In technology, I actually think it makes sense for metered work demands (i.e things a person is told to do by management or clients, as opposed to learning new technologies, going to conferences, contributing to open-source) to top out around 25 hours per week. Even that's pushing it. The other 15-30 should be more open, long-term focused, and self-directed (because this component of the workweek is more autonomous, people can sustainably total 50+ hours without ruining their health, if these autonomy conditions at met).
The reason that management in most companies doesn't recognize this is that, although the average worker could achieve as much in his or her best 4 hours, managers are afraid that if they did officially relaxed "metered" demands, people would use their best hours on side projects or career-focused efforts and throw the scraps to their metered work (and, in many environments, they're right). The reason for the 8 to 11 hour metered workday is to maximize the likelihood that these 3-4 peak hours per day occur somewhere in that window.
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In technology, I actually think it makes sense for metered work demands (i.e things a person is told to do by management or clients, as opposed to learning new technologies, going to conferences, contributing to open-source) to top out around 25 hours per week. Even that's pushing it. The other 15-30 should be more open, long-term focused, and self-directed (because this component of the workweek is more autonomous, people can sustainably total 50+ hours without ruining their health, if these autonomy conditions at met).
The reason that management in most companies doesn't recognize this is that, although the average worker could achieve as much in his or her best 4 hours, managers are afraid that if they did officially relaxed "metered" demands, people would use their best hours on side projects or career-focused efforts and throw the scraps to their metered work (and, in many environments, they're right). The reason for the 8 to 11 hour metered workday is to maximize the likelihood that these 3-4 peak hours per day occur somewhere in that window.