The 5 intensity zones of software teams

The dangers of always staying in the same one

Your team operates in 1 of 5 ‘Intensity Zones’. For most teams, the zones look like this:

• Zone 1 - Very light. For example during the holiday season. Most people are on vacation, the rest are doing minimum work, and not much progress. Short days. This is a recovery zone.

• Zone 2 - Light. There is no urgent work, just some long-term projects or exploration. Long lunches and breaks. There is some progress, but everyone knows you are taking it easy.

• Zone 3 - Moderate. You regular pace, 40-hour work weeks. There are deliverables you are responsible for, but you don’t need to stretch yourself hard to achieve them. People might occasionally answer Slack messages in the evening, but most will eat dinner at home and disconnect after 6 pm.

• Zone 4 - Hard. Working throughout most evenings, at least 10 to 12 hour days. Probably there is a critical deadline approaching, and you need all hands on deck.

• Zone 5 - Maximum. Everyone either works or sleeps. 70-90+ hour weeks. The future of the company depends on your team (or you work for Musk/Jensen Huang).

This analogy comes from your heart rate zones while doing exercise (running, biking, gym). Every person also has 5 zones:

Activity heart rate zones

They are different per person, influenced by genetics and age (the older you are, the lower your HRmax - max heart rate).

The same happens with teams - for a team of recent college graduates a 60-hour week might be moderate, and for a team of 40+ year-old family people it might be a ‘maximum’ intensity.

The benefit of switching zones

As every runner knows, you can’t do all your training sessions in the same zone. You’ll spend most of your time in zones 2-3, but also longer runs at zone 1, and some interval training that will involve zones 4 and 5.

Great software teams know how to operate in different zones.

4.5 years ago, I started working at Taranis, an Agriculture Technology company. 95% of our business was in the US, where the agricultural season is from April to September (approximately).

During October-March, there was ZERO usage of our applications, as there was nothing growing in the fields, and the farmers didn’t need us. We were operating at zones 2-3.

Then, at the beginning of April, all hell broke loose. We had more problems than people to solve them, and the pace was just frantic. There were 1-2 weeks of zone 5, and then a couple more months of zone 4.

Having the ability to ‘step up’, and work at zone 5 can be crucial for companies.

I imagine the same happens in e-commerce companies during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, where you just need everyone to be super committed as it’s critical for the company.

In Fintech companies, it might be during tax season, or end-of-the-year reports, where there is very heavy usage of their apps.

In game development, it might be the 2-3 weeks after the launch, to fix all critical problems ASAP.

Your need to prepare your team for those times, so that they will be able (and willing) to pick up the pace.

You also need to make sure you can wind down and go back to the lower zones. In many cases, after a few months of zone 4, the executives get used to that pace and start to expect it as the new norm.

Being intentional about your team’s zone

For that, you need to practice being intentional about the intensity zones of their teams, instead of letting inertia dictate the phase.

The main problem is that switching zones is hard. If your team is used to being in zones 1-2, working 5-6 hours a day, moving to zones 3+ will face resistance. In the other case, of teams constantly working 60+ hour weeks, it will also be hard to move to lower zones. Your manager will probably push back, and maybe even your people themselves won’t know how to ‘take it easier’.

My suggestion to you is to not be afraid to fight for zone-switching, in both directions. After your team is working at Zone 4 for a couple of months, the people in the company get used to it, and expect you to keep that pace forever.

For the other type of change, the key is of course setting expectations. People need to know what they are getting into. During the last interview stages, I always made it clear to explain to candidates how intense some months are for us, and that it requires working during weekends and nights.

Final words

I call this skill ‘Intensity management’, and it’s a tricky one.

The longer you work with the same people, in the same company, the more important it is to learn how to switch zones. That’s the only way you can both adapt to your business needs and keep your people from burning out.

What I enjoyed reading this week

1. How to solve problems by

   Torsten Walbaum
   . Torsten writes super deep dives that I always enjoy reading.

2. How do you stay hands-on? (without BS) by

   Chaitali Narla
   . I usually don’t enjoy those articles as the suggestions are either bad or obvious, but this one is golden.

3. Opportunities at breakout startups, early teams hiring, and co-founder searches by

   Ben Lang
   . I love what Ben is doing with
   next play
   , which aims to help you find your next adventure. I’m not actively looking yet, but I enjoy reading about what other people build.