This is an oversimplistic view of tech work, especially software. If you're a contractor who doesn't care about the product beyond doing your well-delineated part properly, then sure, that attitude is perfectly reasonable (no sarcasm - that's not intended as a put-down of contract work). If you are an actual part of a team working to create a product you ostensibly all care about, you obviously will work together to distribute work; to account for surprises; to fix problems without being assigned a ticket that tells you exactly how to fix it; to make a good product. It's a fluid bag of work that naturally fills into any holes that develop in people's schedules. Work of that nature isn't "doing more than you're asked", because that kind of teamwork is in fact exactly what is asked.
I feel the inverse. Joyless “take tasks off the board and wait for more tasks” work is low-creativity and low-engagement work. Allowing people the freedom to not be slaves to the almighty kanban board mitigates burnout because people can actually experience some satisfaction rather than endless grind.
It’s interesting we came to different conclusions on this one — I think there’s something here worth comparing notes on, but I’m not quite sure what it is. In my experience, working a consistent 7 hours every day will quite rapidly burn me out.
I think it’s the definition we’re using for “work.” When I work, I work hard, and I dedicate my entire mental focus on the task. Doing that for seven hours straight sometimes feels like a small marathon in itself. Perhaps you’re just more effective.
