Flexibility in Work… A Virtue or Vice ?

Has your immediate Manager or Colleague ever accused you to be inflexible in work? If yes, then let's say that we are in the same boat. I can't understand why Flexibility is considered to be a virtue in work. I mean it's a personal issue, nothing to do with professional characteristics. Why should my Manager or Colleague bother about that part of my personality?

I know that this sounds like cribbing. But before you take any stand on the issue, let me explain my point to you. Consider that a particular task is estimated to take 8 hours. Whereas the reality is that the task actually requires 12 hours. This may be due to error in estimation or some other issue, which is beyond the scope of topic. So when you really slog 4 hours extra to complete the job, you are doing multiple wrongs.

First you are actually giving the impression that the task was actually feasible in 8 hours. Down the line, these small deviations in each task produce an avalanche in the schedule. Also, what we generally forget is that the current estimations serve as a foundation for the estimates of further projects and contracts.

Secondly, you are actually harming your own Company by robbing it of its justified revenue. The four hours you slogged extra don't get billed and the Company doesn't get paid for that. Thirdly and last you are spoiling the work culture of the Industry. If you are slogging today for 4 hours extra, when you become a Manager, you will expect your subordinates to do the same or more, which IMHO is wrong.

Also when you slog, you are diminishing the value of your own work. Consider the scenario from the client's perspective. He knows that you are delivering good quality service, in his budget (in which he is already saving some money). So when you deliver 12 hours of work in 8 hours he, in a way has successfully cheated you. By delivering the code you are not only diminishing the value of the work you have done, you are also encouraging him to cheat you again. You are also strengthening the impression that Labor is cheap in India.

Of Course, I understand the need to slog extra hours because of your or a team members error, or when you are still catching up with things and know that you are not doing the work with as much speed as it can be done. But is this the only reason people slog?

I just can't understand the concept of Slogging. Can somebody explain it to me please?

P.S – This is one of the things I wanted to see getting changed in my company's working environment.