On the slacker “ethic”
While certainly not slanderous, I’m not quite down with the Baltimore Sun’s representation of Slacker Manager:
"Slacker Manager" (slackermanager.com), on the other hand, offers tips
on how to be more effective at being less productive. A recent post
outlined The Four Hour Rule - a truly brilliant plan to impress your
boss with your solid work ethic by skipping out on a half-day’s work.
"More effective at less productive"? Eh, close but no cigar. It’s a fine line that I walk here, though, so I know I bring it on myself. Ah, well. Got a little traffic bump anyway.
On the flip side, the other day slackah asked me whether I thought the "slacker" thing was getting popular. For the record, I don’t. I think the idea of doing less and getting more done is definitely getting popular, but nobody thinks of that in terms of being a slacker. Also for the record, slackah memorialized bits of our exchange here.
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6 opinions for On the slacker “ethic”
Todd
Oct 12, 2005 at 6:54 am
Unfortunately somewhat typical of reporters to take a small slice of information and make it bigger than it is. Sure, looking at that one post, one could say that the work ethic is questionable. The rest of us know there is a lot more content on your site than one “recent post”.
Roger
Oct 13, 2005 at 1:05 am
I love your site, I am unashamed of the material and regularly read your stuff when I need a break. My colleagues regularly see the title and while some assume the content and move on others are curious and when I discuss the site I don’t see it being recieved as a site for lazy co-workers. Fairly frequently I get asked to email the link so they can read it.
I think your site can be interpretted either way. For me if I get paid 40000$ to do something for 8hrs but I can learn to do that work of the same or higher quality in 6hrs there is nothing wrong with that. I even tell that to my employees. I said its all about profit per hour. If you can produce enough in 6 to warrant me paying you 8 then you won’t hear a peep out of me.
Just my thoughts.
Brandon
Oct 13, 2005 at 3:35 am
That’s always been my philosophy as well. I’m the sort of worker who is either full on or right off. When I am working I tend to be very efficient and effictive and as a result I get a lot of quality work done in a short period of time. I multi-task very well and can load up four or five tasks at once (especially in my job where I am often waiting a few minutes or more on a task to finish). However, when I slow down I tend to slow right down to the point of being completely off. I don’t feel guilty about surfing the web or watching TV at work because I know that I still represent great value to my employer.
WD Milner
Oct 13, 2005 at 8:12 pm
While many of these tips would go over in my workplace like the proverbial lead balloon, and totally off topic, I found your web log looking for sites on the Slackware Linux distribution, whose afficianados are often refered to as “slackers.
Thanks for some interesting reading though.
Dwayne Melancon
Oct 13, 2005 at 11:34 pm
It’s about results, not activity when you’re a manager. Unless you punch a clock for your hourly nut, what difference does it make? If you can slack and still get the job done, that’s your business.
Cogito ergo slack!
Bren
Oct 14, 2005 at 5:52 am
Amen, brother!