a vote about working efficiency
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I get in to the office about half hour before I need to (8:30) and start reading through my emails, then read through the choice picks in the CP daily newsletter, and end up starting at about half 9. Somedays I don't start thinking about coding until 10. Once I've started I normally have to browse the net to look for help, where I generally get sidetracked for up to an hour. I start heavy coding from 4 til 5 then go home. I would much rather work in the evening, and definitely from home.
You don't have to be mad to live here [UK], but it helps.
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I work best in the morning, by which I mean between the 8:30 or so I get to work and about 11am-12pm. I tend to do my most creative work then, reserving the more 'handle turning' jobs for the late afternoon (4-5pm) when I start to fade. By handle turning I mean anything that can just be done without requiring too much deep thought, like fixing overnight builds and warnings. Writing reports definitely falls into the creative category - if I do write one late in the day then I will almost always review it first thing the following morning. Everyone is different though, I have worked with several 11am to 7pm coders and I think people should be fairly free to choose what hours they like. You do need a few hours of overlap for meetings though.
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Generally at the moment its get in to work about 9:00-9:30, and productivity doesn't start going up till mid morning when the cuppa kicks in. The early time is spent on boring tasks which do not require thought, and also spent on CP and any reading of online articles and the like. from mid morning the productivity goes up steadily, and by about 4:30 i'm usually running at peak with the development work, and have been known to stick at a task till after most people have gone just to finish up tidily. I guess I don't like loose ends! In a previous job when I was working from home my peak productivity would be mid evening till around 10, much to the annoyance of the wife! I Guess its down to individuals and the environment you're working in...not as simple as you think. Note these rules are thrown out of the window on a friday! :laugh:
Billy. "Duct tape is like the force, it has a light side, a dark side and it holds the universe together!" - Anonymous Part-time freelance developer for hire.
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I couldn't disagree more. People's metabolisms vary widely, and it's not something you can change by corporate policy. I function at my peak between 2PM and 9PM, and I always have. My company starts work at 7AM and quits at 4PM. Over the past three years I've learned to wake up in time (5AM) to get to work, but I can't function until about 9 or so. Neither can anyone else. That means I take a lot of work home, because it just isn't physically or mentally possible to do it during working hours. And I'm not the only one. An electrical utility, our company has office staff (me, the accountant, the customer service lady, the meter guy, and the boss), and outside staff (linemen). The linemen start at 5AM in Summer to avoid the peak heat of the day, which can easily exceed 120°F, and quit by 1PM. They arrive on time, but get nothing done until 7AM, and usually want to quit by 11AM. In the office, we arrive at 7AM, but can get nothing done until 9AM because no other company we deal with opens until then. That's just as well, because none of us is in any mood to work until then, anyway. Most of our morning time is spent doing brainless administrative stuff that does little to accomplish our goals. We all tend to arrive with a plan in mind for the day, but until 9 or 10 we can't remember what the plan was. By then the boss shows up, and his priorities have changed overnight, so anything we'd planned on doing is out the window. In summary, any claim that mornings are more productive is corporate bullshit, promulgated by idiots who wake up early because they have nothing better to do with their useless, empty lives.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
I agree with Roger Wright. I've just got in to work and know I wont be at my peak until after 12pm (and after several coffees.) What should it matter. A company should only care that you are at you peak sometime while your working for them. Regards, Chris. PS. Sorry for any mistakes, it's 10:30am and I'm not at my peak yet. :)
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That definitely depends on the person. Everyone's wired differently. Besides that I find that my most efficient time period fluctuates. Some days I am all set at 4am (I was working 2am to 11am to accommodate an off shore out-sourcing company) to turn burn through several projects at once, other days I'm worthless until 8pm and then I'm good for several hours. I used to come in as early as 10pm (when I wasn't required to be in until 2am) just because I had the energy to dig in. If you want to know when a person is most productive, you'll have to ask them, and they may not even be able to give a straight answer.
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Someone here is disgruntled about his work and taking it out on others!
Roger Wright wrote:
idiots who wake up early because they have nothing better to do with their useless, empty lives.
And just for the record, I AM a morning guy. I get to the office at 7:00am to 7:30am before most people do. The quiet and lack of interruptions allow me to get much more work done than throughout the rest of the day. Great minds think alike, creative minds think originally.
Asaf Merschon wrote:
Someone here is disgruntled about his work and taking it out on others!
Probably someone is, but not me. I have a great job, though it could be more productive if it started later. :-D
Asaf Merschon wrote:
The quiet and lack of interruptions allow me to get much more work done than throughout the rest of the day.
Obviously the description doesn't apply to you, then. Good for you!
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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always
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No way! I suspect we're all different and it depends on each individual. Actually, when I have to work in the morning, I do mindless administrative stuff until after about 9 or 10 AM. I get the most productive work done after 10 AM and quite often work until 10 PM, when fatigue starts to set in and I start making stupid mistakes. For about 10 years I set my own schedule and never used an alarm clock. After a month or two of that, the routine I settled into was to sleep until about 8 AM, have breakfast and then do administrative stuff until about 10 AM, then start real work. The only problem with that was that about the time I got into something, it was time for lunch and I had to set an alarm to make sure I didn't skip lunch! I routinely worked until around 8 - 9 PM and got a lot done.
The PetroNerd
Walt Fair, Jr. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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I feel completely unlike the rest of you. I don't seem to get my groove until 4 or 5pm, just when everyone else is winding down for the day, then I end up staying too late and get in trouble with the home front. Its hard to focus in the morning, too much news and CP to read. :)
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I couldn't disagree more. People's metabolisms vary widely, and it's not something you can change by corporate policy. I function at my peak between 2PM and 9PM, and I always have. My company starts work at 7AM and quits at 4PM. Over the past three years I've learned to wake up in time (5AM) to get to work, but I can't function until about 9 or so. Neither can anyone else. That means I take a lot of work home, because it just isn't physically or mentally possible to do it during working hours. And I'm not the only one. An electrical utility, our company has office staff (me, the accountant, the customer service lady, the meter guy, and the boss), and outside staff (linemen). The linemen start at 5AM in Summer to avoid the peak heat of the day, which can easily exceed 120°F, and quit by 1PM. They arrive on time, but get nothing done until 7AM, and usually want to quit by 11AM. In the office, we arrive at 7AM, but can get nothing done until 9AM because no other company we deal with opens until then. That's just as well, because none of us is in any mood to work until then, anyway. Most of our morning time is spent doing brainless administrative stuff that does little to accomplish our goals. We all tend to arrive with a plan in mind for the day, but until 9 or 10 we can't remember what the plan was. By then the boss shows up, and his priorities have changed overnight, so anything we'd planned on doing is out the window. In summary, any claim that mornings are more productive is corporate bullshit, promulgated by idiots who wake up early because they have nothing better to do with their useless, empty lives.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
One thing I've found from getting to dip my toes in the PM world (long enough to run and beg to just be a developer) was that the "management BS" type stuff seems to be easier in the morning (and I'm *not* a morning person). You have your list of stuff you need written up, reviewed, scoldings to be given, meetings to prep for, and nobody has had a chance to call and toss it all out the window for today's big fire yet. So, I'd imagine management types (who generally are the types interested in these studies, which are often perpetrated by HR types who have all of the above except the calls it seems...) are themselves most productive in the morning and magically their studies agree. Meanwhile I *can* get some decent code pushed out in the later morning (11-ish), but of course in the normal workday that is very quickly trumped by lunch. The afternoon is hit-or-miss, I've always been able to concentrate best in the evening (8-11) when left up to my own devices (so, a day of forcing myself on-task means I don't get bupkiss done at night, even the dishes are a pain), and of course there's the college-style "2-5 a.m. dash" when things are crunched but I hardly think that counts for "mornings are more productive. So, I disagree if you're talking about programmer-types, and trying to pin down when good design work gets done generally has more to do with how hot the shower water is, how relevant the day's meetings are, and the price of tea in china...
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I couldn't disagree more. People's metabolisms vary widely, and it's not something you can change by corporate policy. I function at my peak between 2PM and 9PM, and I always have. My company starts work at 7AM and quits at 4PM. Over the past three years I've learned to wake up in time (5AM) to get to work, but I can't function until about 9 or so. Neither can anyone else. That means I take a lot of work home, because it just isn't physically or mentally possible to do it during working hours. And I'm not the only one. An electrical utility, our company has office staff (me, the accountant, the customer service lady, the meter guy, and the boss), and outside staff (linemen). The linemen start at 5AM in Summer to avoid the peak heat of the day, which can easily exceed 120°F, and quit by 1PM. They arrive on time, but get nothing done until 7AM, and usually want to quit by 11AM. In the office, we arrive at 7AM, but can get nothing done until 9AM because no other company we deal with opens until then. That's just as well, because none of us is in any mood to work until then, anyway. Most of our morning time is spent doing brainless administrative stuff that does little to accomplish our goals. We all tend to arrive with a plan in mind for the day, but until 9 or 10 we can't remember what the plan was. By then the boss shows up, and his priorities have changed overnight, so anything we'd planned on doing is out the window. In summary, any claim that mornings are more productive is corporate bullshit, promulgated by idiots who wake up early because they have nothing better to do with their useless, empty lives.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
Roger Wright wrote:
In summary, any claim that mornings are more productive is corporate bullsh*t, promulgated by idiots who wake up early because they have nothing better to do with their useless, empty lives.
Could you please, Roger, not hold back? I mean, tell us what you really think, eh? Quit beating around the bush! :-O As for myself, I'm usually good between 0930 and 1500 then again from about 1630 to 1800. I have a definite "sinker" at around 3 in the afternoon. I used to stay up really late writing code, too ... but after 30 years of this I just ain't in that mode any more. -CB ;-)
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I agree with Roger Wright. I've just got in to work and know I wont be at my peak until after 12pm (and after several coffees.) What should it matter. A company should only care that you are at you peak sometime while your working for them. Regards, Chris. PS. Sorry for any mistakes, it's 10:30am and I'm not at my peak yet. :)
Member 3828506 wrote:
What should it matter. A company should only care that you are at you peak sometime while your working for them.
Zackly. I get paid to produce results. It's none of their business how many hours I'm productive as long as I meet my deadlines. -CB ;-)
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I like to work in the mornings, too. The best time for me is when it's not so bright yet outside and it's quiet. But unfortunately I tend to start my day with a cup of coffee, mail, news and forums so usually it's already 10AM before I start working. :D I almost never use the computer in the evenings, so morning is the best (and only) time that I can read news and some articles.
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
I like to work in the mornings, too. The best time for me is when it's not so bright yet outside and it's quiet. But unfortunately I tend to start my day with a cup of coffee, mail, news and forums so usually it's already 10AM before I start working. [Big Grin] I almost never use the computer in the evenings, so morning is the best (and only) time that I can read news and some articles.
Yeah, that sounds a lot like my day, too. Mail/news/forums, then a burst of work, afternoon nap then a little more work before calling it a day. -CB ;-)
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Some people are more efficient in the morning and others drag through it. I pride myself in being consistent throughout the day. I'm very inefficient the entire day through.
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I'm a student, and I always find that I never learn much in classes before lunch; I'm simply not awake enough. Between about 11pm and 3am is when I find I work best, it's nice and quiet so there are no distractions, I'll often do the days work plus a bit extra in this period.
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If by "morning" you mean the time between midnight and sunrise, yes.
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist -
Cake. Get up. Walk downstairs. Put coffee in cup, microwave 60 seconds. Go to bathroom. Get back to microwave before #$%$^%#$ beeper goes off. Walk 10 feet. Boot computer. Oh yes, I can get to "the office" at 4am. Well, 415....
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Hurtling toward a government of the stupid, by the stupid, for the stupid we go. —Michelle Malkin
OK, you got me. Who are the yahoos coming into your home while you're still in the bathrobe sipping zapped bean juice?
I've heard more said about less.
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For me its morning. Whether I'm getting to work by 7:00 and enjoying the quiet time, or whether I'm coding at 3 am enjoying the quiet time. But really it all depends on the work. If I'm creating something and I'm on a roll, then I'll code 15 hours straight and I have to pry my cramped fingers from the keyboard and force myself to go to sleep, but I'm always worried I'll lose my momentum. That thought gets canceled by the fifth stupid mistake though. But if I have to do some mundane piece of work, like back update design docs from the code which are supposed to be there to drive the code, well... I tend to drown in self pity for being stuck in such an organization. Company policy to have a design doc. "OK, ready to begin, where's the doc?" "Go ahead and code it and then update the doc." Heh. The docs consist of pseudo code. Ha! Glad I don't work there anymore... the refreshing relief of salvation.
I've heard more said about less.