yep...the weight of gold makes it hard to lift.....
betting the farm turns into small backyard garden as capex caution leads to the question: how much more is really less.
Wednesday December 6 12:41 AM ET
Survey: Tech Pros Log More Hours But
Produce Less
By Eric Auchard
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Technology professionals are clocking longer hours, but producing less, and are at
greater risk of jumping ship for a new job than ever before, an annual survey of business technology
development has found.
In a report on worldwide information technology trends issued on Tuesday, Meta Group, the Stamford,
Conn.-based technology consulting firm, said long lead times on complex projects had trimmed the payback on
technology spending.
``What surprised us was that spending was not moving faster. Hours worked were far longer, but productivity
was far down,'' said Howard Rubin, a leading researcher on software labor patterns.
The survey of 6,000 companies in 28 nations showed that overall information technology spending slipped 6
percent during 2000, cutting an estimated nearly $100 billion from the $1.6 trillion spent on business computer
systems last year.
Technology projects continued to increase in complexity even as project deadlines have tightened in recent
years, Rubin noted. This has led to a rise in on-the-job learning, forcing computer professionals to work longer
hours to keep up.
The technician's work year is significantly longer than in years past: Working hours rose 36 percent from last
year in the United States to about 45 hours per week, assuming four weeks of vacation, and by 30 percent
outside the United States.
As a result, technology staff turnover rates rose both in the United States and other countries. The U.S. rate
jumped to 11.4 percent from 8.4 percent in 1999. Turnover at non-U.S. companies rose to 12.6 percent from
9 percent in 1999.
Highest turnover rates were reported among technicians at organizations in India (16 percent), China and
Switzerland (14 percent) and the United States and Canada (10 percent).
Productivity among technicians has fallen as they scale an ever steeper learning curve. New skills learned in
high-pressure work environments help improve the marketability of workers in the job market, increasing job
mobility.
The average U.S. software developer produced 6,220 lines of code per year -- about one line of finished code
every 15 minutes on the job -- compared with 9,000 lines in 1999, a 47 percent decrease.
For non-U.S. companies, software productivity fell by a smaller amount to just above 7,000 lines of code from
around 9,100 lines in 1999, a 29 percent decrease.
Cutting Costs Is Job No. 1
The annual survey, known as the Worldwide IT (Information Technology) Trends & Benchmark Report 2001,
found that reducing costs was now the No. 1 priority in technology investments, replacing efforts to harmonize
internal computer systems, investments in new platforms such as the next generation of Windows software, and
pie-in-the-sky Internet projects.
``We had expected much more aggressive investment in technology than what we're seeing. The spending we're
seeing is of a very cautious nature,'' Rubin said. ``Uncertainty in the economy is going to further slow
investments.''
Weakness in the European economy in 2000 fed a decline of 20 percent in overall technology spending by
businesses outside the United States. This was compounded by a typically slower technology adoption rate
internationally.
U.S. technology spending grew 8.7 percent in 2000, double the 3.4 percent rate of growth seen last year, when
new development slowed to ward off the feared computer glitches due to calendar's turn to the Year 2000.
Still, this rate was far below the 20 percent to 40 percent rates seen in the late 1990s, Rubin said.
Meta Group predicts more overall decline in technology spending in 2001, as companies invest in known
technologies and delay so-called ``bet the farm'' investments in radical new Web technologies that had been
popular recently. |
