
Work Less - bjonathan
http://thinkvitamin.com/fully-carsonified/work-less/
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adamhowell
After participating in Rails Rumble a couple of years ago a fun idea I haven't
been able to shake is if it'd be possible to work 20 hours a day Saturday and
Sunday and then take M-F off (plus, you'd have less online distractions during
your "workweek," since it'd be everyone else's weekend).

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patio11
M-F off is highly overrated if one's passions involve other people. I have it
any time I want. Unless the people important to you also have free time at 2
PM on Tuesday, it turns into lots of fungible book-or-gym time, and the little
old ladies at the gym will ask you why you aren't at work.

~~~
adamhowell
Oops, I meant to reply to this. It would especially appeal to me right now
because my wife stays home with my 4-year-old daughter.

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askar_yu
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinsons_Law>

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."

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twymer
I think it's funny a lot of comments are saying they would be angry about not
being able to work on that Friday. I'm not particularly sure why you would be
upset if your employer offered to pay you 40 hr/week salary and only expected
you to work ~32 hours.

They place value in that day assuming you will use it to rest. Working on it
would be counter productive to what they see it being useful for.

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bmelton
Loss of momentum. When I'm coding, and I'm on a tear, I generally won't stop
for drinks, food, or any other outside distractions. It's this exact reason
that I abhor the cubicle culture so much, as it tends to invite distractions,
generally when I'm in the midst of my greatest productivity.

If I'm on a roll with something, I don't want to chance that I'll come back
from a three day weekend every week and have to remember where I left off, or
spend that time trying to get back in the groove.

One of the best places I worked (now defunct) allowed for you to work hours
per week -- if you worked over, you were credited it for the next week. It was
great to crank out marathon sessions, and then, between projects, you could
take the remainder of the time off, to rest. So if I spent 7 days straight on
a project, I could take 4 days to rest and be 'neutral' on my schedule balance
(assuming 8 hour days).

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jlees
The majority of Carsonified employees do not, however, code. I think this
distinction is lost somewhere in all the anti-moonlighting ranting.

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dools
The founding premise of this article is that "you get more done just before
you go on holiday" which I've never noticed.

I also think it's inaccurate to assume that folks generally have "hidden
capacity" that will miraculously allow them to get done in 4 days what would
normally have taken 5.

All this boils down to is profit margin on your work: if you're able to build
a pricing model where you bill clients enough to fund 15 people taking an
extra day off per week, then you can move to a 4 day work week. If not, you
can't.

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gfodor
By induction you should be able to get your entire week's worth of effort done
in an hour if only you put yourself under enough pressure. As you can see,
there is a flaw in this argument.

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mmt
I can't quite put my finger on the logical fallacy here, but there must be
one.

For example, applied to a compression algorithm, it fails, too, yet we have
lossless compression.

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gfodor
No, the difference is lossless compression algorithms have a defined lower
bound on how packed the bits can get. No such lower bound has been asserted
here in terms of compressing your work, just the idea that you can drop 24
hours off the end of the week with no loss of productivity. Clearly 24 hours
is arbitrary, why isn't Thursday a half day?

A more sound argument would be one with actual data and measurements about how
reducing the workweek affected overall productivity of the team. Without that
it's just opinions and guessing.

~~~
mmt
>No such lower bound has been asserted here in terms of compressing your work,
just the idea that you can drop 24 hours off the end of the week with no loss
of productivity. Clearly 24 hours is arbitrary, why isn't Thursday a half day?

No such lower bound is defined, but one need not be. The OP is merely stating
that the lower bound is 32 hours or less. He's not dropping 24 hours off,
merely 8 (or 9, that par is unclear).

As another commentor points out, the lower bound on compression algorithms
varies by input. This is likely true here, too.

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ryancarson
I wrote this article and I'd like to comment on all the angry "I can't believe
they won't let me work on Fridays" comments.

We don't have an adversarial relationship with our team. We're not checking
every word of the contract and neither are they.

We're all working towards a greater goal and we're all doing what it takes to
get there.

If someone wants to do some extra freelance work on a Friday, then we don't
hassle them about it. However, if they do that, they're missing the entire
point: they're getting paid a full salary, but only having to work 4 days a
week for it.

Why not just take Friday off and enjoy it? The whole point is that a good
work-life balance is healthy, fun and fulfilling.

If the money isn't good enough (even though we pay well), then maybe it's not
the right job for you.

No one is forcing anyone to do anything here.

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bmelton
"write it into their contract that they agree not to work a second job on
their day off."

In particular due to the exact language ('day off' vs. 'days off') -- If an
employee's schedule is Mon-Thu, are they free to work the weekends at another
job (but not the Friday), or is all moonlighting prohibited?

Are they free to work on their own projects on their off days?

If I'm showing bias, I apologize, but I'm a little bit offended that an
employer would attempt exercise control over what their employees do in their
off time. I'm not saying it isn't ever justified, but if the requirement is
that they only work 4 days a week, then they're free to do what they will with
the fifth, unless the assertion is that they're actually 'working' five days a
week, and are just ordered to relax on the fifth day.

~~~
tptacek
This seems a bit silly. The employer's objective is to spend capital on
keeping employees extra- rested and extra- content, in order to maximize
productivity and minimize turnover. If you try to nerd your way out of their
plan, they'll meet the objective some other way; for instance, they can simply
demand that everyone show up to the office on day 5.

A 32 hour work week is such a huge benefit that I can't imagine anyone
_actually working on such a team_ trying to subvert it. It's totally
reasonable to have side projects and even to work a second job. I think a
reasonable person stuck in the situation of wanting a second job while working
for the 4-day company would simply leave the team.

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sabon
Haven't anybody noticed it's actually 36 hour work week, not 32?

M-F 9am-6pm = 4 x 9

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warwick
They likely take lunch.

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petercooper
True, but in a salaried job in the UK, it's typical to include those hours in
your total (though not if you're paid by the hour). At least in my experience.
So if you're "at work" 9-5 M-F, that's still a 40 hour work week.

~~~
keturn
Status quo for a "40 hour week" at my current employer is 8-5 M-F with an hour
lunch. I tried it for six months and decided it was a bad idea.

I was able to renegotiate things to 9-5, but my manager acted like it was this
really unusual request and wasn't I lucky that they were willing to let me
work "less than 40 hours."

That left me wondering, what do other people consider full time in this
industry?

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raintrees
This is similar to what I went through dropping work down from 7 days a week
to 6, and then to 5. Clients always appear. If they had their way, I would
still be working all 7 days a week, preferably 24 hours a day.

As to those who are commenting about being "forced" to take the day off, I am
not sure you are getting the point the author is trying to make. The whole
point is not being burned out. Adding another job is a great way to reach
burn-out faster.

Notice I say "job." In my book, this does not include hobbies. Which, to the
outside observer, may look like work only because I use many of the same
tools.

And if you really want to work that hard (and it was easier to get away with
it when I was younger) maybe this is not the right employment for you...

FWIW. I have cycled through burn-out several times, and I prefer living a
healthy lifestyle, if at all possible.

(Edited to be a bit less harsh than my first wording - Sorry).

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AlexC04
I would honestly _love_ to find a workplace that did this in Canada. To be
fair, I'd consider moving back to the UK for that. Bath is beautiful too. I
worked in Cornwall as a supply / substitute teacher for a few months. The
landscape took my breath away every single day.

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eunice_chen
I feel like this is a bit optimistic. There are people who waste time in a 5
day work week environment; and those same people will waste a proportionate
amount of time in a 4 day work week as well because that's just the work pace
theyre used to.

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jckay
I think this is a bit idealistic. Especially in the entrepreneurial world,
with your mind constantly spinning on new ideas. Sometimes it can even be
challenging to take the weekend off.

The one thing i just love about this is the "Do Something Cool". This is
something i have tried to do even on my weekends, something as simple as take
a 2-3 hour walk. Or try and get lost and find my way home.

Silly stuff like that, but the second you truly relax and let your mind wander
you actually start to be MORE creative. I would love to instate something
where employees must take a one hour walk a week!

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dstein
You mean people don't work 7-to-12 days in a row until they crash, then take a
day and a half off, and repeat the process over again? Pfft, lightweights.

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noverloop
Would it still be productive when the 5th day is a company-wide hackathon?

