I will be working crunch this weekend; I wonder if anyone will write an article or complain for me?
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I hope not? Why, because it is my own damn fault. I underestimated how long a feature would take to build, so now I am getting behind on the project. It is actually the beginning of the project, so it really does not impact it too much at this point, but I like to stay ahead of these things, so they don't snowball into a larger problem down the road. I will work through the weekend to get it done, so I can get the project back on target. I won't be paid extra, because I am salary, and only person who will even know that I am working on it will be the PM.
Crunch comes in all kinds of flavors when it comes to development (or any time managed projects, really). As long as the workers are okay with it, feel they are still being paid fairly, their overall work-life balance is not tilted towards work unfairly, then we can stop with all the articles about it. Crunch is not necessarily a bad thing, it is part of the process. It can indeed be bad: constant unrealistic expectations and timelines, no recognition from management, having to work overnight/sleep in office for months on end, and more. But it really seems like this has become a large topic due to the studios who were abusing their employees so it now generates clicks anytime "crunch" is in a headline. It looks like many studios have made a conscious effort to eliminate as much crunch as possible (and I would say the initial articles about did help bring about change, along with the class action law suit that was brought up against EA about it). However, it now sounds like anytime extra work is required to get the product across the finish line, the websites want those clicks about crunch.
I'll admit, I could be greatly mistaken about this, and this is still a larger issue than I am assuming.