Original Posted by Justin Cone Photo by adesigna
工作 / 生活：一週工作40小時
The headline for this post probably strikes most of you as a joke — at least those of you working in motion design in the US, and especially those of you working in LA or NYC.
But it’s no joke to J.D. Meier, a Principal Project Manager at Microsoft for over 10 years, who uses the 40 hour work week as his barometer for project management success. As he says on his blog:
這標題對大多數的影像工作者來說簡直是個笑話，至少對在美國從事影像設計的人來說就是個大笑話，尤其是那些在洛杉磯和紐約工作的傢伙。但是對於在微軟擔任超過十年首席專案經理的J.D. Meier來說，這並非開玩笑，他用這個法則作為他審核底下專案是否順利的標準，他說：
In my experience, a 40 hour work week is a benchmark of the most effective teams. They have work-life balance. They have buffer to respond to opportunity and to deal with crunches.
依我的經驗，一周40小時的工時是一支有效率的團隊的標準，他們取得了生活與工作的平衡，並且擁有緩衝時間去把握每一個機會，或是處理意外的困難。
Meier has overseen projects large and small, with budgets ranging from zero to over a million dollars. A self-avowed workaholic accustomed to slaving over 100 hours a week — and enjoying it — he finally came to realize that such an approach was not only unsustainable for himself, it was also unsustainable for Microsoft.
Meier經手過大大小小的專案，預算金額從零到幾百萬美金都有。他曾經是個宣稱自己一周工作習慣超過一百小時並且樂在其中的工作狂，但是最後他發現這樣不但是虐待自己，對公司也有害。
Inviting inefficiency to tea
誘人的無效率
Without the constraint of a 40 hour work week, all sorts of inefficiencies become the norm. It’s d to supper and a late-night snack.
拿掉一周只工作40個小時的限制，所有的沒效率就會變常態了，注意，他們會以下午茶、晚餐或是宵夜點心的形態出現。
The primary problem, as Meier describes it, is the tendency to “throw hours” at projects. When the sky is the limit, why not schedule another meeting? Why not ask everyone to stay late? Why not hire more freelancers and expect them to work weekends, too?
主要問題在於，按照Meier所形容，人們總是在工作時「虛擲光陰」。當時間無上限時，大家就會想說為何不再多安排一個會議？為什麼不叫所有人待晚一點？為什麼不把工作外包，期待這些包商在周末都可以為我們工作？
According to Meier, some of the issues that arise from the 60-80 hour work week mentality include:
根據Meier所觀察，一週工作60~80個小時的團隊他們會有一些共同的特徵：
Nothing is a priority because everything is a priority.
- 沒有什麼事是重要的，因為所有事情看起來都很重要(或是都不重要)。
- 要做的更快更用心，才能彌補一開始的計畫草率。
- 開很多的會，因為還有很多時間。
- 做事不分輕重緩急，缺乏專案時程的控管。
- 沒有焦點，分不出問題的輕重緩急，然後浪費時間一直在解決問題。
- 預測錯誤，太多工作或是時程太長，或者根本是野心太大、意圖以蛇吞象。
- 資源配置很差，可能因評估錯誤或是缺乏公開透明、意見反應的回饋機制。
在公司經營上，這叫找死。要記得，公司無時無刻都在燒錢，所以不意外，有很多影像設計工作室只有極其微薄的利潤，但這些公司也很有可能就是那些每天晚上訂pizza犒賞努力加班員工的公司。
The return on reduction
減少工時的好處
When limiting yourself (and your team) to a 40 hour work week, you earn the following:當你限制自己一個禮拜只工作40小時，你將會得到以下的收穫：
Increased focus
- 更好的集中力。
- 更滿意現在的工作。
- 增進身體與心靈的(雙重)健康。
- 更精確的預測，因為對明確的產量和產能有更清晰的理解。
- 更有效率的溝通，無論對內或對外。
- 更清楚案子能賺多少錢。
限制你的工作時間在一周40小時，表示你將不再浪費時間，你將工作得更聰明，做到事半功倍，另外還意味著你將可以花更多時間在測試跟提高品質，而不是草率地將一卡車的人力投入到粗陋的初步構想裡。
Efficiency is your friend
效率是你的朋友
One key note that needs to be underlined: Implementing a 40 hour work week mentality isn’t easy. You must commit to it with monastic focus and understand that reducing hours means drastically improving efficiency.有一個地方要特別畫線註記：實施一周工時40小時非常難！你必須擁有有像是僧侶般的決心，並且清楚瞭解，你減少工作時間是為了提高效率。
There’s that “E” word again: Efficiency. For many creatives, it’s a four letter word, banned from their vocabularies. Efficiency is for factories and robots, not artists.
再強調一次，效率！我知道對很多創意工作者來說，這是禁忌的詞彙，像是三字經一般令人討厭，是屬於工人或機器人的領域，不該出現在藝術家身上。
But it’s efficiency that allows you to focus your entire self on a project. It’s efficiency that makes flow possible, that magical headspace when creativity and effort are aligned and productivity explodes. It’s efficiency, in short, that makes work fun.
但是要知道，唯有效率才能讓你全神貫注在你想進行的專案上，唯有效率才能讓你的案子漸入佳境，讓你的創造力與付出成正比，讓你的生產力爆發。總之，效率能讓你的工作變有趣！
“Yeah, but that’s Microsoft.
We’re different.”
對！但那是微軟，不是我們。
That’s right. Creative services studios are even more sensitive to inefficiencies than most other industries. At the heart of every studio — and every talented individual — is the creative spirit. It is a fragile and temperamental thing. It’s also the most valuable asset any studio can hope to claim. The “normal” demands of a 60-80 hour mentality threaten to tear that precious spirit to shreds.
沒錯，創意產業比起其他產業來說，對於沒效率的定義是更敏感與微妙。不過，請讓我們回到每間公司的核心，或者是說每個創意人的核心，那就是富有創造力的心靈，同時也是每間公司最想得到也最有價值的資產，但是一週工作60~80小時的「正常」時數，卻很可能會讓這樣的心靈與創造力被撕個粉碎，一去不返。
And if you talk to anyone who’s burned out in this field (you don’t have to look far), you’ll find the creative spirit is not a thing easily repaired. Motion design infamously “eats the young” because the young burn out and never return, looking for careers that protect their talents instead of exploiting them to exhaustion.
如果你試著跟在這領域感受過枯竭的人聊聊(不必找，就看看你身邊吧 XD)，你將會發現這種創造力心靈並不是那麼容易修補的。影像設計產業一向以「吞噬年輕人熱情(eats the young)」而惡名昭彰，因為有太多新鮮人都用力燃燒自己，可是燒完便轉換跑道，不再回來，轉而尋求珍惜他們才能而不是讓他們燃燒殆盡的其他產業。
Guilty as charged
過去，我做錯了
I want to take a moment to confess that I’ve leaned on the 60-80 hour mentality as both an individual and as a manager. I’ve often responded to big challenges with bigger time sheets, believing it was the only way.我想趁這個機會跟大家坦白，作為我個人或是管理者，我曾經非常倚賴而且深信一週工作60~80小時的必要性，因為過去我常常要面對許多巨大挑戰以及漫長的工作時程，並且認定這樣的超時工作是唯一的解決方法。
Like Meier, I like work. I do it a lot, and I’ve never burned out. And like so many Americans, I’ve prided myself on the number of hours I’ve logged while simultaneously playing the martyr. As I head into my mid-30s and start to make plans for a family, I realize this must stop. It’s not only unhealthy for me, it’s unhealthy for those with whom I work.
如同Meier，我也是個工作狂，而且我從來不覺得疲憊，和很多美國人一樣，我以超時工作自豪，但同時卻又以長期被害者或是烈士的身份自居。但是當我邁入30多歲時，我開始思考要組織家庭，我瞭解到這一切必須停止，這樣的超時工作不只對自己有害，同時也對和我一起工作的人有害。
And it’s bad business, plain and simple.
過去我錯了，簡單明瞭。
The “That’s Impossible” response
回應”這不可能！”
Maybe you’re a producer or creative director reading this, shaking your head and thinking, “40 hours!? That’s impossible.”或許你是個製片或創意總監，當你閱讀這篇文章時，搖搖頭想，40小時？怎麼可能！
And now for a trip down memory lane, back to my post as Executive Creative Director at a fledgling studio in Austin. During initial client meetings or at the end of a pitch, I knew damn well when I was getting our studio into hot water. I knew when the budget was too low, the timeline too short and the expectations too high.
請待我娓娓道來，回想我過往的經驗，回到我過去在奧斯丁擔任創意執行總監的時代。那是一間沒什麼經驗的公司。有一次，我們遇到一個案子，無論是在一開始的客戶會議，或是最後的企劃定稿，我都清楚的知道我們完了，公司一定會陷入困境，因為預算太低、時間太趕、客戶期待太高。
Of course, we’d always agree to do the work anyway. We’d tell ourselves, “We need this. Without this, we won’t be able to pay everyone’s salaries. Without this, our portfolio will stagnate. Without this, our competition will slaughter us.”
當然，最後我們還是會接下這樣的工作，因為我們會催眠自己：我們需要這個案子，不接這案子，我拿什麼付員工薪水；拒絕的話，我的職位與作品列表將停滯不前；不吃下來，我勢必被我的競爭對手狠狠屠殺然後超越。
Some of those fears were well-founded. Some weren’t. The point is that we created a scenario in which the only solution was to say “yes” and commit ourselves to the consequences. The result was often a skinny profit margin, which of course only perpetuated the cycle. The whole thing started to feel like a long, magnificent death spiral.
有些恐懼無所不在，有些則否，但重點是：「我們塑造一個情境，然後只給自己一條路走。」除了答應之外別無他法，然後自認這是最好的選擇。但代價往往是慘不忍睹的毛利，這種結果當然只夠我們繼續苟延殘喘，於是整件事看起來就像是個無限的死亡迴圈，既漫長又壯觀。
Moving past impossible
讓不可能變為可能
Thankfully, we broke the cycle. We realized that we needed to ruthlessly focus on our core strengths. That meant turning down work. It meant dropping a couple offerings from our website, no matter how cool or promising they sounded. It also meant potentially trimming staff (which thankfully never happened).感謝老天，我們打破了惡性循環。我們瞭解到我們必須毫不猶豫的專注在我們的核心力量上，這意味著減少工作量，減少網站上宣稱可以提供的服務，不管它聽起來多酷或是多重要，很可能你還必須裁員(幸好這事在我們公司從未發生)。
On the flip side, we could sleep at night. We resumed normal lives. Sure, we pulled occasional all-nighters, but they weren’t vital to the success of the business. We did them because they were fun, and they were always optional.
從另一面來看，我們可以在晚上安然入睡，我們能回歸到正常生活，當然我們偶爾還是會熬夜，但這不是事關成敗的趕工加班，我們加班做它是因為我們覺得內容很好玩，而且這永遠是可以選擇的。
The “You Can’t Schedule Creativity” response
回應”你無法為創意訂時間表”
Another rebuttal to the 40 hour approach goes as follows: Creativity is a fickle friend. You can’t schedule bursts of inspiration. You can’t put genius on the clock. So how in the world can you expect great work to get done within a tidy, 40-hour box?還有另一種反駁40小時原則的論點：創意飄忽不定！你無法為創意的出現定時間點，你不能用時程表來限制藝術家，所以你怎能期望能在精確的40小時限制裡就有好點子出現呢？
This entire line of thinking — this myth that creativity requires a muse, and that this muse cannot keep appointments — is a natural byproduct of believing that one must work late nights and weekends in order for things to get done. It’s what happens when you become accustomed to working without time constraints.
我們深信：創意需要虛無飄渺的謬思，而謬思的出現是不可預期的，這種思考模式，其實是一種工作迷思的副產品，源自於我們以為必須不分晝夜的工作、犧牲假日才能有偉大的創意產出，而這樣的結果其實是因為我們總習慣於沒有時間限制的超時工作。
Ever notice how inspiration strikes three hours before a deadline? Ever entered the “zone” with just an hour left and been amazed at how much you were able to accomplish?
你是否曾有過靈感在截止時間前三小時來敲門的經驗？你是否曾身處只剩一小時要交案，而驚訝於自己居然能如期完成的狀態裡？
Time, in limited quantities, is an incredible motivator. While you can’t schedule a great idea, you can benefit immensely from adding structure to your week. Try it.
時間，在有限的條件下，能發揮不可置信的動力。儘管你沒辦法預約一個偉大的創意，但你可以為你的工作訂下時間表，並且馬上受惠於它，試試就知道！
Worms, be fruitful and multiply!
還有很長的路要走
Obviously, this is a huge can of worms I’m opening here. A fully fleshed out proposal for applying Meier’s approach to creative services would take much more thought and testing than this meager blog post. And it’s not entirely up to the studios to “fix” a system that clearly needs some retooling. Everyone from the client down to the individual freelancer must play a part in reform.我顯然打開了一大罐充滿蟲蟲的罐頭(美國俚語，比喻有很多複雜但一時間還沒辦法解決的問題)，Meier的建議現在就像是那些肉汁鮮美的蟲蟲(複雜問題)，還需要很多的思考與試驗，因此這篇文章相形之下就顯得欠缺說服力，貧脊而且單薄，因為這種改變不只是從設計公司「修改」內部管理這麼單純而已，而是整個產業的重組，從客戶端到個人工作室都必須參與其中。
I’m simply trying to challenge the notion that things are the way they are because that’s the way they have to be.
所以，我其實只是想挑戰一個觀念，就是我們以為超時工作在這個產業是無可取代，其實只是因為一直以來我們沒去嘗試其他方法而已。
I’ve accepted that for a long time, but now I’m looking for alternatives. I’m looking for different perspectives. And so a software project manager’s ideas seem like as good a starting point as any.
曾經很長一段時間我對這樣的結果照單全收，但是現在我要尋找替代方案，我要尋找不同以往的觀點，所以從一個軟體專案管理師的角度來切入似乎是一個很好的出發點。
Tell it like it is
說話算話
How many hours do you work? What do you see as the challenges of a 40 hour mentality? Do you think you could, in theory at least, make a 40 hour work week a reality for yourself or your organization?你一週工作多久？你如何看待一週工作40小時這樣的挑戰？你覺得在理論上你做得到嗎？為你自己或是你的公司實現一週工作40小時。
Devil’s advocates are welcome. Comment away!
想故意唱反調也很歡迎，任何意見都很好！
For those who are interested, Meier uses the Agile system of project management. It’s specifically tailored to software development, but it’s worth checking out. The idea of iterative development, which Agile promotes, maps well to motion design, up to a point.
對這篇文章特別感興趣的人，可以去研究看看Meier使用做專案管理的Agile系統，這個系統是特別為軟體開發而量身訂做的，但也很值得我們去一探究竟，因為Agile系統的強項是：可以有效提升重複動作的效率，對於影像設計的專案規劃上必然有一定程度的幫助。
作者簡介：
Justin Cone
網站Motionographer的總編輯暨創辦人。大學時醉心於影像設計領域，畢業後更是全心全意投入其中，先後創辦了Motionographer網站和影像設計盛會F5影展，並於2010年時與 David Crumley 、Bjorn Billhardt創業，在德州奧斯丁開設千鳥(Houndstooth)工作室，並擔任創意總監的職位。
相關連結：
Motionographer原文出處Agile的中文資料
Animapp論壇貼文
Yao Blog大字版
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