We delivered on a project 2 weeks ahead of schedule so we were given raises, I got a promotion, and we were given 2 weeks to just do some chill PD at our own discretion as a reward. All paid on the clock.
Some companies are indeed pretty cool about it.
I was asked to give some demos and do some chats with folks to spread info on how we had such success, and they were pretty fond of my methodology.
At its core delivering faster does translate to getting bigger bonuses and kickbacks at my company, so yeah there’s actual financial incentive for me to perform way better.
You also are ignoring the stress thing. If I can work 3x better, I can also just deliver in almost the same time, but spend all that freed up time instead focusing on quality, polishing the product up, documentation, double checking my work, testing, etc.
Instead of scraping past the deadline by the skin of our teeth, we hit the deadline with a week or 2 to spare and spent a buncha extra time going over everything with a fine tooth comb twice to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
And instead of mad rushing 8 hours straight, it’s just generally more casual. I can take it slower and do the same work but just in a less stressed out way. So I’m literally just physically working less hard, I feel happier, and overall my mood is way better, and I have way more energy.
The thing is, the tech keeps advancing too so even if they tighten up deadlines, by the time they did that our productivity also took another gearshift up so we still are some degree ahead.
This isn’t new, in software we have always been getting new tools to do our jobs better and faster, or produce fancier results in the same time
I am indeed getting more time off for PD
We delivered on a project 2 weeks ahead of schedule so we were given raises, I got a promotion, and we were given 2 weeks to just do some chill PD at our own discretion as a reward. All paid on the clock.
Some companies are indeed pretty cool about it.
I was asked to give some demos and do some chats with folks to spread info on how we had such success, and they were pretty fond of my methodology.
At its core delivering faster does translate to getting bigger bonuses and kickbacks at my company, so yeah there’s actual financial incentive for me to perform way better.
You also are ignoring the stress thing. If I can work 3x better, I can also just deliver in almost the same time, but spend all that freed up time instead focusing on quality, polishing the product up, documentation, double checking my work, testing, etc.
Instead of scraping past the deadline by the skin of our teeth, we hit the deadline with a week or 2 to spare and spent a buncha extra time going over everything with a fine tooth comb twice to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
And instead of mad rushing 8 hours straight, it’s just generally more casual. I can take it slower and do the same work but just in a less stressed out way. So I’m literally just physically working less hard, I feel happier, and overall my mood is way better, and I have way more energy.
I will say that I am genuinely glad to hear your business is giving you breaks instead of breaking your backs.
That sounds so cool! I’m glad you’re getting the benefits.
I’m only wary that the cash-making machine will start tightening the ropes on the free time and the deadlines.
That’s very cool.
It’ll be interesting to see how it goes in a year’s time, maybe they’ll have raised their expectations and tightened the deadlines by then.
The thing is, the tech keeps advancing too so even if they tighten up deadlines, by the time they did that our productivity also took another gearshift up so we still are some degree ahead.
This isn’t new, in software we have always been getting new tools to do our jobs better and faster, or produce fancier results in the same time
This is just another tool in the toolbelt.