Does forcing developers to work less hours boost productivity?
In chapter 15 of [The Deadline][1] by Tom DeMarco working extra hours is discussed. One of the characters says she forces the developers out of the office every evening so that they can't work extra hours. She says this makes people concentrate on their work, use time more productively and lets them get more things done.

The way she does that is quite funny - she threatens she will cut the power off. That's obviously one of the nice jokes of the novel.

But anyway the idea is quite interesting. And IMO it contradicts severely with [Joel's Bionic Office][2]. Joel quotes [Philip Greenspun][3] who says that *...success will depend on the extent to which programmers essentially live at your office*. Which as I get it means that the office must be great so that people are subtly encouraged to spend more time there and get more things done.

Have you ever seen the "not let developers work extra hours to make them more productive" thing in action? What were the results? What's your opinion on this idea?


  [1]: http://www.systemsguild.com/GuildSite/TDM/Deadline.html
  [2]: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BionicOffice.html
  [3]: http://philip.greenspun.com/ancient-history/managing-software-engineers
Does forcing developers to work less hours boost productivity?
===

In chapter 15 of [The Deadline][1] by Tom DeMarco working extra hours is discussed. One of the characters says she forces the developers out of the office every evening so that they can't work extra hours. She says this makes people concentrate on their work, use time more productively and lets them get more things done.

The way she does that is quite funny - she threatens she will cut the power off. That's obviously one of the nice jokes of the novel.

But anyway the idea is quite interesting. And IMO it contradicts severely with [Joel's Bionic Office][2]. Joel quotes [Philip Greenspun][3] who says that *...success will depend on the extent to which programmers essentially live at your office*. Which as I get it means that the office must be great so that people are subtly encouraged to spend more time there and get more things done.

Have you ever seen the "not let developers work extra hours to make them more productive" thing in action? What were the results? What's your opinion on this idea?


  [1]: http://www.systemsguild.com/GuildSite/TDM/Deadline.html
  [2]: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BionicOffice.html
  [3]: http://philip.greenspun.com/ancient-history/managing-software-engineers