The phenomenon of "burnout" is a familiar one within IT today -- not just in the US and Canada, but also in Western Europe, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other industrialized parts of the world. But although most people would agree that it's pervasive, and that it has probably grown worse because of the recent economic downturn, it hasn't gotten much detailed attention. In late 2002, Cutter Consortium conducted a modest survey on burnout. The results were intriguing and also somewhat sobering.