Monday, May 22, 2006
Dress Codes and Development
I've noticed with some curiosity that after having a positions at a few different companies in my career, the most productive software development teams were the ones at the companies with the least stringent dress codes. In one case, the same engineers worked at two different companies, and I noted their productivity was better at the place where they wore jeans and T-shirts to work.
I'm not saying there's necessarily a causal relationship here. Two companies with the most stringent dress codes also had some management / business issues that were hurting either the department or the business as a whole. So while the I.T. team couldn't get their job done, they at least LOOKED GOOD while they weren't doing anything.
My favorite "Dress Code" story comes from Singletrac (hey, over five years at a company that rose to stardom and fell almost as quickly is bound to result in a lot of stories!) Bernie Stolar was then the head of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, and they had taken a big gamble on this small company of mainly engineers who had never done games before. There was a lot of skepticism about our ability to turn knowledge of building tank and aircraft simulators for the military into entertaining videogames.
One day Bernie came to take a tour of our office, and to talk biz with Singletrac's president, Mike Ryder. So Bernie pokes his head into our offices where we're all dillegently plugging along on our games. A few of the guys on the team had problems "dressing down" for a videogame job, so they were somewhere in-between "business casual" and casual. A few had nice jeans and knit button-down shirts.
Bernie snorted and told Ryder, "They sure don't LOOK like gamers."
We had an all-hands meeting every Friday during lunch. During the following Friday meeting, Mike Ryder gave us his plea:
"At Singletrac, we've never really had anything like a dress code. But if you feel so inclined to wear jeans with holes in them to work, or to flip your baseball hat around backwards while working on the game... please feel free!"
Labels: productivity
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:51 PM (Permalink)
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Interestingly enough the author of Game Architecture and Design recommends a rather formal dress code. IIRC his comprehensible point is that you 'feel' the difference between working on games and gaming, giving you more focus at work and more relaxation during your free time.
# posted by 
: May 23, 2006 4:56 AM
: May 23, 2006 4:56 AM
The places I've worked have ranged from "suit and tie" (IBM Federal Systems Division) to "wear something" (Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and others).
I believe that both the productivity and the dress code tend to be effects, where the cause is the style of management and particular managers. Having a really good or really bad boss is going to have a huge impact across dress codes, productivity, satisfaction levels, and length of employment.
I believe that both the productivity and the dress code tend to be effects, where the cause is the style of management and particular managers. Having a really good or really bad boss is going to have a huge impact across dress codes, productivity, satisfaction levels, and length of employment.
I personally dislike Game Architecture and Design. I've seen both sides of the management practices advocated in the book, and unless I've only witnessed poor implementation of said practices, I have found they DO NOT WORK. The book frequently invokes Steve McConnell, but then states the exact opposite of what McConnell advocates. I'm rather annoyed the book has become so popular.
On the other hand, I LOVE Steve McConnell's books. That guy knows what he's talking about, both from tons of experience in the software industry and LOTS of research into it.
In my experience, one of the best ways to differentiate between "work" and "not work" is to maintain the "sanctity" of standard work hours. Where things get sloppiest is when you've got guys working around the clock --- when they do that, work and getting normal lifestuff done get intermingled. People start eating and sleeping and doing errands at the workplace, and it's hard to enforce that separation later even when they are back to working 9-6.
Sometimes appearance is a big part of things, as the customer has visibility into the engineering team and wants to feel confident. As happened in the example of Sony's visit to Singletrac. Ryder didn't mandate a "grubby" dress code, though --- he only encouraged it :)
But in some cases, I think you end up with "Cargo Cult Management." Some iconic highly productive, professional team exhibits certain behaviors and appearances. A manager wants his team to be like this iconic (possibly mythological) team, so he (or she) mandates that his team exhibits the visible properties of the group the manager seeks to emulate. And then gets frustrated because their productivity STILL doesn't match.
On the other hand, I LOVE Steve McConnell's books. That guy knows what he's talking about, both from tons of experience in the software industry and LOTS of research into it.
In my experience, one of the best ways to differentiate between "work" and "not work" is to maintain the "sanctity" of standard work hours. Where things get sloppiest is when you've got guys working around the clock --- when they do that, work and getting normal lifestuff done get intermingled. People start eating and sleeping and doing errands at the workplace, and it's hard to enforce that separation later even when they are back to working 9-6.
Sometimes appearance is a big part of things, as the customer has visibility into the engineering team and wants to feel confident. As happened in the example of Sony's visit to Singletrac. Ryder didn't mandate a "grubby" dress code, though --- he only encouraged it :)
But in some cases, I think you end up with "Cargo Cult Management." Some iconic highly productive, professional team exhibits certain behaviors and appearances. A manager wants his team to be like this iconic (possibly mythological) team, so he (or she) mandates that his team exhibits the visible properties of the group the manager seeks to emulate. And then gets frustrated because their productivity STILL doesn't match.
I'll side with the "what's outside becomes what's inside" camp on this one. Situations that appear more formal seem to bring about a more serious attitude among participants. A more casual environment can bring out camraderie and foster free-flowing discussion. And a slovenly environment (torn clothing, trash-strewn desks) makes me feel sluggish.
Even when I'm alone in my modest home-office, I'll make an effort to dress reasonably (no pajamas; no coding naked). When I bring people in to consult, I think it helps that I'm wearing a collared shirt rather than an ancient T with holes in it.
But in some cases, I think you end up with "Cargo Cult Management."
Absolutely! I've seen situations where people pour money and effort into fancy websites, incorporation, logos, business cards, and stationery, without actually having a business, a product, or a plan. But the flipside is something a pre-fame Arnold Schwarzenegger said, which is that one should create a vision and live into it. I think dressing cleanly puts us in a positive mindset, and simply makes us feel like we should succeed.
Even when I'm alone in my modest home-office, I'll make an effort to dress reasonably (no pajamas; no coding naked). When I bring people in to consult, I think it helps that I'm wearing a collared shirt rather than an ancient T with holes in it.
But in some cases, I think you end up with "Cargo Cult Management."
Absolutely! I've seen situations where people pour money and effort into fancy websites, incorporation, logos, business cards, and stationery, without actually having a business, a product, or a plan. But the flipside is something a pre-fame Arnold Schwarzenegger said, which is that one should create a vision and live into it. I think dressing cleanly puts us in a positive mindset, and simply makes us feel like we should succeed.
To some degree I can agree with you, Dejobaan. I remember attempting to wake up early to study and absolutely FAILING at it until I decided to shower, get dressed for the day, and THEN study.
But with regards to casual vs. "Business Casual" attire, I've actually only seen an inverse relationship between formality of dress and productivity for QA / Development teams. Admittedly, that's a pretty limited and narrow sampling.
So if there is a relationship, if you are dressed more casually, are you more ready to "roll up the sleeves and get to work?" I dunno. I haven't seen a direct relationship (other than studying). I think the problems I've seen in the past were more due to management being preoccupied with other issues.
But with regards to casual vs. "Business Casual" attire, I've actually only seen an inverse relationship between formality of dress and productivity for QA / Development teams. Admittedly, that's a pretty limited and narrow sampling.
So if there is a relationship, if you are dressed more casually, are you more ready to "roll up the sleeves and get to work?" I dunno. I haven't seen a direct relationship (other than studying). I think the problems I've seen in the past were more due to management being preoccupied with other issues.
I don't disagree with the idea of being cleanly dressed or appropriately dressed. A lot of organizing your life books suggest that one of the best ways you can tell yourself you're ready to work is to be up, showered and dressed all the way down to your shoes, even if your work is housecleaning or puttering and doesn't require going anywhere. I agree that being out of jammies and dressed helps me to focus. I even find this when I'm writing freelance articles late at night. If I give into the temptation for pajamas my brain goes into bedtime mode and my articles...well...that's about the end of that.
My contention, however, is that as a QA professional or editor I work just as well in nice non grubby jeans as I do in business slacks. The slacks cost twice as much and can be worn half as often before they have to go into the wash. They also wear out sooner. Even if I change right when I get home they just don't have the resilance of denium. Which leads to another problem of, work dress, gym dress, home dress...potentially three changes of clothing on any given day.
Since I have yet to teach the fish to do my laundry, that means I have to follow up with the laundry, mending, pressing etc that so many changes requires. It's a giant pain in the you know what when I could have worn the same thing for work and home, if I was allowed the one more step towards casual that comes with nice jeans. I don't mind dressier shirts, truth be told. They look better than most T-shirts, but those go with a nice denium splendidly IMHO and that of What Not to Wear... :)
My contention, however, is that as a QA professional or editor I work just as well in nice non grubby jeans as I do in business slacks. The slacks cost twice as much and can be worn half as often before they have to go into the wash. They also wear out sooner. Even if I change right when I get home they just don't have the resilance of denium. Which leads to another problem of, work dress, gym dress, home dress...potentially three changes of clothing on any given day.
Since I have yet to teach the fish to do my laundry, that means I have to follow up with the laundry, mending, pressing etc that so many changes requires. It's a giant pain in the you know what when I could have worn the same thing for work and home, if I was allowed the one more step towards casual that comes with nice jeans. I don't mind dressier shirts, truth be told. They look better than most T-shirts, but those go with a nice denium splendidly IMHO and that of What Not to Wear... :)
This story reminds me of the time that a Japanese publisher we were working for came to Saffire, saw how serious we were, and accused us of not knowing what it was like to have a good time. "No Fun Factor!" was the claim. Apparently, we needed to get drunk more often.
"People start eating and sleeping and doing errands at the workplace"...horrors...ya know, a lot of errands can only be done between 9 and 5, so if it's normal to work after hours and your employees are not all married to stay-at-home spouses, your actual number of hours worked may improve.
Not to mention, even 9-to-6 people eat lunch and snack, sometimes even at their desks...
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Not to mention, even 9-to-6 people eat lunch and snack, sometimes even at their desks...
# posted by : June 02, 2006 9:05 AM
: June 02, 2006 9:05 AMLinks to this post:
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