All of this reminds me of Steve McConnell's book Rapid Development (which I just read thanks to recommendataions here). One of his basic premises is that expecting overtime to produce faster results is usually the problem rather than a soltuion. I know personally that when coding I become less productive as the day progresses. When I'm fresh in the morning I produce tighter code at a rate probbably four times that of what I do at the end of the day. The only times overtime has ever been useful to me is when I've gotten so excited that I can't leave until I've gotten something finished. Even then, I'd probably have done better to walk away and finish the next day. But self-imposed overtime is far superior to manager imposed (or schedule imposed) over time.