Slacker Manifesto

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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.

Comments

119 responses to “Slacker Manifesto”

June 19, 2012

Paul Boos

Sign me up :-)
June 19, 2012

Andrzej Lorenz

I feel I have contributed to this glorious idea hence i sign :)
June 19, 2012

Piotr Leszczyński

:D Is Manifesto another buzzword? Everybody is writing one.
I’m in.
June 19, 2012

Jamie Rorrison

Sign me up.
How can we make things better if we never have time to do it!
June 19, 2012

Andrew Fuqua

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
June 19, 2012

Piotr Uryga

Sign me up :)
June 19, 2012

Alexandre Martinez

Sign me up ;)
June 19, 2012

Maurijn

Signing:)
June 19, 2012

Matti Vuori

Hereby I sign this valuable manifesto.
June 19, 2012

Allan @ Aircraft Cables

Very classy, almost romantic, then you reached… Freaking Awesome. I dig it.
June 19, 2012

Grzegorz Majchrzak

I’m in.Totally. Sign me up.
June 20, 2012

Leif Ershag (@berinder)

Improvment is the keyhole, slacking is the key.

Sign me up!
June 20, 2012

Tomek Dabrowski

I’m in :) Sign me up please! :)
June 20, 2012

Andy Stitt

I completely agree and am in. Sign me up, please!
June 21, 2012

Dave Moran

Great stuff, Pawel! Sign me up.
June 21, 2012

Simon Marcus

Sign me up!
June 21, 2012

Ingvald Skaug

i’m in :)
slack creates opportunities for improvement without needing to schedule them
http://ingvald.posterous.com/kanban-slack-creates-opportunities-for-improv
June 22, 2012

Seth Martin

Signed!
June 23, 2012

Matthias Jouan

I’m in!
June 25, 2012

Tomasz Pindel

I’m in :)
June 25, 2012

Zbigniew Kawalec

+1
June 26, 2012

Radoslaw Orszewski

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 :/
June 26, 2012

Pawel Brodzinski

@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.
June 28, 2012

Haowei Ruan

sign me up please!
June 28, 2012

Monika

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 :)
June 29, 2012

Krzysztof Kula

Sign me up :)
June 29, 2012

Andy Brandt

Add me to your list!
June 29, 2012

Rob van Lanen

Sign me up please :)
June 29, 2012

Steffen Thols

Great! I’m in!
June 29, 2012

Matthias Orgler

Sad, so few people seem to get this point. Sign me up, please!
June 29, 2012

Peter Bell

I’m in – great idea. I’m guessing it was on slack time the manifesto got written :)
June 29, 2012

Jaap Schuttevaer

Sign me up, please
June 29, 2012

John Goodsen

Sign me up! @jgoodsen
June 29, 2012

Willem van den Ende

I don’t normally sign manifestos on my slack time, but I’ll make an exception for this one.
June 29, 2012

Stefan Billiet

Sign me up please :-)
June 29, 2012

David Chilcott

Yes please… I’m a slacker too ;-)
June 30, 2012

Ewan O’Leary

I’m in!
July 2, 2012

Nick Gerakines

I’m in too!
July 13, 2012

Ron

Signed.
July 16, 2012

Eli Cochran

Amen
August 2, 2012

Thorbjorn Sigberg

Sign me up :)
September 24, 2012

David Berkson

Signed, thanks! @drummintime
September 27, 2012

Thomas Michaud

Bingo. Sign me up. :-)
October 17, 2012

Tobias Mayer

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 :)
October 17, 2012

Mark Hammergren

Down time, as little as there is, is awesome.
October 19, 2012

donato mangialardo

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 ;)
October 31, 2012

Subashish Bose

Will happily sign in, because not only it’s important but said well too :)
November 5, 2012

Peter Zvirinsky

Sounds like very rational idea, count me in :).
November 6, 2012

Nicola Lovadina

sign me up!
Slack time for every one!
November 10, 2012

Paweł Wawrzyczek

I,m in, Sign me up :)
November 16, 2012

The Chronologist

Yes. Slack is necessary; and it should be balanced with another pillar – that of “sustainable pace.”
December 20, 2012

Jacek Gintrowicz

Hello, I’m in :-)
January 17, 2013

Tonianne DeMaria Barry

Oh heck yeah – count me in!
April 17, 2013

Ivan Muts

What a great idea! Sign me up!
May 9, 2013

Romeo-Adrian Cioaba

sounds about right! sign me in!
May 14, 2013

Jeroen Knoops

Awesome! Sign me up!
May 14, 2013

Marcin Deryło

How did I miss this previously? Sign me in!
May 22, 2013

Martina Freundorfer

Yes, I like to sign that.
June 28, 2013

Vesselina Tasheva

+1
June 28, 2013

Erik Sowa

Gimme slack!
June 28, 2013

rini van solingen

Yes I can!!
July 20, 2013

Martin Häntzschel

Cheers! Greetings from Argentina
July 25, 2013

Claudio Guerra

Completely agree, signed!
August 12, 2013

Patty Murray

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.
August 14, 2013

Britta Hummel

Reading this during my “post-deadline slack time”.
Some of the blog posts here may inspire my management style going forward. Mission accomplished.
September 22, 2013

Jerzy Stawicki

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.
October 9, 2013

Marysia Lachowicz

I’m in :-)
October 17, 2013

Raj Arcot

Signed up!
November 20, 2013

Tomasz Grobel

I’m definitely in!
November 21, 2013

Martin Hudymač

Sign me up :)
December 17, 2013

Dragan Jojic

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!
January 10, 2014

Randy Tangco, PMP, CSM

I like the slacker manifesto in the sense that we are communicating what value means.
March 1, 2014

Rajendra Raja

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.
March 12, 2014

Sophie Johnson

I’m in…as are any team I work with
March 27, 2014

Morgan Hixson

I so agree with this. Thanks
March 31, 2014

Kevin Plotner

I agree. I cannot be effective at 100% all the time.
May 28, 2014

Marco Bresciani

I’m a slacker too!
June 18, 2014

Tathagat

Let’s slack :)
July 17, 2014

Jon Fazzaro

Made me what I am today.
July 28, 2014

Paweł Rychlik

2 years passing by and it still holds. Count me in! :)
@pawelrychlik
September 1, 2014

Maciej Żywioł

Signed.
September 20, 2014

Elinor Slomba

I am on board with this manifesto – signing with a flourish!
October 9, 2014

Daniel Wicher

Count me in!
December 30, 2014

Christophe Popov

Sign me up
February 8, 2015

Pradeepa Narayanaswamy

Sign me up!!
February 18, 2015

Jovica Riznic

let’s slack it
March 13, 2015

Ravi Cheekati

I’m in. thanks …
April 17, 2015

Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse

I sign.
June 1, 2015

Carlo Beschi

I sign.

#slackers
June 12, 2015

Henrique Imbertti

Slack for the win!
July 10, 2015

Joanna Sitkowska

Sign me up please! ;-)
August 3, 2015

Mark Tiedemann

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
September 8, 2015

Cathy Bariao

I am a slacker.
October 30, 2015

Geert Van Aken

I also sign the slacker manifesto :P
November 30, 2015

Benoit Lafontaine

Sign me up!

Tx
December 12, 2015

Stefan van Raaphorst

:-)
March 10, 2016

Piotr Kuczyński

Add me please!
March 25, 2016

Philip Rogers

Proud to be a slacker
April 19, 2016

Mirosław Dąbrowski

I’m in :) Sign me up please! :)
May 10, 2016

Cathy Mateo Bariao

Great post
July 4, 2016

Katarzyna Świerczek

I am in:)
December 9, 2016

Dillon Weyer

Please add my name.
May 15, 2017

Sreejith Kaimal

Sign me up :)
May 19, 2017

Swavek Kublin

Hereby I sign the manifesto!
July 5, 2017

Yanni Liu

I agree.
September 27, 2017

Tomasz Szczodrowski

I agree!
December 7, 2017

Johanna Rothman

I live by this!
February 2, 2018

Piotr Rybok

I could not agree more – I’m in! ;)
February 16, 2018

Sajid

I am in…
March 9, 2018

Michał Gozdera

Sign me up :)
May 23, 2018

PiMa

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/
August 22, 2018

Joshua King

Add me please!
April 6, 2019

Meline

I’m with you! :)
August 14, 2019

Sean Carmody

I’m in.
January 6, 2020

Julio Oliveira

Sign me up <3
March 9, 2020

Dyego Cantu

Sign me up!!
June 12, 2023

Lynn Chin

Sign me up! :)
July 7, 2023

Chadwick Spencer

Please add my name as a signatory to the Slacker Manifesto.
March 19, 2025

Marco Fabbri

Big time slacker here, please, sign me up! :-)

Pawel Brodzinski on Leadership in Technology

Slacker Manifesto

Slacker Manifesto

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119 responses to “Slacker Manifesto”

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