Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt Crunch
Young buck consultant I was traveling to the UK from the US _every week_. When I got there big boss man would often come with us and make us work until midnight. I would take the redeye on Sunday night, drive straight to the client and work non-stop until I flew back on Friday.
I stopped because I had a newborn and my wife was taking the brunt of it while she was in surgical residency.
In retrospect, it was all completely stupid and no value-add. Your productivity tanks after about 12 hours and doing more just seems to be a pissing contest. I honestly feel that I get way more out of my teams now running to a constant 40 hour/week drum beat with the occasional ramp up on a crunch week.
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This is my experience too. I was working on a major project in the Netherlands for an American company that worked us to death. 7am to 5pm at the client office and then back to our regional office for strategy session and planning for the next day until 9 or 10pm. Then out for drinks and dinner. Day after day. We were all wasted and the extra hours were not translating into positive results. All it did was prove that we worked hard. The Dutch clients thought we Americans were crazy. They would leave at 5pm and go home to their families or go out for a beer. The Dutch clients worked 40 hours per week and calmly accomplished an amazing amount in a well-planned, structured manner. What a contrast.
There are times to ramp up, but if its every day all the time, you are doing it wrong!