? He's asking for ideas on how to make a career transition with the understanding that his salary will most likely get reduced by 90%.

The secret is automation that does things while you're doing other things. Parallel not series. I've even seen people secretly hire foreign virtual assistants to do their low value tasks for pennies while the employee focuses on the higher value tasks.
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