Finding Focus

Programming is a task that requires long stretches of uninterrupted time to be productive.  A simple 15 second “How’s it going?” will almost inevitably lead to a 15 minute delay in work getting done.  A scary but true fact.  Programming, like design, and engineering tasks are most productive when you get into the “flow” or “zone”.  They are high momentum tasks that take time to ramp up to full speed.

Task switching and multi-tasking kill the flow and are therefore detrimental to being productive.

There are many tips out there for how to prevent disruptions.  Headphones have worked for me during late night coding sessions to help me forget how late it is.  Using full-screen apps is helpful as is turning off new email notifications.  Learning to use my editors keyboard shortcuts so that I don’t have to use my mouse is surprisingly effective – the mouse is a gateway to browsing reddit.

I’m still looking for new tips all the time.  Anything that can help me chip away at the mountain of code yet to be written makes a difference.