Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules

The Bottom Line on Voluntary Overtime

If the average developer spends 40 hours per week at the office, some research indicates that only about 30 of those hours are productive (Jones 1991). When that developer is asked to voluntarily work a moderate amount of overtime, say 10 percent, two things happen. First, the developer spends 4 more hours per week at the office, which by itself increases productive hours from 30 to 33, if the proportion of productive hours to work hours is held constant. Second, the developer attaches a greater sense of urgency to the job at hand and can often find ways to increase the number of hours worked per day from 6 to 6.5 or more. Thus, overall, the productive hours have increased from 30 to 35.5, which is an 18-percent ...