HP did a study back in the mid-1990s and determined that 50 hours a week
was a maximum for their programmers. Beyond that the work was
counterproductive. My boss often said that anyone who worked long hours
was covering for their incompetence.
There is a problem with computer programming in that we often work like
fine artists. We like to tackle a chunk of work and not want to leave
it until it is done. The experience and skill is in determining how
reasonably large that task might be. I was told by a former Microsoft
employee that this was recognized there. Therefore he would sometimes
live at the office for two days, finish his task and then be able to
take the rest of the week off except for being on call if there was a
problem with his code.
On 04/10/2014 11:35 AM, TurquoiseBee wrote:
The French counterpart of Silicon Valley:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/shortcuts/2014/apr/09/french-6pm-labour-agreement-work-emails-out-of-office
