Fire the workaholics?

DHH lists down his reasons of why workaholics should be fired, the one i really endorse is:

# Working with interesting people is more interesting than just working. If all you got going for your life is work, work, work, the good team-gelling lunches are going to be some pretty boring straight shop talk. Yawn. I’d much rather hear more about your whittling project, your last trek, how your garden is doing, or when you’ll get your flight certificate.

The key here is not to confuse the term 'workaholic' with people who are passionate about their work, spend more time doing what they like, and still are cool and sensible enough to give time to other important things in life e.g. family/friends/stimulating hobbies. This term is being used specifically for a bunch of people, who absolutely do not have anything to outside work, can put their family life at stake, for a piece of software.

I would not comment on people who are doing research work, but if someone is in software industry, and is continuously busy spending 14 hours a day at work, for a period of more than 4 months, i daresay that person is perilously close to being a workaholic, if (s)he already not is.

Yes, there are times when we have to slog, but i for one moment cannot believe it has to be the case for a sustained period of time, if so, then it has more to do with the person himself/herself rather than 'external' factors (company/boss/startup), as it is quoted often.

When you are developing Software, you do get in to a zone, where you just love to do it, but as i said, if one is consistently loaded, may be (s)he isn't working smart.

The following quote on a discussion thread summarizes it up well for me:

I can't imagine anyone on their death bed saying "I should've spent more time at the office." It's the opposite that's usually true, and for a reason.

My personal quote for this is: "I would never be 26 ever again". :-)