Recently, in the Zinc Prod podcast, we discussed burnout. I decided to structure some thoughts and make out as an article
First story
Once, when I was still a simple linear developer, I decided to freelance. A friend asked me to finalize one rather tricky system, paid well (we agreed on payment by the hour), didn’t set deadlines much, and I agreed. Well, why not?
Here it must be said right away that my main work was quite intense, in addition, I had a son with big health problems. Those. I was already fundamentally at the limit of mental possibilities, but apparently I was not fully aware of this. And in general, performance was normal - I was in good standing with the company, I worked honestly.
And so I started freelancing in the evenings.
I came home from work, ate, was engaged in various family affairs and got to work, actually taking away a little time from sleep. When you get upset and want to sleep, it is very difficult to load a complex context into the brain and start working. However, I promised to complete the task, so in essence I did it through force. Those. I began to work painfully, progressed a little and went to bed.
Every day the code base grew, the dependencies between the parts of the project became more complicated, and I had to remember even more context in order to start working. And I worked, I remind you, basically in a tired state I can’t through.
The subconscious began to look for reasons to otmazatsya from such a strain, and often I scored and went to bed. Sometimes such a "rest" lasted several days. However, the work had to be done, the money had to be earned, and I set to work again.
Moreover, after a couple of weeks of rest (although there was no rest, it was rather "overwork"), recalling the difficult context was even harder, so it was almost a torture. In fact, a very real conditioned reflex was gradually developed. You open the IDE - you get a hemorrhoid. Almost like an electric shock for Pavlov’s dog.
Well, in the end, one day I realized that I just can’t open the IDE, it hurts me almost physically. And the thought of work is a panic horror.
I said to myself: so, stop! I’m a fanatic programmer, I love my job. What's happening?
As a result, after a thoughtful reflection on the problem, I decided not to work if I was very tired. And also decided to never freelance again without extreme need. Moreover, I try to do even pet projects only in a cheerful state of mind, this also bears fruit - projects more or less reach their logical conclusion.
When I write an article on Habr, and I feel that I'm tired or tired, I put it off until better times, even if there is a little bit of grinding left.
Advice to team leader number 1. Do not squeeze out all the juices from the programmers
If you are a team leader, monitor the status of your employees on an ongoing basis. On a permanent basis - this means on a permanent basis, and not once every six months to force someone to go on vacation. Vacation does not help when everything is already bad. On vacation, a person should gain new experiences and have fun with friends or family, and not come to life after burnout.
Therefore, despite all the sprints and deadlines, make sure that programmers do not overwork. If someone has worked in extra urgent mode or reworked - then give him a day off or at least just a weakened mode of operation. Put fewer tasks in the sprint or give up sprints altogether. When an urgent task or a deadline task arrives from a business, make sure that no compromise can be reached. It often happens that the task is set as urgent, but in reality it is not particularly important in monetary terms.
Second story
Once I got a job in a company where there were strict work rules. When I was hired, they gave me a stack of instructions that needed to be signed. For example, such:
- The boss must be called by name and patronymic
- You can leave the room no more than two times before lunch and no more than three times after lunch
- Lunch at exactly 13:00
- Arriving at work on time is considered a delay, because at 9:00 the employee should not just come, but sit at the computer
and the like, a whole bunch. Part of the instructions in places contradicted each other.
I was a little surprised, but decided not to run away right away, because the interview was quite adequate. You never know what they wrote in the papers.
In the process, it turned out that there is a branch of hell. All the time we were adjusted in time, imposed bad architecture (EAV), there was no admin access on the working computer, and in general there was an atmosphere of a concentration camp. This or that stress was almost every single day. All kinds of regulations and restrictions sucked out all the juices.
Burnout came very quickly. Not having worked for a month, I dumped from there.
Tip number 2. Do not put meaningless restrictions, do not turn on paranoia, trust employees. Remember, stress affects performance and burns out.
The third story, very short
Once upon a time I had my own business, if you can call it that. The business lasted on inhuman efforts for about seven years (then died, but this is the details). There were times when, in order to test an idea, I had to write code on the weekend. Or delay until late.
However, surprisingly, I perceived this as absolutely normal. There was no mention of any burnout from the refining. After all, it was not just work for my uncle, but part of my life.
Tip number 3. Do not consider an employee as a soulless human resource. He must be involved in the overall movement of the business. He should take colleagues as friends or even family. It is difficult to implement, but this must be sought.
Output
The conclusion is very simple, captain even: the more a person does through force (contrary to desires), the more stress in the work, the faster it burns out . The rest is the details.
PS There are people who believe that raising salaries can compensate for stress / processing and reduce burnout. I believe not. More precisely, this will only help if a person has a salary that is too low, that he constantly does not have enough money, and this causes stress. Then yes. But if sn is high, then its further increase from the point of view of burnout does not play any role.
PPS Subscribe to the Zinc Prod Podcast!