

The Eight Hour Burn (2013) - chadfowler
http://chadfowler.com/passionate-programmer/burn.html

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norswap
I personally can't even work 8 hours a day. And I mean really work. Even if
including lunch and coffee breaks, that's still a lot. With meetings,
answering to mails & other stuff, it might be doable.

I doubt that I get more than 4 productive hours most day (and I have almost no
meeting to attend or mails to answer). I'm seriously curious about where I
stand compared to the average of programmers. I'm guessing below average, but
not that much; I'm also guessing nearly no one can code productively 8 whole
hours.

~~~
chippy
Eight hours solid coding and typing, or eight hours using your brain?

Often one line of code can be written in 3 hours, after spending that time
debugging, researching, learning.

~~~
norswap
Using your brain.

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applecore
_> You can’t keep up the pace of a sprint and finish a marathon._

I used to think this too. In reality, distance runners can keep up what we'd
consider a sprinting speed (10+ mph) for the duration of a marathon. Sprinting
forces your body to run more efficiently.

~~~
throwaway812
As long as we're talking about professionals, Usain Bolt can sprint at 27 mph,
well above 10 mph :).

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pmiller2
I was surprised not to see anything about the importance of breaks. I find I
get more done in a day when I take a 10-20 minute break about every 90 minutes
than if I try and "power through" it. In a 9-hour day with a 1-hour lunch,
that means I'm taking 2 or 3 of these breaks (meaning my total time-at-desk
working might be only 7 hours), but I'm feeling better and still getting good
work done at the end of the day.

I also turn off as many notifications as I can get away with. Email? Check it
2 or 3 times a day. Phone? I turn the volume off or way down unless I'm
expecting an important call/text.

I'm looking for a work environment right now that will let me maintain my 8
hour burn and not brand me as a slacker.

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_random_
8 hours is legal, this is something our ancestors earned hard. Why are we even
discussing this as if it was acceptable to work 8+ hours _for_someone_else_
unless you are really-really enjoying it? I say it's reasonable to ask for 6
hours giving the present day commute times.

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codecondo
What made you share this only now, chad? :)

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chadfowler
Re-read it as a reminder to myself and thought it would be good for people to
read on Sunday before starting the work week. :)

~~~
codecondo
ah, good stuff! :)

