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996

(lucumr.pocoo.org)
1002 points genericlemon24 | 2 comments | 06 Sep 25 13:20 UTC | HN request time: 0.397s | source
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whstl ◴[06 Sep 25 15:55 UTC] No.45150377[source]▶
996 is just theater for investors.

Saw this happening even at YC companies. There was always that stupid expectation of overworking, staying until 9.

The reality is that people twiddle thumbs.

And the disorganization and micromanagement power plays are enough to negate any additional worked hour.

This ranges from pure disorganization in terms of what to build to having 3 hour meetings with the whole fucking company where the CEO pretends they have something worthwhile to say for 3 hours.

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graemep ◴[06 Sep 25 16:07 UTC] No.45150486[source]▶
> 996 is just theater for investors.

Investors who have not heard of the research into productivity that says long hours have no significant benefit for skilled work? Who have not heard of diminishing returns? Who have no experience of the reality of working long hours themselves?

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1. majormajor ◴[06 Sep 25 18:37 UTC] No.45151780[source]▶
It's easy to believe that on average longer hours may not have much marginal improvement to productivity but that for you specifically they do.

And being able to convince yourself that your team is special, not just average, is an ability that is more often found in people taking big crazy swings.

Especially if you have a history of working overtime in crunch time in your own career in the past and believe that you couldn't have finished certain projects on time if not. (Which could be different than working long hours every day for years, but then you're back to the potential for nuance around "on average" and "for me and my team, because we're exceptional.")

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2. abustamam ◴[06 Sep 25 20:15 UTC] No.45152483[source]▶
Everyone thinks that they are special and that their take on X is special.

Once in a while, they're right. Most of the time, by the definition of the law of averages, most of them are not.

Maybe I just have no ambition to become the next trillionaire because I'm lazy or whatever, but I am under no illusion that me or my team are exceptional. We're good. We get stuff done. We make money. Investors like us. Our customers like us. Our business partners like us. And many people here on HN are likely in a similar boat. Many without working 996.