Late Nights at work...

Well, its nearing 10.20 PM and I am still at my desk, talking to the "Idiot Box" (I call my comp like that.. dont ask me why) and desperately trying to get done with my tasks. Sadly I noticed that I am out of cancer sticks as well.. darn !! This makes me sit back and think (while my script is running in the background.. and oh btw, one run takes 20 mins.. gosh !! can you believe that), what's with late nights and IT professionals.. ?
Time and again, when I used to work in Tidel Park, and was obsessed with doing late nights, everytime I used to come out for a break, I would see the entire smoker's arena, buzzling with activity ! Well, night shifts could be one of the reasons, but the other reason that frequently comes to my mind is.... tight deadlines... ! Which makes me sit and think, do we always run behind impossible deadlines to get deliveries "Delivered" ?? I dont know about you, but personally I have always felt, its the never ending urge to never say "No" when work is assigned to you, for something that has "That is totally impossible given the short time" phrase written all over it !!
A question to introspect, how many times have you wanted to say, Nah.. thats totally not possible, but still felt yourself jumping out of your seats and saying "Oh yes, that can be done" and then walking out of the meeting room with this utmost deepest and most wanting urge to kick yourself for having said that... ! I have always been a workaholic, apart from being addicted to a whole bunch of other things (which I wouldnt want to confess in a blog that is.. lol !), but even otherwise, I must admit I have made this blunder many a times. Dunno if this is the case with us Indian folks in general or if this just one of those wildest perceptions of mine, but I have always noticed that even before we do our ground work which in general terms is called as "Feasibility" we jump to a task and commit our utmost dedication to it.. maybe its the question of "Ego" or maybe its the question of "Reputation" or even sheer bragging, but the point is, we dont seem to be doing our due diligience !
On the other hand, I have watched a lot of Americans work in a different way... In one such situation, we had an emergency at work at we needed a system admin to show up immediately to fix an issue, but it was a weekend and when we did manage to reach out to the person, he politely and in a very politically correct manner expressed his inability to show up at work, because he was busy taking his weekend time off.. !! That made me wonder, had I been in such a situation would I have said No.. I guess not...
That makes me come to the most important question, why do we slog like this ? Why do we always race against tough deadlines... Well the answer is pretty simple. When tasks get assigned to people, and deadlines fixed against them, the people doing the allocation work, always take away atleast 10% of the allotted time and give us only 90% of the time to wrap it up. This in a way is very good, because we are planning for untoward emergencies. But sometimes this backfires when the person doing the estimation and the person who is actually running around trying to get the job done are two completely different set of people, who in no way interact with each other.. ! Ouch. !! that sounds scary doesnt it.. imagine a situation wherein I am giving an estimate of 10 weeks as the time required to build a "NASA space rocket" when I have no clue about rocket building nor have I spoken to people involved in rocket building and gotten their opinions.. Its a tough decision to be honest.. How much of time is required to wrap up something is always apart from being a "Hot question thrown at an interview" also something which requires a lot of experience, a lot of common sense and not to leave out, a lot of discussions between all the folks working on a task...
We all know there is a problem, but its the same thing again "Who will tie the bell to a cat".. I have now begun to sit up and think, why I do I make blunders when telling someone as to how much of time do I require to get done with a task.. and then end up slogging just to ensure that I keep up my word.. Well reality check.. I think I have found my answer... In my case it has always been the sheer ego... "What will people think about my abilities if I say I require more time to get done with a task" that sort of an attitude.. Its very bad to be honest, because to be honest, in a professional world, no one actually cares for others abilities in such minutest details... I have been living in a fool's paradise.. and what adds fuel to this fire ?? Guess what, everytime when someone says, "Oh Krish, well I know he can get this done in a couple of hours".. that's what makes me do the same blunder.. I seem to be getting carried away.. which I have now decided to fix...

All that said and done, as I decide to wrap up this post as well as my day at work.. ask yourself.. "Why do you slog at office" ??