Flickr's Caterina Fake: 'Hard Work' Can Be Detrimental

Fast Company:

Caterina Fake, who, with her husband Stewart Butterfield, founded Flickr, knows a thing or two about bliztkreig work schedules. But she points out that late nights are seldom very useful in the grand scheme of things. Hard work? Overrated...

Read the whole story: Fast Company

Comments

[thegardener]

05:04 PM on 10/11/2009

Good article - it's not the number of hours you put in or the drama you generate in the office. It's about how good your decisions are and how effectively you get things done.
We just went through another round of layoffs this week. One of the employees let go spends (on average) 10 hours a day at the office. It didn't save him.
Employees need to wake up and realize that face time isn't the point.
What is valued is your contribution.
I no longer work extra hours unless absolutely necessary. This forces me to be very focused when I'm in the office and spend less time on non-productive issues.

[davidwayneosedach]

03:29 PM on 10/11/2009

Hard work? No gret work! Keep it up Flickr!

[FreedomCorpse]

10:24 AM on 10/11/2009

how does someone work 18 hr days and not drop over in a couple of weeks dead? I just don't believe it unless they're sitting in meetings talking/listening and not really doing anything. I've worked lots of overtime before, don't believe it is effective at all, just indicative of unrealistic expectations and is a losing proposition after just a few months. I've known people who worked slightly more than the 80 hour or so work weeks I've done and they were twitching (literally) and total zombies in a year. But then we get these 'faces of success' types talking about working mega hours and its not helpful but they did and they're not twitching and throwing up from meeting anxiety ... I can only guess that's how it is for the big money winners..the rest of the workers who didn't get the big money breaks are recovering from their heart attacks after being laid off.

[LCLA]

09:23 PM on 10/12/2009

If you read the article, you will discover that she admits that she wasn't working those 18 hours, she was putting time in at the office. And she was very young then.
Virtually every physician has done this for at least 4-6 years. It's called a residency program. The older docs say that they had to do it, so everyone else should have to do it, "and besides, it teaches you to make decisions and think under pressure!"
In one of those delightful catch-22s, our federal government exploits the residents both ways. The IRS says they are employees, not students, so their income is fully taxable. The same government's Department of Labor says these same residents are students in training, not employees, so they are not protected by labor laws.

[research]

03:46 PM on 10/10/2009

good article. I mange scientists and engineers, and my bosses are always messing things up by pushing my people too hard, causing them to be tired and make mistakes.

[FreedomCorpse]

10:12 AM on 10/11/2009

don't 'mange' them too much, scientists and engineers are people too :)

[research]

03:50 PM on 10/11/2009

exactly.

[WilhelmOttoWolf]

03:01 PM on 10/10/2009

European's are not socialists. They have socialist parties that bring forth some good ideas. They have the most per capita productive workers in the world in large part because they get longer vacations, time off for families, and universal health care. Even the British Conservative party call's itself the party of the National Health Service "today, tommorow, forever". In America any new idea is called socialist no matter where it originates.

[hulagirrrl]

04:12 PM on 10/11/2009

I must agree with you. Thinking back how often my American friends and I discussed the 35 hour workweek and the benefits to have a quality of life............ and they called it just that, a socialist system.
I do believe that there is change in the air here in the US, and people are looking for new ways. There is something to be said about America and how fast they react to crisis.

[1sparrow]

02:52 PM on 10/10/2009

40 hour work week is enough to seclude you from the truth. the managers of that work week see the truth but have no time to deal with it. of the two - one has a livable wage.

[escribacat]

01:31 PM on 10/10/2009

After spending years in stuffy offices and desolate cubes, and destroying my back in the process, those Facebook offices look pretty good to me. Still, I'd rather work at home and telecommute.

[Whitley2009]

10:30 AM on 10/10/2009

Well, you don't have to work hard if you know how to work SMART.

Unfortunately, most young people today are not properly educated in high school and college to think critically, and to use their brains before they use their brawn.

Our kids have been dumbed-down by the pfascists running the school book business and the pfascists running our education systems.

I've had long talks with my two kids in college. I taught them to carefully allocate their time on their calenders, and how to prioritize their jobs. They now plan their work so they can effectively work their plans. It took a bit of time for it all to sink in, but both of them got the message. Both make straight A's.

You owe yourself and your kids a favor by working on their ability to think clearly and to plan their days.

[Chem is she]

12:10 PM on 10/10/2009

By your post it sounds like the problem with kids is the lack of parental involvement, and not the schools. It isn't the schools job to raise your kids or instill values.

[hypnotoad72]

02:52 PM on 10/11/2009

And if the parents are too busy doing 80+hr/week jobs, where/how do the kids learn? When not in school, they probably watch "Family Guy" - you know, the show that exudes supreme family values and all because it's on FOX...

[Bonobo]

05:49 PM on 10/10/2009

Of course, if your kids ever actually make it into the work world, they will quickly be taught that the appearance of hard work is far more important than it's substance, that knowledge of the job is far less important than social networking, and that you better damn well not think more clearly than your boss.

[LCLA]

12:55 AM on 10/11/2009

Such sour grapes! Your cynicism reveals a lot of pain.
However, I still believe in to thine own self be true. Your integrity is your most valuable asset, and to let anyone provoke you into sacrificing even a bit of it is a great loss.
Social skills are important in most jobs. The good news is that skills can be acquired and developed.

[AbstractionAction]

10:15 AM on 10/10/2009

Easy for her to say: she made it rich.

[atila]

10:53 AM on 10/10/2009

That's the point,how she did it and how she is doing it now....

[hypnotoad72]

11:50 AM on 10/10/2009

And other people doing the precise same steps aren't guaranteed wealth either.

[skatscan]

09:54 AM on 10/10/2009

Yet another developer of a mediocre product lecturing us on how to live. I don't think my boss would appreciate me embracing it.

[wagadog]

06:45 AM on 10/10/2009

"Fake points to the salient example of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA. They spent a lot of time lollygagging and goofing off, going to parties and bullshitting over coffee."

Um...and stealing the results of the work of the person who DID do an awful lot of hard work, Rosalind Franklin.

She grew the DNA crystals, and built her own X-ray diffraction imaging system, took the data, and interpreted the results -- correctly.

Watson and Crick, with the help of Maurice Wilkins, who lent them the key to Franklin's lab, lifted Franklin's x-ray crystallographic images from her locked lab bench drawer while she was away, along with unpublished notes and calculations.

They published her X-ray images in Nature without her permission, or even an acknowledgment.

I would suggest that if Rosalind Franklin had also been spending all her time "lollygagging and goofing off, going to parties and bullshitting over coffee" we still wouldn't know the structure of DNA.

Someone has to do the work, Caterina. Sure, screwing around might get you further, but I do know that I admire Rosalind Franklin and admire her work -- her hard work -- a whole lot more than you and...whatever it is you do there at Flikr.

[skatscan]

09:50 AM on 10/10/2009

There's always a public face for a company where someone else does the hard work.

[Chem is she]

12:11 PM on 10/10/2009

Thanks for getting to this. The idea that Watson and Crick did something belies ignorance on the topic.

[hellboundtrain]

03:42 AM on 10/10/2009

I usually get the most done when I'm not doing anything.

It is better to do nothing than to waste time.

A creative spirit is a joy to behold!

[bzb]

04:35 AM on 10/10/2009

Now why didn't that work for Bush?

[hellboundtrain]

01:22 PM on 10/10/2009

Actually, Bush did work...against the faith & goodwill, of the people, and Constitution.

[soupson52]

03:40 PM on 10/11/2009

Liein' and keepin' track IS hard work. Tangled web, and all that.

[sonoffestus]

03:31 AM on 10/10/2009

We try to put in long 4 hour days, at least 4 days a week. Some weeks we can't find the time to do that much.

[Antiks]

11:52 PM on 10/09/2009

I don't want to work 12-16 hours a day. I want to live life and be able to pay for necessities. Why is that a crime? Working insane hours slaving for a corporation shouldn't be an American value, and yet it is in a lot of people's minds. It reminds me of the guy here that claimed he worked 16-hour days, and then asked why we should be exempt from it? Um, that's your choice and you own it if that's what you want to do. I personally don't. If that means I don't have a house, then so be it. If that means I don't have all the latest and greatest gadgets, then so be it. I want to live life, and I don't want it complicated living at work.

[drymartini1]

04:58 AM on 10/10/2009

well said.

as long as no one in the US legislates to make 40 hour work days to say 30 hour or 5 day work week to 4 day work week, i am fine too.

Just dont try to legislate 4 hours work week :) or legislate someone else's pay (as long as those entities are not asking for govt. bailout of course)

[hypnotoad72]

11:51 AM on 10/10/2009

Well said!

Of course, how old is your current computer?

[Antiks]

04:30 AM on 10/11/2009

5 to 6 years old. Runs XP like a dream. I built in myself and the only problem I've had with it is the power supply going out.

[BannedInBoston]

09:20 PM on 10/09/2009

I always thought so and I'm not "fake".