A message to company executives, engineering managers and leaders: your developers are currently experiencing burnout due to layoffs, return-to-office mandates, unreasonable deadlines, and soulless corporate culture.
I get it, you need your team to be more productive. You believe that the solution is to push developers harder to increase productivity. This includes implementing more processes, tracking more metrics, scheduling more meetings, and enforcing more mandates.
What you don’t realize is that in response to losing their autonomy, your developers will take back control in the ways they can: by clocking out earlier, “coffee badging”, “quiet quitting”, writing subpar code, padding estimates, engaging in performative work, and doing just enough to not get fired so they can prioritize their health and mental stability.
What you have done to try and improve productivity has created a conflict between yourself and your team. Instead of adding more processes and strictly adhering to metrics, I’m proposing you implement a new software development methodology: HDD (human-driven development).
You've probably heard of TDD (test-driven development) and BDD (behavior-driven development). These have their place, but in this environment, we don't need more processes and rules to follow. We need humanity. We need to feel connected to one another. HDD acknowledges that software is created by human beings who have emotions and lives outside of the workplace and gives priority to their well-being. Happy developers are productive developers.
And I know you might be thinking "Well let's get everyone back in the office to build that connection and sense of community!" Connection and community don't just happen because people are in physical proximity to one another. Connection and community can be cultivated at a distance. It takes empathy. It takes understanding. It takes human emotions, friendliness, and caring for each other.
Implementing HDD in the workplace is easy, and starts by trusting your developers. Allow them time off and provide flexibility in their work location. Support their career goals and empower them to make decisions based on their expertise. Hire managers who are able to support their employees when they need help and not put them down and make them feel shame when they aren't delivering at 100%. Stop pushing for return to office in order to build "community" and "foster culture".
Sometimes, your employees may experience a stressful week or month where they are unable to be fully productive. By showing respect and trust, and allowing them to take care of their personal matters, they will be more likely to come back and perform exceptionally. This approach leads to amazing long term results, far exceeding what can be achieved by forcing someone to be present and begrudgingly do the bare minimum. All that is needed is to demonstrate the respect that your employees deserve. By doing so, developers will naturally give their best to the product because it is human nature to take pride in one's work.
And then you might say, "We strive to be inclusive and support our employees, and we offer X, Y, and Z to support their mental health at work." However, taking time off to navigate the complex systems in place to seek help for oneself only leads to falling behind on deliverables and facing beratement for it. This, in turn, exacerbates the symptoms of anxiety and depression. And once they do get into one of these mental health services, it's "Here's a prescription for X drug, we'll check back in in a few weeks", or "Well why don't you try this productivity technique to stay more organized". But it's never "I can see that your boss and the work environment is dehumanizing you to the point of giving you anxiety attacks. Let's work on finding a way for you to contribute that better aligns with your unique skills and allows you to balance your work and personal life".
To recap, there is a way to meet in the middle. To increase company productivity and worker happiness, shift towards practicing human-driven development instead of solely focusing on data, metrics, and numbers to evaluate the efficiency of your development teams. Prioritize the well-being and happiness of your developers, acknowledging that it leads to long-term increased productivity, exceptional software, and a healthier work environment.