Burnout Tells
ELI5 - The Vibe Check
The commit messages get shorter. The camera stays off in standup. The person who used to argue passionately in code review now just approves everything without comment. Burnout tells are the small, specific behavioral changes that show up before anyone says the word 'burnout' out loud, if you know to look for them.
Real Talk
Burnout tells are observable behavioral changes in a developer's work patterns, such as declining communication, disengagement from code review, reduced commit frequency, or uncharacteristic passivity, that often precede an explicit acknowledgment of burnout. Recognizing them early gives managers and peers a chance to intervene before performance or wellbeing deteriorates further.
When You'll Hear This
"His commit messages went from detailed to one word, that's a burnout tell if I've ever seen one." / "Watch for burnout tells before the next on-call rotation, not after."
Related Terms
Crunch Time
Crunch time is that intense period before a deadline where normal work hours go out the window and the team enters survival mode.
Death March
A death march is a project where the deadline is impossible, the scope keeps growing, and everyone knows it's going to fail — but they keep marching anyway...
Imposter Syndrome
That feeling when you're convinced everyone around you is a real developer and you're just faking it. You shipped a feature? Lucky. You fixed a bug? Fluke.
Toil
Toil is the boring, repetitive, manual work that adds no lasting value — the stuff that makes you think 'a script should do this.