There’s a revolution coming; rage against the development crunch machine!
Software development studios are all around us, and there’s mutiny brewing amongst the brightest and best.
This industry is still in its youth compared to most, finding its way and the path taken over the last 30 years has meant that it’s building the best software and games ever. So why are we cutting our projects and people off at the knees?
Have you considered the possibility that many companies are smashing their best advantage? People are the single most crucial part of any development, and many companies are destroying their own team's lives and families in the pursuit of profit.
This approach is ‘at any cost’, and the damage is not acceptable. Crunching is not sustainable, and in a world where ethics is a hot topic, it’s just not ethical. Good developers are getting burnt out in the prime of their lives with soul-destroying hours, unpaid overtime and extended crunch periods that smash creativity from their minds.
I suspect that you, like others have experienced this, I certainly have, and for many years, while working in some of the biggest companies in the world of games development. This ‘requirement’ to give everything you have to a project … is growing as the financial pressure to succeed mounts.
Crunching on a project is expected and part of the culture, and it’s out of control.
It’s Sunday morning, early, 6:30 am you’re laid in bed in the dark looking forward to a bit more time under the covers. You should be refreshed, but this extended crunch has left you exhausted much of the time. You turn over, eyes open, but staring into the darkness, you’re not looking, you’re thinking … You ‘should’ be thinking that; the kids are going to burst in any minute or the dog, or you will get up and go for that brisk morning run.
Those regular Sunday morning happenings. The activities that weekend mornings are made of, family time, routines, plans. Today though is different, for weeks you’ve had to get up for work on a Sunday. You continue to stare into the dark, still thinking, sitting in the office in your mind, going over what needs doing on Monday morning. To squeeze every ounce of work out of each and every minute you will be at work tomorrow. Work is already dominating your day off.
Over and over, tweaking, rethinking, move this to here, that to there. Working through scenarios, push backs, on the already over large list of tasks. Damn! I can’t get work out of my head! As you roll over and glance at the clock … It’s 7:45 am! Where did that last hour go? Light is bleeding through the edge of the blinds; time to get up. You shower, dress and go into the kitchen for that much-needed coffee, and are greeted with;
“What do you want for breakfast?”
“Ahhh, err, anything, I’m easy, thanks.” (I’d not been thinking about food at all)
“That’s not an answer! We don’t get to have breakfast together much these days, so at least make an effort, don’t ruin it.”
(Ruin it? I’m so tired …) “Ok, ok, err bacon and eggs please.”
“Sigh, I told you last night. I forgot to get the bacon, don’t you remember?”
“Well, no! I got in at 9 pm after a 14-hour shift; my brain was fried. You know how it is.” (Christ’s sake! It’s just bloody breakfast.)
“That’s no use to me, is it?”
“Ok! Sorry! I’m taking the dog out for a walk, back in a bit, need to clear my head.” (I need a pressure release!)
“Right, fine …”
(Door slams)
It’s hard to relax when you aren't at work, so much pressure to make any time with the family ‘meaningful’, special, even bloody breakfast. Work is dominating your mind all of the time, and you can’t ‘un-see’ it all. As you turn the last corner on the way back to the house, thinking about a warm drink and something to eat, and feeling a little guilty that the first conversation of the day was an argument, you look at your watch; it’s 11:55 am.
How can that be? Where has the time gone? Half your day is over! No problem, you’ll suggest something exciting for the rest of the day, make the most of it. You approach the door and reach for the handle, and it’s locked? Strange, good job you’d slipped your keys into your pocket when you went out. You go into the kitchen; there’s a note next to a sandwich on the worktop; cold sausage and HP sauce, yum …
“Didn’t know how long you were going to be, popped out to the shops, back soon. x” (quickly scribbled on a scrap of paper)
Christ’s sake! There goes ‘doing something cool, and together.’ Well … I can catch up on my work emails, get some notes down about what I was thinking in bed earlier.
2 pm… 3 pm… 4 pm… Where is she? This is your only day off! Our only day together.
(Click, bang,)
That’s the door, and you glance at the clock as she walks into the kitchen; 4:45 pm. She notices the pissed off look on your face as there’s no time to go anywhere now unless it’s out for dinner.
“Hi! Sorry, I’ve been so long, I was doing a bit of shopping as usual, and I bumped into Julie, and we ended up having a bite to eat and a drink in town.”
“Shopping on a Sunday, since when?” (this is our time together).
“Since you’ve been working Sundays.”
“Going out for a bite was my plan too, that’s gone now.”
“What’s wrong with you? How would I know when you were coming back from walking the dog?”
“Well, it wouldn’t have been that long. It was a dog walk!” (I can’t believe this!)
“Look, I have my own routines on a Sunday now, as I said, you’re normally working.”
For the next four hours, you watch TV together, in pretty much silence, realise you need to get a bite as you’ve only had a cold sausage sandwich. Bed by 10 pm, need to be up at 6 am to get ready for work. What a day off that was, the only one you'd had in a while …
I suspect most people, like you and I, understand how this scenario looks and feels. Crunch has become your normal life, and everything outside it is now abnormal, unfamiliar, and worse still? Stressful … When you are off work there are;
- Unreasonable expectations from all directions.
- Distractions due to work pressures.
- New routines you take no part in.
- Tension leading to arguments.
Well, my friends, meaningful time with everyone outside of work is impossible, because extended crunch disables the capability to ‘turn work off.’ It removes you from your family, and you aren’t present even when you’re in the room. The longer the crunch, the harder it is to come back from the damage done.
Are you one of the increasing number of rebels out there? Not prepared to carry on this way, not willing to make crunch your life, for someone else’s benefit but at you and your families cost?
There is a better way. Make a positive change …
Zero Crunch – The 3-Stage System.