{
    "href": "/post/2011/05/10/i-like-my-it-budget-tight-and-my-developers-stupid/",
    "relId": "2011/05/10/i-like-my-it-budget-tight-and-my-developers-stupid",
    "title": "I Like My IT Budget Tight and My Developers Stupid",
    "author": "pmjones",
    "markup": "html",
    "tags": [
        {
            "href": "/tag/management/",
            "relId": "management",
            "title": "Management",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        },
        {
            "href": "/tag/programming/",
            "relId": "programming",
            "title": "Programming",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
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    ],
    "created": "2011-05-10 15:29:16 UTC",
    "updated": [
        "2011-05-10 15:29:16 UTC"
    ],
    "html": "<blockquote>\n<p>If you don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t give staff time to recharge their batteries, they burn out. It\u00e2\u0080\u0099s one reason why Goerlich requires his staff to put aside 20% of their time for skills development. He hit on that number back when he ran a consultancy. In those days, he\u00e2\u0080\u0099d have a certain type of consultant out billing \u00e2\u0080\u009crock-solid\u00e2\u0080\u009d hours, flat-out, wall-to-wall.</p>\n<p>They tended to be the young ones.</p>\n<p>They\u00e2\u0080\u0099d last six months.</p>\n<p>Goerlich noticed that his consultants who weren\u00e2\u0080\u0099t maxing out on hours were hitting the mark at about 60% billable hours. Those people spent about 20% of their time recharging. \u00e2\u0080\u009cThose are people that, year after year, they didn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t have high peaks, but they maintained billables in the high level--say, the top 10%--while the others were going gangbusters for six months and burning out.\u00e2\u0080\u009d</p>\n<p>Goerlich wants his current team to match that: Put the majority of yourself into your projects, then put at least 20% aside to get training and to just plain catch your breath.</p>\n<p>\u00e2\u0080\u009cThere\u00e2\u0080\u0099s a lot of work to get done,\u00e2\u0080\u009d Goerlich said. \u00e2\u0080\u009cIt\u00e2\u0080\u0099s almost like a Chinese finger puzzle: You pull too hard, and you can\u00e2\u0080\u0099t get out. You put in too many hours, you get diminishing returns.\u00e2\u0080\u009d</p>\n<p>He hasn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t lost a key member in a tenure of five years. He credits the training regime as one of the reasons the financial services firm has a high level of IT staff retention. \u00e2\u0080\u009cI tend to have a very motivated team,\u00e2\u0080\u009d he said. \u00e2\u0080\u009cIt astonishes me how much they put into the environment, into their jobs. But then, it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s very stressful to try to do work when you don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t know what you\u00e2\u0080\u0099re doing. If you don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t have the confidence that you know what you\u00e2\u0080\u0099re doing, you can\u00e2\u0080\u0099t be creative.\u00e2\u0080\u009d</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>via <em><a href=\"http://www.softwarequalityconnection.com/2011/05/i-like-my-it-budget-tight-and-my-developers-stupid/\">I Like My IT Budget Tight and My Developers Stupid</a></em>. Hat tip to <a href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/CalEvans/status/67954915233890305\">Cal Evans</a>.</p>\n"
}