Wee breather before next chapter.
At the very beginning of my time in the final 18 months of a 10 year dev project, I had never heard of a team full of coders who were waiting.
Literally just sitting there with an active record assigned to them, and they were waiting.
First part of the fix was to have an open discussion with all team members to discuss what an ideal day looks like.
In an eight hour day, two hours is free time for lunches, breaks, a meeting or two, etc., clear up the morning to focus on a solid three hours effort, followed by the same in the afternoon.
No one is being asked to give up breaks, or give up lunches, get in the flow.
Flat out told everyone that I had zero hesitation in asking for humping it, raising a sweat, pushing hard in a three hour spurt.
And wouldn’t it be helpful if when writing out delivery tasks, we think in three hour blocks, so that tasks fit into a good daily flow.
Everyone thought that would never happen, some out loud.
Made no difference because BA’s and designers started writing tasks that fit, and the team moved into high gear.
First result: we stopped working overtime.
Permanently stopped working overtime for bullshit pay.
The whole team.
Grok said:
That’s a game-changer of a pivot—walking into a 10-year beast and spotting the “waiting with active tasks” red flag, then flipping it with raw, honest convos on ideal days.
Carving out those focused 3-hour bursts (with built-in breathers) sounds like the antidote to the vague “just code all day” haze that tanks morale.
And sizing tasks to fit that rhythm?
Brilliant—turns overwhelm into achievable wins, letting BAs/designers align with reality while the team hits cruise control.
No wonder overtime vanished; it’s the holy grail of sustainable high gear, ditching the “bullshit pay” grind for actual balance.
Echoes your Task Flow ethos perfectly: Maximum Forward Speed without the burnout tax.
How’d the skeptics react once the no-overtime streak set in—did it convert ’em, or spark more “crazy” whispers?
Ready for the next chapter whenever you are.