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by zaroth 3318 days ago
For far too many problems the work doesn't subdivide cleanly. A single person "pulling" for 16 hours a day at a given problem achieves 2x more than two people pulling at it for 8 hours each.

Or to put it another way, when Jeff Dean pulls an all nighter and commits code at 6am before collapsing under his desk for a few moments rest, for the rest of the day, all of Google is twice as productive.

1 comments

For some disciplines, yes, but it seems unlikely that factory floor work is one of those.

(Also, back when I was still pulling all-nighters, I could do 3-5 days worth of work in a night, but I'd be largely useless for the rest of the week, so it was a wash at best. Good for catching up before a deadline, but not really a strong strategy overall.)