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Work Life Balance for Passionate Developers - T...

Joshua Warren
August 12, 2015
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Work Life Balance for Passionate Developers - That Conference 2015

‘Work-life balance’ is touted in job postings everywhere - but what does it really mean? If you’re a passionate developer that’s excited about the technology you work with every day, you probably spend a fair bit of time outside of the office doing something that looks a lot like what you do at work. Even if you’re excited about your work, it’s important to find ways to rest, recharge and disconnect periodically. After spending 6 years building a team of passionate developers, I’ve learned that everyone approaches work-life balance differently, with vastly different results.

Joshua Warren

August 12, 2015
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Transcript

  1. OR:

  2. Founder & CEO Founded Creatuity in 2008 PHP Development Firm

    Focus on the Magento platform I was inspired, in large part, by never wanting to work in a traditional office thanks to the movie ‘Office Space’.
  3. Work/Life Balance Used to be simple Work 8 hours making

    widgets, then go home The widgets didn’t follow you home
  4. Work/Life Balance Today Work 8+ hours Spend an hour driving

    home Check your work email on your smartphone Finish up “one last bit” of work after dinner
  5. We have a limited amount of room and have to

    choose carefully what we pack.
  6. If we aren’t mindful of what we pack - others

    will make those decisions for us.
  7. Most of us are trying to pack entirely too much

    - we’re spending too much of our life focused on work.
  8. Work/Life Integration “If people enjoy what they do, there’s no

    need to draw strict lines.” —Fortune Magazine Not a bad concept, but…
  9. Work/Life Integration Work/Life Integration, especially when abused by employers, destroys

    personal boundaries Healthy personal boundaries are critical to self-worth, happiness & fulfillment
  10. The best attempts at work/life integration use technology to allow

    employees to alter their work to better accommodate their personal life.
  11. The worst attempts at work/life integration use technology and peer

    pressure to take advantage of passionate, driven employees.
  12. Cui Bono Evaluate a company’s work/life initiatives by asking a

    simple question - cui bono - “to whose benefit?”
  13. 2,000 sounds like a lot - but think about how

    fast each weekend disappears.
  14. Inspired by Merlin Mann’s post How Many Saturdays Do You

    Get and the followup discussion on his podcast, Back to Work
  15. Merlin’s calculation was that he had only about 300 Saturdays

    left that his young daughter would want to spend with him.
  16. #ThatConference Tech executives - you’re not running a factory. Stop

    treating your employees like factory workers.
  17. Hiring millennials? 40% of them will leave if you don’t

    have a good work/life balance policy. — Washington Post
  18. In other words - do you want high performing employees

    who are creative, solve problems and help your business grow? Give your employees downtime!
  19. #ThatConference Work/life balance is not a perk. It’s an attitude

    of respect for each employee’s life and need for rest.
  20. Flexible hours and working from home are great, but create

    a clear boundary that signals to manager and employee when the employee is working.
  21. Flexible hours and remote work are not an excuse or

    justification for overworking employees.
  22. As a manager - make sure to respect your employee’s

    boundaries - and your own. Lead by example.
  23. These options are great, but implemented on their own without

    a cultural change, they are often underutilized.
  24. Old culture: all employees must be in the same office

    at the same time, or they aren’t getting work done
  25. New culture: it’s important for employees to be able to

    collaborate, but their productivity won’t suffer if they don’t have the exact same hours.
  26. For others, it means getting that last hour of work

    in after the kids have gone to bed.
  27. Experiment with small changes. I banned laptops from my bedroom

    and discovered that one change greatly improved my sleep.
  28. For me - it wasn’t just the impact of staring

    at a bright screen. Using a laptop in bed prevented me from relaxing my mind.
  29. #ThatConference Know yourself. Take time to set priorities to help

    you guide your own personal balance between work and life.
  30. Does your time spent at home match up with your

    priorities? If not, rearrange until it does.
  31. Would you walk out of a meeting at work for

    a minor issue at home? Then don’t give up your personal time for a minor issue at work!
  32. Get better sleep - FitBit Improve your nutrition - MyFitnessPal

    Get some sort of exercise - FitBit + MyFitnessPal
  33. Even minor improvements to your health will have a noticeable

    impact on your work/life balance and your enjoyment of life
  34. Ensure your family respects your work time - establish a

    clear signal when you are ‘at work’.
  35. Ensure your work respects your family time - establish clear

    rules and expectations of when you will and won’t be reachable.
  36. Don’t spend all of your personal time on a project

    that closely mirrors what you do at work.
  37. For example - I enjoy speaking with developers and trying

    new beers. I use every trip I take - for work or pleasure - to connect with local user groups and get their recommendation for a good local beer.
  38. It’s an important topic, and important to get it right

    - those 2,000 Saturdays will pass by in a blink.
  39. #ThatConference Define one boundary between your work and your life

    and starting Monday, respect that boundary.