Sustainable Pace

Working unscheduled overtime doesn’t prove dedication. A team member that routinely burns extra hours is a signal of poor planning, agreeing to risky deadlines, or over-promising - not professionalism. It makes them a manipulable laborer, not a trusted partner. Having said that, not all overtime is wrong. Genuine emergencies do happen where extra effort is needed, but those cases should be rare and an “work overtime” solution be something that is chosen deliberately from all the options available. ...

I care about how my team manages their energy. Running faster than we can sustain leads to mistakes, rework, and slower progress overall. Experience shows time and time again, that the worst technical mistakes happen when we push through late-evening and frantic over-work. Projects are marathons, not sprints, so it’s important to maintain a Sustainable Pace. When teams preserve steady, focused effort, the code quality and morale stay high. If a manager pressures the team to speed up, the team must push back thoughtfully. The team’s endurance and the long-term health must be protected. ...