I came across this old article about how successful people work just recently. And I started wondering if there was some gap between how these guys work and how you guys work your time?
My question is to you HNers: How do you guys work?
Thanks!
p.s: I am pretty a whole bunch of HNers will consider themselves fairly successful to answer this question.
"How is managing a team of techies different from managing other kinds of office workers? Technical people are motivated by interesting work. They will put up with abominable working conditions if they get to work on something that interests them. I've managed people who had to be sent home at night. But technical people without interesting work are very difficult to manage. Their active minds tend to get them into trouble. A happy team is a group that is busy and too intrigued with their project to get mired down with internal politics. In contrast, I find office workers to be more interested in the overall job than the task at hand. Environment, recognition and security are more important to them.
I've also found that technical people need to have adequate playtime. Ideas are exchanged and expanded while they play ping-pong or walk around the parking lot. Allowing people the freedom to wander when they need to returns high rewards that far offset the apparent lack of focus. Technical workers work all the time. Their minds are constantly mulling over problems and possible solutions. What looks like slacking off may be the most productive time they spend. Give them the freedom to work. "
I do my "real" work (or at least interesting work) when I get home and work on my own projects.
Generally, I pick one task to focus on and pound away on it for a few hours. I am assisted in the process by an eclectic variety of background music depending on the focus and the tempo of progress being made.
If I begin feeling that no more progress can be made or that a different approach is necessary, I'll take a break or work on something else and let my brain stew on the previous project in the subconscious.
A dozen accomplished people tell what works for them.
If having a life like those folks is what's called "accomplished", I want to be a failure.
To answer the question though, I do my best (most productive & efficient) work when I'm working 6 to 9 hours a day in an office with a few other smart caring coworkers, no travel, a good amount of sleep, and doing nearly no email / IM / etc.
My best ideas come from the shower and sleep.
I think the number of people I have a discussion with in a day has an odd relationship with the quality of my work. The peak is somewhere between 2 and 9. I think that's even true when I'm managing large numbers of people.
Having worked as a programmer and spending time at B-school, I'm about to tell you the secret that explains all the conflicts between managers and programmers.
Many is the programmer who's said "I get more done after midnight than most people do the rest of the day."
But at B-school the saying goes "I get more done before 8 AM than most people do the rest of the day."
Well if they'd let the programmer come in at midnight, then his productive time would be tapering off right about the time the MBA shows up at 6am to get all his work done. It would be perfect.
But no, programmers must pretend to be generic office cogs. 9-5 just doesn't make sense for a creative profession. Working hours should be whenever the person happens to be working, and managers should be good enough at knowing whether things are getting done that they don't have to watch all their employees (pretend to) work on a set schedule.
My question is to you HNers: How do you guys work?
Thanks!
p.s: I am pretty a whole bunch of HNers will consider themselves fairly successful to answer this question.