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Pawel Brodzinski on Software Project Management

Slacker Manifesto

Slacker Manifesto post image

We are professionals, we take pride of our work and we pursue continuous improvement. Most of all we learn.

One thing we’ve learned is that pursuing 100% utilization is a myth and a harmful one. Another thing we’ve learned is value of slack time. Building on that, hereby we declare ourselves Slackers.

And here is our Manifesto (you can sign it by leaving a comment if you like to).

Slacker Manifesto

On occasions we do nothing. Or something different. Or else.

Because this means that our teams are more effective.

It also means that we are freaking awesome.

Signatories:
Full list of signatories can be found here — in a stand-alone copy of Slacker Manifesto.

Big thanks to Kate Terlecka and Andrzej Lorenz who influenced creation of this masterpiece highly.

in: kanban

118 comments… add one

  • Paul Boos June 19, 2012, 5:38 am

    Sign me up :-)

  • Andrzej Lorenz June 19, 2012, 5:38 am

    I feel I have contributed to this glorious idea hence i sign :)

  • Piotr Leszczyński June 19, 2012, 5:54 am

    :D Is Manifesto another buzzword? Everybody is writing one.
    I’m in.

  • Jamie Rorrison June 19, 2012, 6:19 am

    Sign me up.
    How can we make things better if we never have time to do it!

  • Andrew Fuqua June 19, 2012, 6:30 am

    I’m signing the Slacker Manifesto!

    Here’s my thoughts on how managers can participate by being slack:
    http://www.andrewfuqua.com/2011/11/slack-and-managers-role-in-scrum.html

  • Piotr Uryga June 19, 2012, 6:38 am

    Sign me up :)

  • Alexandre Martinez June 19, 2012, 7:05 am

    Sign me up ;)

  • Maurijn June 19, 2012, 10:34 am

    Signing:)

  • Matti Vuori June 19, 2012, 11:30 am

    Hereby I sign this valuable manifesto.

  • Allan @ Aircraft Cables June 19, 2012, 12:07 pm

    Very classy, almost romantic, then you reached… Freaking Awesome. I dig it.

  • Grzegorz Majchrzak June 19, 2012, 2:15 pm

    I’m in.Totally. Sign me up.

  • Leif Ershag (@berinder) June 20, 2012, 3:55 am

    Improvment is the keyhole, slacking is the key.

    Sign me up!

  • Tomek Dabrowski June 20, 2012, 6:41 am

    I’m in :) Sign me up please! :)

  • Andy Stitt June 20, 2012, 10:00 am

    I completely agree and am in. Sign me up, please!

  • Dave Moran June 21, 2012, 5:11 am

    Great stuff, Pawel! Sign me up.

  • Simon Marcus June 21, 2012, 9:39 am

    Sign me up!

  • Ingvald Skaug June 21, 2012, 12:26 pm

    i’m in :)
    slack creates opportunities for improvement without needing to schedule them
    http://ingvald.posterous.com/kanban-slack-creates-opportunities-for-improv

  • Seth Martin June 22, 2012, 12:20 pm

    Signed!

  • Matthias Jouan June 23, 2012, 1:19 am

    I’m in!

  • Tomasz Pindel June 25, 2012, 11:55 am

    I’m in :)

  • Zbigniew Kawalec June 25, 2012, 12:13 pm

    +1

  • Radoslaw Orszewski June 26, 2012, 2:50 am

    I’m in of course.

    Just a few more worlds of comments. Lately I have heard from one manager that it is good to keep everyone in the team busy all the time. Why I asked naturally? I was told that otherwise it would look like people are in slack, so reductions in the team are needed. I am sorry for organizations which choose reducing costs over increasing creativity :/

  • Pawel Brodzinski June 26, 2012, 12:39 pm

    @Radoslaw – I pity them. By the way, a common strategy is to pretend that work done in slack time is regular work. One idea I’ve heard is to use “golden ticket” as a signal that someone is working on something in their slack time. On one hand it leaves some slack on the other it builds this facade that shows to anyone interested that basically everyone is busy.

    After all, when it comes to slack: doing nothing still improves team’s efficiency although it is advisable to use slack to do improvement work and not just nap peacefully in a hammock.

  • Haowei Ruan June 28, 2012, 12:50 am

    sign me up please!

  • Monika June 28, 2012, 10:00 am

    Please sign me up :) its extremely interesting to watch the Team when they have free time and can freely use their creativity and make amazing ideas come true :)

  • Krzysztof Kula June 29, 2012, 1:41 am

    Sign me up :)

  • Andy Brandt June 29, 2012, 5:24 am

    Add me to your list!

  • Rob van Lanen June 29, 2012, 5:26 am

    Sign me up please :)

  • Steffen Thols June 29, 2012, 5:33 am

    Great! I’m in!

  • Matthias Orgler June 29, 2012, 5:38 am

    Sad, so few people seem to get this point. Sign me up, please!

  • Peter Bell June 29, 2012, 5:57 am

    I’m in – great idea. I’m guessing it was on slack time the manifesto got written :)

  • Jaap Schuttevaer June 29, 2012, 6:05 am

    Sign me up, please

  • John Goodsen June 29, 2012, 6:22 am

    Sign me up! @jgoodsen

  • Willem van den Ende June 29, 2012, 7:16 am

    I don’t normally sign manifestos on my slack time, but I’ll make an exception for this one.

  • Stefan Billiet June 29, 2012, 2:11 pm

    Sign me up please :-)

  • David Chilcott June 29, 2012, 3:34 pm

    Yes please… I’m a slacker too ;-)

  • Ewan O'Leary June 30, 2012, 5:11 am

    I’m in!

  • Nick Gerakines July 2, 2012, 11:29 am

    I’m in too!

  • Ron July 13, 2012, 2:46 pm

    Signed.

  • Eli Cochran July 16, 2012, 3:07 pm

    Amen

  • Thorbjorn Sigberg August 2, 2012, 1:02 am

    Sign me up :)

  • David Berkson September 24, 2012, 5:52 am

    Signed, thanks! @drummintime

  • Thomas Michaud September 27, 2012, 6:24 am

    Bingo. Sign me up. :-)

  • Tobias Mayer October 17, 2012, 7:45 am

    I’d sign this if it wasn’t for the last line. Slacking doesn’t mean we are awesome, it means we have the opportunity to become so (although I dislike the term awesome, it is way too overused).

    I’d prefer that last line to read something more like:
    “It also means we create opportunities for self-actualization.” (ref: Maslow)

    So, not signing, but greatly in favor of the sentiment :)

  • Mark Hammergren October 17, 2012, 2:25 pm

    Down time, as little as there is, is awesome.

  • donato mangialardo October 19, 2012, 8:19 am

    Very nice approach. The manifesto. Great. I’ve done something similar in a different context (http://bit.ly/QBvDJ1) but yours is 10x better for the social approach and conciseness, although I believe that awesomeness is overrated ;)

  • Subashish Bose October 31, 2012, 4:04 am

    Will happily sign in, because not only it’s important but said well too :)

  • Peter Zvirinsky November 5, 2012, 2:56 am

    Sounds like very rational idea, count me in :).

  • Nicola Lovadina November 6, 2012, 1:27 pm

    sign me up!
    Slack time for every one!

  • Paweł Wawrzyczek November 10, 2012, 2:33 am

    I,m in, Sign me up :)

  • The Chronologist November 16, 2012, 11:35 am

    Yes. Slack is necessary; and it should be balanced with another pillar – that of “sustainable pace.”

  • Jacek Gintrowicz December 20, 2012, 3:20 am

    Hello, I’m in :-)

  • Tonianne DeMaria Barry January 17, 2013, 7:43 pm

    Oh heck yeah – count me in!

  • Ivan Muts April 17, 2013, 5:22 am

    What a great idea! Sign me up!

  • Romeo-Adrian Cioaba May 9, 2013, 3:09 pm

    sounds about right! sign me in!

  • Jeroen Knoops May 14, 2013, 1:04 am

    Awesome! Sign me up!

  • Marcin Deryło May 14, 2013, 3:20 am

    How did I miss this previously? Sign me in!

  • Martina Freundorfer May 22, 2013, 4:53 am

    Yes, I like to sign that.

  • Vesselina Tasheva June 28, 2013, 5:05 am

    +1

  • Erik Sowa June 28, 2013, 7:16 am

    Gimme slack!

  • rini van solingen June 28, 2013, 9:45 am

    Yes I can!!

  • Martin Häntzschel July 20, 2013, 11:42 am

    Cheers! Greetings from Argentina

  • Claudio Guerra July 25, 2013, 8:25 am

    Completely agree, signed!

  • Patty Murray August 12, 2013, 6:44 am

    Slackers, unite! Sometimes a gal just has to break away from validating requirements and deep diving into processes and put the red queen on the black king — just for a few minutes to reboot the brain.

  • Britta Hummel August 14, 2013, 1:29 pm

    Reading this during my “post-deadline slack time”.
    Some of the blog posts here may inspire my management style going forward. Mission accomplished.

  • Jerzy Stawicki September 22, 2013, 11:15 am

    Yes: 100% utilization is a myth, slack time is a must. So we all should repeat and repet that sentence, similar to Cato the Elder in Rome, finishing every his speach in Senate with the phrase “Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam” (Carthagine must be destroyed).
    Please sign me up.

  • Marysia Lachowicz October 9, 2013, 6:07 am

    I’m in :-)

  • Raj Arcot October 17, 2013, 12:21 pm

    Signed up!

  • Tomasz Grobel November 20, 2013, 3:50 pm

    I’m definitely in!

  • Martin Hudymač November 21, 2013, 2:20 am

    Sign me up :)

  • Dragan Jojic December 17, 2013, 8:07 am

    Came to this manifesto quite late but have been practising it for years, so very happy to sign it, despite the “f…king awesome” bit. Slackers of the world unite!

  • Randy Tangco, PMP, CSM January 10, 2014, 10:32 am

    I like the slacker manifesto in the sense that we are communicating what value means.

  • Rajendra Raja March 1, 2014, 11:21 am

    Yes I wish to be included. For me slack time is when I am doing what induces me from inside heart and mind. Free of pressure from some one. That way I do my productive work only during slack time.

    Coming to 100 billable hours in IT and SW community, please note it is sheer rubbish for management who want to use human talents as machine or juke box or ATM machinary. No human should be on billable work except when he is a trainee or junior worker less than 3 years experience. Leaders and HODs should not have any work besides 50% of their work time. Only then they become creative and think strategically. Otherwise they become pigs as often billable account leaders of software services industry would love to do.

  • Sophie Johnson March 12, 2014, 7:52 am

    I’m in…as are any team I work with

  • Morgan Hixson March 27, 2014, 10:52 am

    I so agree with this. Thanks

  • Kevin Plotner March 31, 2014, 5:49 pm

    I agree. I cannot be effective at 100% all the time.

  • Marco Bresciani May 28, 2014, 4:47 am

    I’m a slacker too!

  • Tathagat June 18, 2014, 10:37 am

    Let’s slack :)

  • Jon Fazzaro July 17, 2014, 7:37 pm

    Made me what I am today.

  • Paweł Rychlik July 28, 2014, 3:22 pm

    2 years passing by and it still holds. Count me in! :)
    @pawelrychlik

  • Maciej Żywioł September 1, 2014, 2:46 am

    Signed.

  • Elinor Slomba September 20, 2014, 3:36 am

    I am on board with this manifesto – signing with a flourish!

  • Daniel Wicher October 9, 2014, 1:58 am

    Count me in!

  • Christophe Popov December 30, 2014, 2:47 pm

    Sign me up

  • Pradeepa Narayanaswamy February 8, 2015, 8:30 pm

    Sign me up!!

  • Jovica Riznic February 18, 2015, 6:05 am

    let’s slack it

  • Ravi Cheekati March 13, 2015, 10:05 am

    I’m in. thanks …

  • Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse April 17, 2015, 5:56 am

    I sign.

  • Carlo Beschi June 1, 2015, 8:30 am

    I sign.

    #slackers

  • Henrique Imbertti June 12, 2015, 8:11 am

    Slack for the win!

  • Joanna Sitkowska July 10, 2015, 3:41 am

    Sign me up please! ;-)

  • Mark Tiedemann August 3, 2015, 6:29 am

    I found the Slacker Manifesto to work naturally well on university projects.

    Of course, as individual students, we sometimes did nothing [1]. But, as a lean team, we still had a steady, value-producing workflow.

    Of course, as individuals, we did different stuff along the way [2]. But, as a team, we never got off the customer’s track.

    And most importantly, we had fun doing so — Slacking is indeed awesome!

    ___________

    [1] not necessarily idle time
    [2] not necessarily project related stuff

  • Cathy Bariao September 8, 2015, 11:39 am

    I am a slacker.

  • Geert Van Aken October 30, 2015, 6:23 am

    I also sign the slacker manifesto :P

  • Benoit Lafontaine November 30, 2015, 3:01 am

    Sign me up!

    Tx

  • Stefan van Raaphorst December 12, 2015, 11:23 am

    :-)

  • Piotr Kuczyński March 10, 2016, 7:36 am

    Add me please!

  • Philip Rogers March 25, 2016, 10:04 am

    Proud to be a slacker

  • Mirosław Dąbrowski April 19, 2016, 5:16 am

    I’m in :) Sign me up please! :)

  • Cathy Mateo Bariao May 10, 2016, 11:54 am

    Great post

  • Katarzyna Świerczek July 4, 2016, 1:59 am

    I am in:)

  • Dillon Weyer December 9, 2016, 8:38 am

    Please add my name.

  • Sreejith Kaimal May 15, 2017, 6:31 am

    Sign me up :)

  • Swavek Kublin May 19, 2017, 5:50 am

    Hereby I sign the manifesto!

  • Yanni Liu July 5, 2017, 8:07 pm

    I agree.

  • Tomasz Szczodrowski September 27, 2017, 12:37 pm

    I agree!

  • Johanna Rothman December 7, 2017, 2:12 pm

    I live by this!

  • Piotr Rybok February 2, 2018, 3:37 am

    I could not agree more – I’m in! ;)

  • Sajid February 16, 2018, 12:13 am

    I am in…

  • Michał Gozdera March 9, 2018, 1:50 am

    Sign me up :)

  • PiMa May 23, 2018, 4:35 am

    Great idea :). Please sign me up.

    I am also adding some examples of “doing really nothing” below :p

    Are Scrum Masters lazybones?
    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/scrum-masters-lazybones-piotr-maksimczyk/

    What Scrum Masters Do?
    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-scrum-master-do-piotr-maksimczyk/

  • Joshua King August 22, 2018, 1:23 pm

    Add me please!

  • Meline April 6, 2019, 2:36 pm

    I’m with you! :)

  • Sean Carmody August 14, 2019, 6:45 pm

    I’m in.

  • Julio Oliveira January 6, 2020, 5:04 am

    Sign me up <3

  • Dyego Cantu March 9, 2020, 7:30 am

    Sign me up!!

  • Lynn Chin June 12, 2023, 9:14 pm

    Sign me up! :)

  • Chadwick Spencer July 7, 2023, 8:11 am

    Please add my name as a signatory to the Slacker Manifesto.

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