Practice: Energized Work

Energized Work

Work only as many hours as you can be productive and only as many hours
as you can sustain. Burning yourself out unproductively today and
spoiling the next two days' work isn't good for you or the team.

Where does this penchant for long hours come from? I'm often asked for
"scientific" evidence for the practices in XP, as if science could
somehow bear the responsibility for project success or failure. Work
hours are one area where I wish I could turn this argument around. Where
is the scientific evidence that members of a software team produce more
value in 80-hour weeks than in 40-hour weeks? Software development is a
game of insight, and insight comes to the prepared, relaxed mind.

In my own case I think I turn to long work hours as a way of grabbing
control in a situation in which I am otherwise out of control. I can't
control how the whole project is going; I can't control whether the
product sells; but I can always stay later. With enough caffeine and
sugar, I can keep typing long past the point where I have started
removing value from the project. It's easy to remove value from a
software project; but when you're tired, it's hard to recognize that
you're removing value.

When you're sick, respect yourself and the rest of your team by resting
and getting well. Taking care of yourself is the quickest way back to
energized work. You also protect the team from losing more productivity
because of illness. Coming in sick doesn't show commitment to work,
because you aren't working effectively.

You can make incremental improvements in work hours. Staying at work the
same amount of time but managing that time better is an improvement.
Declare a two-hour stretch each day as Code Time. Turn off the phones
and email notification, and just program for two hours. That may be
enough improvement for now and may set the stage for fewer hours at work
later.



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