Productivity Tips for Programmers

Ombu Labs, April 2015

Productivity = Flow (hs) - Interruptions (hs)

The Flow

“A state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Interruptions kill productivity

A programmer takes between 10-15 minutes to start editing code after resuming work from an interruption. [source]

Interruptions

“Hey! Can you help me with this?”

Email #32334 Subject: VERY URGENT stuff

@etagwerker hey, check out this gif! #Twitter

Tips

Keep your phone on vibrate/silent mode

Don’t keep your email client open

Don’t keep Twitter open

Keep Slack’s notifications silent

Ignore office phone calls

Put on your headphones

Don’t interrupt someone with headphones on

Start your Freckle timer widget

Monotask more, multitask less

Sometimes interruptions are good

Go for a walk if you can’t solve a problem

Ask another developer for advice on a problem

Rubberducking on Slack or face-to-face

Manage your interruptions wisely

Thank you!

Questions?