Kurt Williams has done a good piece on describing the close relationship between startups and overtime. It is often startups “encourage” developer to sacrifice their personal life to work over 9 hours per day. However overtime may not worth because eventually it will burn out employees and it may only have small temporary gain on productivity and output. However if you really need overtime to sprint across the finishing line, what do you need to make sure? He has identified couple good points:
- Remember that it’s not free.
- Know how far away the finish line is.
- Thank them for their sacrifice.
- Overtime hours yield lower quality work.
- Overtime is an individual sport, not a team sport.
- Practice Virtual Overtime.
Overtime and Startups – [Cardsharp on Software]
