Burnout

Burnout can be caused by your evil boss cracking the whip, asking you to do more with less in difficult times. Or it could be self-inflicted because you are so driven to accomplish your own unrealistically demanding goals.

Most of us have been in situations where we have felt burned out. It can range from feeling a bit tired after a tough project, to exhaustion after a few too many 12-hour days, all the way to a near-death experience after an extended multi-month death march. In many of these cases you can end up being an ineffective zombie who can barely crawl into work, much less do anything productive.

Management tends to avoid the term “Death March”, preferring instead inspiration terms like “a Fast Pace” or “Crunch Time”. Too often they see an either-or choice between cracking the whip and slipping dates, and without exception slipping dates is not an option. However, this is an entirely wrong way of thinking and it points to an utter failure of leadership.

If you start seeing the signs of burnout around you, such as people coming into work later and later, circles under their eyes, listlessness and general lack of enthusiasm, it’s time to consider whether it’s the environment for you. And as obvious as that may sound, it really isn’t. Some people actually thrive in death marches, as they see it as a way to show their mettle and separate themselves from the weaklings.

My recommendation is to try and avoid organizations that are prone to death marches in the first place. Some such companies may include the following:

• Large product companies that have fixed product delivery dates. Gotta ship before the fourth quarter or the stock analysts will kill us!
• Startups, especially pre-IPOs. Famous for 80 hour weeks, but they might be worthwhile if you get significant stock options.
• Consulting firms that do fixed-price contracts. The temptation to underbid to win contracts is immense, resulting in the need to accomplish more work with fewer developers.
• Any company that stresses ‘SDLC’. This usually means the Waterfall methodology, where requirements changes are inevitable thrown in at the last minute and throw the whole schedule out of whack.