Hey guys,
We just put up the second part of the Demigod 108 hour week video.
In it, Quarter to Three is discussed at length in particular to the crunch time discussion we had here the other day (i can’t find it now, if anyone has a link to it handy could you put it in the comments area here?).
Anyway, here it is:
[B]60+ hours work week still the industry norm?
[/B]Where in the video is the qt3 discussion? I don’t have time to watch the whole thing, but if there’s a minute on that I can skip to…
Chris
Did anyone ever complain to you about your security certificate? Pops up every time at work in IE6.
Around 7:35
Perhaps switch to a browser that wasn’t put in development during the Taft administration?
Note the keywords “at work” – at the mercy of IT!!
yet still surfing gaming sites ;)
Ah sorry, missed that and my workplace is equally guilty as charged on the IE6 front.
Indeed; in the end I cannot complain.
Things you could have been doing at 4am instead of making a documentary:
SLEEPING. DUH.
But I know what they mean about staying for forever just because you feel bad about leaving stuff undone. We had a crunch week of fourteen+ hour days simply because upper management planned things poorly, and while I coulda left at any time I felt bad about ditching the rest of the group. Course, then the stupid little medical company folded. Lol!
Lesson learned hopefully… Peopleware has a great quote about most folks doing overtime not so much to get anything done, but to avoid blame when it goes wrong.
However, I’m not sure that really applies to the DemiGod scenario here or to the 60 hour work week thread. In the DG case, it’s overtime to fix something that’s already gone wrong, rather than overtime before a release to avoid being the scapegoat when the SNAFU hits. I also don’t think it matches up with the “60 hour work week the norm” thread since the video clearly indicates this is very much not the norm.
Overtime sucks, it will take it’s pound of flesh from productivity and potentially morale. I’m sure folks at Stardock either got comp time or had a few days of low productivity when it was over as they recovered. However, just because overtime sucks doesn’t mean there isn’t the occasional place where it has purpose and value.
There’s nothing wrong with overtime in response to an honest emergency. It’s when you institutionalize emergencies that the problems arrive.
For example, if you have massive crunch time leading up to a release, your team will be burned out and ill-prepared to respond to Demigod-style launch issues.
looks like the final part of this documentary is up now.
http://forums.demigodthegame.com/355093
i’ve really enjoyed this inside look, brad and co. keep up the great work on demigod.
btw. what is up with the bees?!
Brad Wardell is a bee-keeper as a hobby.
He’s a strange guy. Still, his heart’s in the right place, he’s a good AI programmer and it’s America, so take his eccentricities and enjoy them.
Exactly.
I prefer eccentric. Or at least, weird. :)
Crazy or eccentric? How generic!
How about a buzzing frother or a stinging loon?