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.
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Paul Boos June 19, 2012 at 5:38 am
Sign me up :-)
Andrzej Lorenz June 19, 2012 at 5:38 am
I feel I have contributed to this glorious idea hence i sign :)
Piotr Leszczyński June 19, 2012 at 5:54 am
:D Is Manifesto another buzzword? Everybody is writing one.
I’m in.
Jamie Rorrison June 19, 2012 at 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 at 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 at 6:38 am
Sign me up :)
Alexandre Martinez June 19, 2012 at 7:05 am
Sign me up ;)
Maurijn June 19, 2012 at 10:34 am
Signing:)
Matti Vuori June 19, 2012 at 11:30 am
Hereby I sign this valuable manifesto.
Allan @ Aircraft Cables June 19, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Very classy, almost romantic, then you reached… Freaking Awesome. I dig it.
Grzegorz Majchrzak June 19, 2012 at 2:15 pm
I’m in.Totally. Sign me up.
Leif Ershag (@berinder) June 20, 2012 at 3:55 am
Improvment is the keyhole, slacking is the key.
Sign me up!
Tomek Dabrowski June 20, 2012 at 6:41 am
I’m in :) Sign me up please! :)
Andy Stitt June 20, 2012 at 10:00 am
I completely agree and am in. Sign me up, please!
Dave Moran June 21, 2012 at 5:11 am
Great stuff, Pawel! Sign me up.
Simon Marcus June 21, 2012 at 9:39 am
Sign me up!
Ingvald Skaug June 21, 2012 at 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 at 12:20 pm
Signed!
Matthias Jouan June 23, 2012 at 1:19 am
I’m in!
Tomasz Pindel June 25, 2012 at 11:55 am
I’m in :)
Zbigniew Kawalec June 25, 2012 at 12:13 pm
+1
Radoslaw Orszewski June 26, 2012 at 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 at 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 at 12:50 am
sign me up please!
Monika June 28, 2012 at 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 at 1:41 am
Sign me up :)
Andy Brandt June 29, 2012 at 5:24 am
Add me to your list!
Rob van Lanen June 29, 2012 at 5:26 am
Sign me up please :)
Steffen Thols June 29, 2012 at 5:33 am
Great! I’m in!
Matthias Orgler June 29, 2012 at 5:38 am
Sad, so few people seem to get this point. Sign me up, please!
Peter Bell June 29, 2012 at 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 at 6:05 am
Sign me up, please
John Goodsen June 29, 2012 at 6:22 am
Sign me up! @jgoodsen
Willem van den Ende June 29, 2012 at 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 at 2:11 pm
Sign me up please :-)
David Chilcott June 29, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Yes please… I’m a slacker too ;-)
Ewan O'Leary June 30, 2012 at 5:11 am
I’m in!
Nick Gerakines July 2, 2012 at 11:29 am
I’m in too!
Ron July 13, 2012 at 2:46 pm
Signed.
Eli Cochran July 16, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Amen
Thorbjorn Sigberg August 2, 2012 at 1:02 am
Sign me up :)
David Berkson September 24, 2012 at 5:52 am
Signed, thanks! @drummintime
Thomas Michaud September 27, 2012 at 6:24 am
Bingo. Sign me up. :-)
Tobias Mayer October 17, 2012 at 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 at 2:25 pm
Down time, as little as there is, is awesome.
donato mangialardo October 19, 2012 at 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 at 4:04 am
Will happily sign in, because not only it’s important but said well too :)
Peter Zvirinsky November 5, 2012 at 2:56 am
Sounds like very rational idea, count me in :).
Nicola Lovadina November 6, 2012 at 1:27 pm
sign me up!
Slack time for every one!
Paweł Wawrzyczek November 10, 2012 at 2:33 am
I,m in, Sign me up :)
The Chronologist November 16, 2012 at 11:35 am
Yes. Slack is necessary; and it should be balanced with another pillar – that of “sustainable pace.”
Jacek Gintrowicz December 20, 2012 at 3:20 am
Hello, I’m in :-)
Tonianne DeMaria Barry January 17, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Oh heck yeah – count me in!
Ivan Muts April 17, 2013 at 5:22 am
What a great idea! Sign me up!
Romeo-Adrian Cioaba May 9, 2013 at 3:09 pm
sounds about right! sign me in!
Jeroen Knoops May 14, 2013 at 1:04 am
Awesome! Sign me up!
Marcin Deryło May 14, 2013 at 3:20 am
How did I miss this previously? Sign me in!
Martina Freundorfer May 22, 2013 at 4:53 am
Yes, I like to sign that.