Steve Freeman

For the last month or so, I’ve been teaching rather than working on a development team. I’m glad I did it, and now I’m glad that at least the lectures are over.

One surprise, though, was how nice it was to have control over my time again. I put in a lot of hours to get ready, but I only had to show up for three labs a week. This meant that I could do things like pick my son up from school and sit him through his homework, which was important since he was taking an exam. I could spend an evening with the family and then go upstairs and do a late shift while everyone else slept. My wife has also been pleased with the extra shopping and cooking that’s been happening since my life has become more flexible than hers.

Like many geeks, I believe I have a night peak in effectiveness up to about 2:00 in the morning (and the lateness also helped me keep in touch with my friends at igen in the US over some work we’ve been doing together). At one point, when my family was away, I got into a regime where I just floated between working and sleeping, whichever seemed most appropriate at the time, no distractions. Twyla Tharp calls this “The Bubble” and for short periods of time it’s very productive and quite a buzz.

Contrast this with XP, which says that you have to be with the team. Now, XP is absolutely my favourite methodology but its benefits don’t come for free. You have to give things up for the group, like the right to crash in the afternoon and work late instead. I don’t feel it aligns well with my metabolism but the benefits of working on a integrated team that can deliver without fuss are overwhelming, so I’m prepared to conform.

So, unless I find a team of other nightbirds who live near enough to my house for me to pop over after hours, perhaps doing side projects like this is a good way to inject some variety and stay fresh.