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How do you sleep during crunch time?


heni30
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What kind of sleep strategy do you use during crunch time?

 

I personally found a late afternoon nap REALLY charged up the batteries when working into the night; especially many days on end. Trying to work fast straight through; productivity would take a nose dive. Long naps made a BIG difference in alertness and mental attitude.

 

I think Buckminster Fuller experimented with broken up (poly) sleep patterns for a while until his wife told him to get back into bed.

 

Actually, my culture (Mexican) perfected the technique a long time ago with the siesta.

 

Big companies like Google, Cisco and The Huffington Post are putting these nap pods (Metronaps) in their offices; realizing the benefits of taking a nap break.

 

Maybe your boss'll get you one. - although a bunch of snoring people might be distracting.

nap pod.jpg

Edited by heni30
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Sleeping or just laying about 30-45' afternoon is ALWAYS good habit.

All of our forefathers did that also, there is nothing bad with it, its good for heart.

But, best habit, I found is early morning rising and early, before midnight laying to bed.

And, slowly we come to "healthy life style"....

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i would love one of those pods

i only have about 8-10 productive hours of work in me per day

i find it best to start as early as possible and always be in bed well before 12. clear breaks away from the computer outside are essential as well.

 

if you are spending more than 2 days in a row doing crazy hours you aren't being efficient / need to learn time management / get better skills or you are actually going to die from rendering. there are no medals given out for that either

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The best thing I've found is to try and get a small power nap in each day that's no longer than 25 or 30 minutes. It will get rid of that brain fog and it breaks the day up into smaller pieces and makes it more manageable. Even if you’re in a crunch situation a short 10 minute nap can make all the difference. If you sleep longer than that you'll wake up groggy and unfocused and it could affect your normal night sleep patterns. I'd love it if my office has some of those pods, maybe I'll suggest it!

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I'd love it if my office has some of those pods, maybe I'll suggest it!

 

Well it's either one of those guys for $16,000 or a 1 person pup tent (or 2 person ;-) ) with an air mattress for $100.

 

The pod, however, is totally adjustable and gives you a vibrating massage as well.

Edited by heni30
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i would love one of those pods

i only have about 8-10 productive hours of work in me per day

i find it best to start as early as possible and always be in bed well before 12. clear breaks away from the computer outside are essential as well.

 

if you are spending more than 2 days in a row doing crazy hours you aren't being efficient / need to learn time management / get better skills or you are actually going to die from rendering. there are no medals given out for that either

 

 

Totally agree with you, 10 - 12 hours max per day for me, and usually my cut-off point is 11pm, otherwise the next day is ruined and I actually work less. I need sleep, power naps don't cut it.

 

I also find exercise to be a good way to re-charge, as daft as it sounds. You need to get the blood pumping, and breathing in some fresh air. Doing "desk" exercises don't count, step away from the computer, do something else, nap, play, read, run, and then come back.

 

 

I also like this phrase to remind me where my priorities ultimately lie....

 

"no one lays on their death bed wishing they'd spent more time at the office"

 

 

Dean

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I am quite surprised by the numbers you guys quote :- ) While I occasionally did around 20 up to 30 consecutive hours of work, and on average, can manage to sit behind computer up to 10 hours, I never did more than 5-6 max hours of productive hours on average.

 

 

 

"no one lays on their death bed wishing they'd spent more time at the office"

 

 

Dean

 

But otherwise this, there should never be any crunch time. It's not worth it, there is no actual reason to, nothing is that important. I already forgot how easy it was to tell clients I don't work weekends either, stop answering emails after certain time, etc... Nothing became worse, no one left, only my life improved tremendously.

Edited by RyderSK
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I assure you it's not by choice that people put in long hours. Sometimes clients don't give you the info you need till the last minute. Last minute big changes. You have your plate full and another job comes in that you can't turn down because it's an important client. Your computer breaks down and you still have to finish your job.

 

And not all of these hours are quality production time. There's a lot of mindless busy work that needs to get done.

 

Maybe you're referring to non-architecture clients - I could see that. I did work for an engineering firm for a while and there was zero pressure, good pay and high appreciation for the work I did. Only downside was that I was doing a rendering of a giant incinerator furnace.

 

And maybe Louis Kahn DID think to himself "I wish I'd spent more time at the office" as he lay dying on that bus station bathroom floor.

Edited by heni30
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And not all of these hours are quality production time. There's a lot of mindless busy work that needs to get done.

 

 

I counted those. I was just honest with myself, 6 hours is top I can manage to actually do some work. After that it deteroriates fast..

But if I count day-dreaming and rotating my models, yes, I can double that number :- )

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Here in the states we would diagnose you as ADD and quickly put you on medication...............

 

Funny you say that, I do have ADD (something very ignored in my prehistoric country) and the medication I started taking after college revolutionarized my life to better such dramatically I wish I had knew about it earlier. Everyone can think what they want (after all, every demented layman is today expert on medicine and psychology it seems, which we can see by the rising trend of idiocracy seen in alternative medicine, boycotting vaccinations...winning Darwin prize one by one)

 

Well, what I wanted to write, if I was born in US, and was given pills as young boy in elementary school,...man, that would have been actually super-positive thing ;- )

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I assure you it's not by choice that people put in long hours. Sometimes clients don't give you the info you need till the last minute. Last minute big changes. You have your plate full and another job comes in that you can't turn down because it's an important client. Your computer breaks down and you still have to finish your job.

 

 

Everyone has a choice at the end of the day, if the client is late passing on info and sign-offs then the project ultimately will be delayed. I'm not saying to tell your clients to bugger off past 5pm, but at the same time don't be a door mat.

 

Perhaps having a family has changed my perspective and priorities, when I was 20 I would work until 2am to please a client / boss, but now unless I'm being paid well I wouldn't entertain it.

 

There are some clients I will bend over backwards to satisfy, but these are clients who are good to me in return. It's ultimately a respect thing.

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... if I was born in US, and was given pills as young boy in elementary school,...man, that would have been actually super-positive thing ;- )

 

Well I was born in the US, and as a boy who in retrospect must have had ADD, I can attest that you would have received no help, understanding or proactive treatment. I am probably older than you, so maybe you might have hit the dawn of the era of ADHD culture here. It has been very different for my two sons, who both are treated for ADD. I did try the medication for a while, and it helped me, as well. But having spent my whole life coming up ways to compensate for those issues, I did not continue the meds.

 

As for sleep, this is a valuable thread with some great insights posted. I have done the one-after-another 20 hour workdays, and the worst part is knowing that after less than half that time my productivity falls way off, so the work from 11 PM till 4:30 AM is at best worth an hour or two of actual progress. But I needed that bit of progress so just pushed through. I almost NEVER do that anymore. It's too punishing for the rewards available from being a renderer.

 

So here's something pathetic: I worked out the best way to take a nap without disappearing for the rest of the night. I would lay on my studio floor on my back with all the light still on and in my face. This was so f*ing uncomfortable that I would only sleep the minimum amount my body demanded. Also, the formula is that a shower plus one mug of coffee equals three hour's sleep. I hate to even admit all that.

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It would be interesting to view this situation from an employer's perspective (no pun intended). What are the expectations from employees?

Is there more compensation for crunch time work? Is there time off for crunch time work?

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger would probably call people who don't want to work long hours "girlie men" or "girlie girls.

 

Nils - we need your 2 cents worth.

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Things are not always so black and white. I've been working with this one client for a long time and we have a tacit understanding about what's fair. I may have to push hard for a project but then he'll give me a small project that's worth 1/2 my fee and he'll pay me full fee. Sometimes I'll quote him a price and he'll say "that's too low" and he'll give me 20% more. We are friends who trust each other and it works. If we are not happy with something we speak out; we communicate.

 

This Xmas, even though I'm a freelancer and not part of the company, he invited me and my wife to join the office party which was an expensive dinner downtown and Cirque de Soleil afterwards. plus he gave me a bonus. And he pays me upon delivery.

 

So everything does not necessarily have to be spelled out precisely in a contract all the time; we are just people.

 

AND if you are on salary there will be expectations of overtime, especially in Architecture.

 

If things were WERE abusive in any way, I would say goodbye.

Edited by heni30
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Things are not always so black and white. I've been working with this one client for a long time and we have a tacit understanding about what's fair. I may have to push hard for a project but then he'll give me a small project that's worth 1/2 my fee and he'll pay me full fee. Sometimes I'll quote him a price and he'll say "that's too low" and he'll give me 20% more. We are friends who trust each other and it works. If we are not happy with something we speak out; we communicate.

 

This Xmas, even though I'm a freelancer and not part of the company, he invited me and my wife to join the office party which was an expensive dinner downtown and Cirque de Soleil afterwards. plus he gave me a bonus. And he pays me upon delivery.

 

So everything does not necessarily have to be spelled out precisely in a contract all the time; we are just people.

 

Sounds like you have a brilliant relationship with your client, and I would do the same for clients who respect me.

 

AND if you are on salary there will be expectations of overtime, especially in Architecture.

 

Employers expect staff to work overtime, but with compensation surely? Also staff expect employers to manage time and client expectations.

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I hope for you're sake you're joking, people die from this type of shit.

 

Uh, nope, not kidding. People at my work do that all the time. Usually it's just for one night, then you go home the next night. But you may have to do it again the following night. 2 or 3 all nighters in a week is pretty common.

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Uh, nope, not kidding. People at my work do that all the time. Usually it's just for one night, then you go home the next night. But you may have to do it again the following night. 2 or 3 all nighters in a week is pretty common.

 

I genuinely feel sorry for you, and it sounds like your employer is really taking the piss. Do you get paid for all this overtime?

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Uh, nope, not kidding. People at my work do that all the time. Usually it's just for one night, then you go home the next night. But you may have to do it again the following night. 2 or 3 all nighters in a week is pretty common.

 

Please stop do that!

Thats slavery!

...

Nobody will bring you back your health, never again, do not push yourself over the limits.

Sweet words, you already know, I know....

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Uh, nope, not kidding. People at my work do that all the time. Usually it's just for one night, then you go home the next night. But you may have to do it again the following night. 2 or 3 all nighters in a week is pretty common.

 

That's just absurd. Why do people genuinely continue to exploit themselves that way ? Doing that once per month killed my productivity and mood/general well-being for following 3-4 days.

Is the studio under-stuffed ? Does the boss do it as well ? Do you get paid for two people as compensation ? Is it big or small architectural studio ?

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Uh, nope, not kidding. People at my work do that all the time. Usually it's just for one night, then you go home the next night. But you may have to do it again the following night. 2 or 3 all nighters in a week is pretty common.

 

This sounds like really poor time/project/expectations/client management to me. This is taken directly from the Valve employee handbook and it sums up crunch time pretty well, "While people occasionally choose to push themselves to work some extra hours at times when something big is going out the door, for the most part working overtime for extended periods indicates a fundamental failure in planning or communication."

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I've been at my firm for 11 years and I've never had to pull an all-nighter because I manage my client's expectations. I rarely work more than 45 hours a week and almost never on the weekends, you have to set boundaries and make sure people know that you have other things going on besides work. I know the culture in an architecture firm that expects people to work through the night comes from their experiences in studio. We should be beyond the point where pulling things out of our collective a$$es is common place. If you’re working super late or all night several times a week then someone is doing something horribly wrong. If it's the client who's pushing this then the project manager needs to step up and start setting realistic timelines for his client and his team.

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