This one is a
modified version of a scenario described in the book Peopleware(which by the
way, is a great read).
Jack, Suresh, Mila
and Andrew are a closely knit team of four is working on a project. They are
all high performing engineers and work well within a team. These are salaried
employees; so they don’t get paid for overtime.
The company is
not doing so well this year and a very important software update needs to get
released by the end of the month. As a result, the project manager requests the
team to put in some extra effort and get it done. They all know it is a very
visible project in the company and the CEO has shown special interest in its
outcome. They all know it is important to succeed as a team in this situation.
Jack has a bit of
a situation though; he cannot stay late hours. His wife’s job demands that she
work evening shifts. So, Jack has to take care of the kids. Now, the rest of
the team understands this and offer to “cover
for Jack” willingly. Each day, the four of them work together till 4pm and
then Suresh, Mila and Andy stay back till their everyday goal is met. They
order-in pizza, call their loved ones but never leave the office till they feel
like they have achieved something for the day. Week 1 is exciting; Week 2 they
are all overworked, the software doesn’t seem to be very stable, their spouses
are unhappy but “Jack leaves exactly at
4!”
Come Week 3, the
frustration levels are higher; Suresh and Mila start cribbing about how “How Jack gets to go home early!”
Week 4 is the
worst; the software has to be released and the team is still fixing bugs. “But Jack doesn’t care!” or does he?
Of course, Jack
cares. But now we see how a closely knit team has started falling apart. We
don’t know how overtime helped the company produce better results. May be they
were all so overworked, that the software was extremely buggy. But even worse,
now a great team which ‘could kill’
to succeed, has fallen apart.
Has the company
saved some overtime money? May be. Has the company lost much more than that?
Think about it…
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