Developer Centric Tips For Productivity
It is no secret that maintaining an optimum level of productivity as a developer is rather a difficult task. The latter dilemma is also faced by the company itself, in its pursuit to create “the” working environment that boosts the productivity of its developers.
One of the core problems is that not enough research is being done regarding the way developers spend their working day; meaning how do they alternate between tasks, how do they fragment their work and how do they perceive productivity. It is also important to note that there’s a lack of research on the trends/phases and peaks of productivity.
Taking all of that into consideration, it is understandable that a huge number of developers can’t relate to the productivity tips that are published on the news outlets.
Through this article, the tips are more specifically targeted towards developers and based on recent academic research that followed a holistic approach.
TIP#1: Personalized, Predictive Productivity models:
Developers are diverse. We can’t treat them all in the same way. Indeed, each developer has his/her own productivity cycle, according to research by the University Of Zurich, there’s variation between individuals, but that they can roughly be grouped into morning people, low-at-lunch people and afternoon people.
In understanding these different classifications, it would allow us to implement a specific model of work and project assignment and as a result, reach the optimum potential of each developer.
TIP#2 Stay in the Flow
This may be a tricky one. The moment developers step into the mood of coding, all of their attention is dedicated to writing the appropriate code. This status is very delicate and any disturbance can damage the flow of thoughts. This disturbance can be caused by simple non-coding related tasks which include replying to emails, small talks…
Developers can’t just go back to the same train of thoughts right before there was some kind of disturbance. Indeed, it would take them a long time to go back to the mindset of development and go back to the flow.
In this case, productivity can be improved by reducing interruptions at inopportune moments and by helping developers to focus when they are procrastinating.
TIP#3 Go to sleep
Sleep deprivation is a very common issue with developers. Fulfilling their deadlines and finishing their tasks may require extra effort but the solution does not lay in cutting the hours of sleep.
Quite the opposite, lack of sleep increases the levels of anxiety and frustration while decreasing the productivity of the developers.
The latter can turn into a burnout after a couple of projects.
This can be easily avoided by spreading the message that the mental and physical well being of the developer is the priority of every company.
