Work/Life Balance

Every year, Microsoft does a widespread poll to determine how people view their work environment, their compensation, etc.

One of the questions is something like, “Are you satisfied with your work-life balance?”

That tends to be a sore topic on the PM side. Perhaps a bit of an explanation is in order...

I've been trying to close down on a number of issues related to the compiler, get ready for a community review with my 4th level manager and his reports, and help firm up our relationship to Longhorn. Here's what it's meant for the last two days.

Tuesday, I got into the office at 7:30 and worked straight through to 6:30 PM. I went home, watched a bit of TV, and then worked for a couple of hours.

Today, here was my schedule

7-8 Bike ride (14.67 rides, 57 minutes) Hilly.
9-10 Work on a summary email for a topic (yes, I spent a whole hour on a single email)
10-11 C# PM meeting
11-12 Meeting to discuss versioning
12-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:00 Prep for a meeting
1:00 - 1:30 Review meeting on a C# feature that I hope to be able to talk about in a week or so
1:00 - 3:00 C# Language Design Meeting
3:00 - 4:00 Write up design meeting notes (didn't get this done in the hour)
4:00 - 5:30 Compiler bug triage
5:30 - 6:30 Dinner
6:30 - 8:00 Carpentry (we're doing some remodelling)
8:00 - 10:30 Powerpoint slides, email, other issues

I realize that long hours aren't really a rarity in the tech industry, but even with that amount of time spent, I still have some things piling up.

That question didn't get a very high rating when I responded to the poll.