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Comment by WesleyLivesay | Hacker News Reader

I think the theory of this article is fine, but the solution of sacrificing weekend time with family to eek out some time for work goals feels bad to me. It also involves pushing more child care onto the partner in the relationship, when it sounds like they are already sacrificing large chunks of their time on a commute so that the family can live close to the researchers place of work.

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Replacing non-work time on the weekend (especially time with children or a partner, or personal time) with work seems like a bad idea.

Moreover, from years of personal experience, I have found that working on weekends doesn't seem to improve productivity and is harmful to health and happiness.

What I do, is schedule work tasks on the weekend that I know won't matter if they're not done, and then not do them. Works out great.

I don’t know about this attitude. In my experience, family is all the time. Sure, it’s great when we do special trips together. But “weekend time with family” is not necessary a recharge for oneself or for the kids. We shouldn’t feel guilty about making time for deep work on the weekends. Often, two parents and kids on a weekend day are worse than one parent—more conflict, less flow, less fun. Take turns, get “me time!”

My wife and I have recently come up with a series of agreements on time that have substantially improved both our work and home life.

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