I feel sorry for you.
As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business.
My health is more important than their quarterly targets.
Then some kind of politics held the project up (likely for years), and they had me work a different project, so I quit, 'cause it was the success of that particular project that had me coming to work (it was gonna prevent traffic accidents, and it was fun to work on).
I have a healthier work/life balance now, but I don't care about what I'm working on. If they could get the wheels moving on that project again I'd switch back in a heartbeat.
I'm gonna die either way. If I have to put in a bit more work in order for it all to have meant something more than pointless meetings and products that nobody wants, then that's work I'm willing to do.
I've since left that institution precisely for what you mention, politics, and exactly like you I something think about working on that project again. I don't think any project I'll ever work on will be as satisfying from a societal perspective, as that one.
I will always look after my own health and will always try to maintain control, but each of us has his own context. "No product is worth that" is a general statement that might not apply to everything and everyone.
Fear and pity them all you want, but your health is not theirs. Don't give away the only thing you truly have, and the only thing you can never really get back.
I think it's also important to note the context of who is doing this kind of sprints. Does he have a family? Does he have other engagements? Does he have other health issues?
It's not for everyone, but I believe in my case, timing them properly, recovering properly afterwards and reaping the benefits has worked in my favor.
I might have given the impression that I am advocating for regular such sprints when in fact I have done this rarely, at pivotal moments, with years in between them.
I would say it differently though - do I have +-guaranteed massive return that over-compensates my extra effort and loss? If I get something meaningful, ie paid next 5 amazing vacations, can retire 1 year earlier, pay off massive part of mortgage or something on similar level, then I can at least consider it.
Why don't you find personal avenues in which to exert that creative energy for you, your family, or society?
It's called a work/life balance. Work, and the related money are a means to being able to live in this society. And how we choose to use the money and power, is how we affect society. But running to work after everyone else "goes to sleep" doesn't appear as a healthy relationship.
And I know of nobody who said when they got old, "I wish I spent more time at work".
My current employer is shrewd in that they have aligned their interests to mine -- they have moved away most of the BS typical of engineering jobs. They have other people do the parts I don't enjoy doing, and they have given me wide latitude in Product and Product Engineering decisions. They have also given me wide latitude on task selection -- which tasks I take and which get assigned to others on my team (or others on other teams.) This isn't a constant state, it happens on several sprints a year.
On a side note, yes, I exert lots of creative energy in other domains. I'm on the board of a non-profit mentoring org, I'm an advisor to a nature conservancy organization, and I spend a huge amount of time with my family and children.
When I was single, I was part of a community food cooperative and several educational mentoring orgs. Now, the lions share of free time goes to children.
Side note -- if/when my employer turns into Initech and I'm filling out TPS Reports, you can be sure I'll be clocking out at 5pm.
Slavery here really hyperbolic. We're talking about hard work that is both interesting and rewarding.
Your hard work is way more rewarding to your masters than to you, though.
There are plenty of people who do though I imagine.
I'm doing O.K., thank you for the concern.
> As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business.
> My health is more important than their quarterly targets.
I wholeheartedly agree, however I believe there are some situations where such a choice is not so bad. If you're young, have no obligations, believe in what you do and will end up a lot better after the sprint, I think it's not such a bad thing. The most important thing I believe is being able to take the time off after said sprint to recover and get things back to normal. It shouldn't be a normality in your life and you should be in total control of the situation.
Also such sprints should be seriously spaced.
How will YOU end up better after the sprint if you're not working on your own product but on your company's? That will benefit your CEO and shareholders for sure but how does it benefit YOU exactly?
Keep in mind, you have one health in your life and when it's gone it's gone for good whereas there'll be plenty of world-changing unicorns where you can work yourself to exhaustion if that's what you wish. Nobody has ever regretted on their deathbed not having worked more for someone else.