Question: I work at a very young start-up company. We have had turn-over rates (mass resignation of staff, thrice) in the past but changes in the system have led to a more a stable employee retention and better technical-skilled employees. We do games, and I don't know with other software fields, but the "[death march](http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/05/the-death-march-the-problem-of-crunch-time-in-game-development/)" is quite popular in our field.

My boss believes that the only way for us to catch-up to top companies is to exert more effort, which generally translates to more time working. Hence, we've had a culture of working a lot of hours (we work an average of 65 hours a week, peaking up to 90hours a week).

Our deadlines are either very difficult and sometimes impossible (since the team is pretty young) but our management sets deadlines at the "if people at company X can do this in X days, we can do it too"

I personally believe that raising team efficiency is one of the factors that can help eliminate too much overtime.

I've seen my subordinates/junior staff often not focused enough during the day, but I don't know how to objectively measure this (I've seen questions here relating to KPI's, or key performance indicators).

I'm in a position where I have good relations with my boss (our CEO), the management and the entire team and I believe they're more than willing enough to hear out what I have to say.

How can I approach this in a way that is beneficial for both the staff and the company?

Answer: 
The link you included in your question contains really all the information and references you need. Especially the Evan Robinson's well-known paper [Why Crunch Modes Doesn't Work](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304165322/http://www.igda.org/?page=crunchsixlessons), together with the supporting material and references, should provide you with ample arguments.

Basically, in pushing for sustained 60-85 hour work-weeks, your CEO is flying in the face of a majority of research done in the previous 100 years on worker productivity and risks.

This seems to be the norm in the games industry since the last 10-15 years though, so he's not alone in this apparent irrational behavior.

I would also add these hypothetical questions to your CEO:

* In the last 10-15 years, has the number of zero-day bugs and defects in shipped games products increased or decreased?
* In the last 10-15 years, has the average schedule overdraft on deliveries of games products increased or decreased?
* In the last 10-15 years, has the average budget overdraft on games projects increased or decreased?

And finally:

* In the last 10-15 years, have the number of working hours per week for each person in games projects increased or decreased?
**Seems to be working** If you're meeting the deadlines, I don't see how you can justify calling them impossible. Your boss thinks he's the next Steve Jobs. Just push for more-it's really that simple.

**Negative Consequences**
I haven't found any mention of what happens when deadlines aren't met. Has anyone been fired? If management is correct, and you aren't competitive in your market, everyone suffers the natural consequences of a weakened company. Does it affect your bonus?

**Rewards** If this company makes it 'big', are you all going to be millionaires? I'd expect more turnover unless they pay better than average salaries. 

Like too many programmers/engineers, you've developed an "all or nothing" mentality about your job. The boss set this impossible deadline, oh my! So what? The programmer is afraid they will release more bugs, but the management would rather meet the deadline because the level of bugs is acceptable in their mind AND THEIR USERS. We'll have to spend even more time fixing things. So what? They know this will happen. Everyone expects a quick patch after a major release. 

**It's all in your head** I'm willing to bet as the deadline nears, features get removed. Cut back on your hours. Get some sleep. Do something fun. You'll be more productive. You can only suggest others take this advice. When everyone realizes the sky isn't falling, your management may figure out you've learned to play the game.