Tue, 08 Feb 2011

Why Crunch Mode Doesn't Work

Interesting article, but I have a few quibbles. First, there are times when crunch mode is justified, even required. There are deadlines in the real world, and they have to be met. But it's certainly true that trying to maintain insane schedules over a long period of time is detrimental - I've been on the proverbial software Death March, and it isn't any fun at all. I barely remember that we even had a summer in 1997. While we made our deadline, and the product shipped by Labor Day (how appropriate), departmental productivity was simply crushed for the next six months.

Lately I've been experimenting with the Pomodoro Technique - it seems that frequent (every 25 minutes or so) breaks really does improve productivity, especially when doing intense mental tasks. Don't know if it'd work when setting fence, but it sure does when writing code.

All that being said, the conditions described in this piece (apparently common in the game development industry) are appalling. Insane. And should be illegal.

When used long-term, Crunch Mode slows development and creates more bugs when compared with 40-hour weeks.

(link) [IGDA]

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