Dealing with crunch time

[Fogo]

I'm sure a lot of you here are nerds of the programming/developer variety, and are familiar with what happens when crunch time on a project arrives. For those that don't know crunch time usually hits near the end of a project when you're making that final push to get the thing done and shipped, and generally means long hours, low sleep, and endless junk food & caffeine supplied by the office.

The time demands from work usually wreak havoc on my sleep and gym time, and the food supplied is usually cheap and fast, so that doesn't help either.

So, as someone who's only really recently (just this year) started to really see success in weightloss and overal health (I've managed to drop 25 this year, and a few inches from my waist - go me!), does anyone have any tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle during these crunch times?

[Shortkaik]

Fellow developer here! From my experience, while crunch time does suck, at least in our field it's usually predictable - you know when the deadline is, and when you're going to hit that time period. So I'd say the best strategy is to cook something up in bulk ahead of time! A big batch of chili or stew or chicken that you can freeze in meal-sized quantities. That way you don't have to worry about groceries and cooking meals as much. I also keep a supply of fruits and nuts in my desk drawer and usually have a bag of snackable veggies in the office fridge - a bag of baby carrots or something.

Unfortunately, I haven't found a good strategy for sneaking in more gym time - but I still make sure I get some, because I do find getting a bit of exercise in the morning increases my productivity throughout the rest of the day, which I especially need during times like that!

[NorthRoad]

Can I come back to you on that in 5 years when I'm finished with my education ?

[Siha]

Deadlines are the bane of my existence! I'm not a programmer, but I have had my fair share in animation!

What I can say is that I have found, personally, that taking little breaks to burn off nervous energy during crunch times really helps get through it. Taking a 10 minute break to do part of Angry Birds, or some push ups, or something to get you moving and burn some stress. Run up and down the stairs. Around the building. Chair dips at your desk. Something to get you moving, especially since us desk job types are already on our butts most of the time anyway. IN little bits, throughout the day. Its not great, but its better than nothing and helps keep you focused.

Crunch times are also some of the most important times to make sure you're packing your own food! Like Shortkaik said. Stock up, make sure you plan to weather the storm.

I don't have a solution for the sleeping bit, and am no stranger to the all-nighter in the name of the almighty deadline. What I try to do is power nap if I can, and try to not make up for it all on the day after deadline and trash my sleep cycles.

[Fogo]

The stockpile of food is a good idea. I've already got a stash of almonds for snacking on, and it's starting to run low. I usually cook up a week's worth of chicken over the weekend, but I burned through that pretty quickly, and just hadn't had time to get to a grocery store to restock. And for whatever reason, freezing extra stuff just didn't occur to me. (Brain is currently fried by this project. I love game dev, but it can destroy you if you let it.)

That's some good advice on just getting up and moving. I'll have to see if I can steal some time away to do a short jog around the building or something.

[catspaw]

Fogo, I'm an ex-manager at Google, and I had one employee come up to me once and say: "I need to take an hour out of every day to go for a run. I know that seems like a lot during crunch time, but I promise it's going to make me MORE productive, happy and a better employee for the rest of the hours."

This seemed like such a reasonable request, of course I went for it.

Try asking your manager for something similar. If you're explicit about your needs, chances are they'll understand.

[catspaw]

(PS: This was a few months ago as we launched Google+, so I assure you there wasn't a lack of time-pressure. But good managers understand that dead employees can't code. )

[andygates]

Wow, can I swap you for my boss?

I work support, so instead of crunches I get random nine-bell alarms where clinical systems have gone titsup and it's all hands to the pumps until everything is shiny again. Caffeine and junk food are ambrosia and manna. But I have noticed that the fitter I am, the better I am able to handle these sleep / training / diet excursions, so they pretty much shrug off these days.

[caithnard]

Not a programmer, but I am a student who takes computer science classes with similarly stressful results. Planning ahead is definitely important. I usually squirrel away food in various backpacks/desks/drop ceilings (not kidding. There's food in the ceiling above one of the computer science clusters). I pretty much live off of dried fruits (and sometimes nuts, though I try to go for things that are keyboard friendly), though on longer breaks I go for an apple or celery dipped in almond or peanut butter.

As far as actual meals go, I freeze meal size portions of food ahead of time. Soup works well, as does pasta sauce (and I'll make a large amount of pasta and refrigerate it beforehand). I also usually have huge batches of frozen potstickers in my freezer and I like those because they're not as messy to eat at a desk as soup or pasta.

As far as exercise, I've been known to run up and down the stairs when I'm trying to work out bugs. One of my friends actually installed a pull-up bar on the lounge door during malloc. Though I suppose we're allowed to do that sort of thing because we're in college....it's not very professional. Running is how I destress and how I sort out everything in my head, so for me, it's almost worth doing that instead of getting extra sleep.

[bursthaggis]

Applez n hydrationz

[The Purple Diane]

Does your office provide overtime food? Make friends with the person who places the orders! Tell 'em what you can't eat, and see if they'll order stuff that's good for you.

Definitely ask if you can take a little time out during the day for running or a workout.

During those idle moments when code is compiling, stand up and do some squats or some desk push-ups. Walk to the kitchenette and back. The main thing is, get up and move around whenever you can!

Good luck. I hope this helps.