I see this again and again and I just don't buy it in all situations. Say in my own company I take your advice and stop working at the 30 hour mark each week.
I am going to have to cut back somewhere, I program and take on support when stuff is thrown to me from other handling it full time. I also like to go through our support to keep a feel for how things are trending and what sort of issues we are having. I also like to stay in the loop on high level business decisions or strategy.
So in cutting back to keep development and the business moving I would probably have to get more hands off with support, which may negatively impact customer satisfaction and business direction at times. I also feel that hiring right now isn't the right option and running lean is somewhat of a competitor advantage for us.
Maybe I am wrong, but I don't feel that I could make it work right now with reduced hours and I assume a lot of startups feel the same.
I agree, it does feel that way. However, it is known that our feelings on this matter do not correspond to reality. Whenever actual performance measurements are taken, it turns out that the productivity loss from chronic fatigue, more mistakes and more time spent trying to fix same etc. more than outweighs any benefit from the extra hours. In other words when you work long hours, you're actually damaging your company as well as your personal life.
I am going to have to cut back somewhere, I program and take on support when stuff is thrown to me from other handling it full time. I also like to go through our support to keep a feel for how things are trending and what sort of issues we are having. I also like to stay in the loop on high level business decisions or strategy.
So in cutting back to keep development and the business moving I would probably have to get more hands off with support, which may negatively impact customer satisfaction and business direction at times. I also feel that hiring right now isn't the right option and running lean is somewhat of a competitor advantage for us.
Maybe I am wrong, but I don't feel that I could make it work right now with reduced hours and I assume a lot of startups feel the same.