Another side of efficiency

Hello! I work in Tech more than five years, and a read a lot about efficiency, every time try to be better and more productive, but there is another side of hard-working, which I want you to tell about.

Mental disorder - if you work Tech for more than five years - you probably have it. It is normal, you not the only one. It is because more often breaks the tool which you use for work. If you use your hands - your joints will hurt. It is not so good news, but I will try to explain how to handle it.

• Conveyor - Principles of Tech management came to us from a conveyor. There was a machine on the conveyor and a useless human next to it without who this machine cannot work. If you remove a human from this statement - a machine will work more reliable. In the Tech industry, a machine is a computer, and expendable material is human.
• Team, positive, team building - caring about humans in modern companies is limits at these 3 points, but most of your time, you write code in headphones. Nothing from it is working, but managements often think that it is enough.
• A cycle of responsibility - mental disorders most often feel the most responsible people. It looks like: today you did not finish your work, you feel guilty, and tomorrow you will take twice more work, you will not be able to do it and the cycle will repeats. As a result - most responsible people feel mental disorders often than others. Because this situation makes them feel stressed and scared. You can note that the biggest slacker at your work - happiest man!) A cycle of responsibility is the cause of heavy mental disorders. 

The bad side of efficiency: for example, you become a good specialist and can in 4 hours do such amount of work which early you could make only in 6 hours. And if you become such a person, you know that manager will give you more work for these 2 rest hours. But why you can’t just leave work and go home? What is the problem? If you work for 2 hours, do the same amount of work as others can do only in 6 hours, why do not leave? The team always works at the speed of the slowest player.
But some companies in Europe try to implement this conception because they understand that approach when you work 4 hours, then you do 3 works in 6 hours, then 8 work in 6 hours, then 10 works in the same time - leads to degradation of results because every new part of work you do worse and worse. Better get some rest.

How to define that something wrong with you:

• Sleep disturbance - you have a bad sleep without a particular reason. You wake up every morning and think, «what was that?» did not remember anything, I woke up several times during a night, and so on. Or vice versa, you want to sleep always and everywhere, you walk and fall asleep. If you have sleep disturbance longer than a week - go to a doctor. 

• Lethargy or overenthusiasm in decision making.  Lethargy - when you such «oh, server fell down... I need to get it up.. or not?..., but how can I do it?... I work here for 10 years, how we do it every time?... I need to write the instruction! Now, while the server is fallen.»

Overenthusiasm - when you such «I need it! I will not sleep! I will do it! I will analyze it, I will code it, I will test it, I will clean the floors! All by myself! Until tomorrow!»
This is depression, both options. Your friend barely will tell you anything because you will decline it «How? I am the most efficient worker! I took more than others and even clean the floors!» 

I Feel Nothing.

When you in depression - you feel nothing. You feel no joy or sorrow. It is not just «I don’t care», it is «I don’t care what I don’t care». You wake up in the morning and think, «For what I woke up?». 


Fear - you start to feel fear because other people can find you out and understand that it is something wrong with you. You can’t control it and start to play like a normal, someone tells you about the dead, and you think «yes.. ah.. sorrow face!» and make a sorrow face. You start to constantly make social skills compulsory because you need to communicate with people. You carry this heavy burden of controlling yourself on your shoulders all day long.


From a project management perspective, people in depression are the best workers. They will do anything to keep you away from them, they will hear and agree. They will take any responsibilities and will do all the work just because of fear. It is the best team for the junior, young project manager. 



It is challenging to hide signs of depression. You can think no one knows that you are in depression, you walk and smile like a normal, it is all right with you, you are at your place, you are a prospective one. With such a face. 
If you try to see around you will find many such people at any place of work. They are good people, but they could feel better.


It is too late to protect yourself - if you feel these symptoms, it is means you caught. Depression is not like flu, you don’t just feel the first sign like a higher temperature and found «oh! it is depression!». You find yourself in depression when it already has a high level, just because all rest options are left. You can’t do anything, you can’t make decisions. So it is too late to protect yourself, it is too late to do some steps to avoid depression, you already have it.


Thank you for reading this depressive article :) In the next part, I will tell you - how to handle this state and feel better. And just not despair you are not the only one.