105: Developer Productivity

Motivation / Staying Productive Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow theory postulates three conditions that have to be met to achieve a flow state: One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals and progress. This adds direction and structure to the task. The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows them to adjust their performance to maintain the flow state. One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and their own perceived skills. One must have confidence in one's ability to complete the task at hand. Clear Distractions What things easily distract you when you need to get work done Make a list of these things Twitter, imgur, reddit, tv, music Clear these distractions Use a distraction free setting Get comfortable Change your setting Pairing Workout metaphor Hard to slack Intensity Don't have to do it every day Just 5 minutes I use this technique with my kids for studying 5 minutes doesn't really work for me Instead I say write 5 lines Sunk cost fallacy works in our favor I'm already here. I have something started. I might as well keep going. Push the peanut forward You don't have to love it You recognize that you just need to make some progress Commit to sit down and get started Free Writing Used by writer Set a timer, at least 5 minutes Don't use the IDE Don't write actual code, just pseudo code Don't think just let the pseudo code flow Pomodoro Method Sit down in front of your computer Set a 20 minute timer You must take a 5 minute break The importance of the break, related to exercise David Burns MD Write down, on a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied do you think that you will feel by completing the work that you need to do Write down, on a scale of 1 to 10, how painful will it be to do the work Do this before as an estimate and then after recording the actual Keep a running list and refer to it often