The syndrome of subtle and persistent lack of motivation when coding
software engineers be like "it is literally impossible to estimate how long it takes to do something, a fundamentally flawed question forced onto us by the Unenlightened PMC types" and then slack off for 4 days because they know their project will only take 8 hours tops
I don't know why software engineers in general slack off, but I think I know why I personally slack off. This is related to 21-03-13: I'm not getting anything out of it — I have a very hard time doing something when I don't know whether I will get anything out of it.
Software engineering is full of such things. I've listed a few small ones; in addition to them, the biggest one I can think of is "nobody will ever use the thing I am helping to build". I feel this especially strongly when I don't interact with the customers. Examples from my own jobs:
My current job — rewriting a large codebase from one language to another — is literally the first job I've had where I can clearly see the benefit: the company will save a ton of money. I know how much money. I know exactly how the money will be saved. I know that I in particular can make it happen, and I know that without me it might not happen. Boom — I am enjoying this job like none of my previous jobs.
