Software Development Engineering Culture

A Real Guide to Productivity

I cant count how many times I ve gotten that dreaded email from management: “Lets discuss improving developer productivity.” I can already hear the collective groaning of developers everywhere.

The Productivity Theater

Imagine this: It’s 2PM. A developer is deep in the flow state, finally unraveling a complex algorithm. Then: Ping! “Hey, quick question?” Ding! “Mandatory team building workshop” Buzz! “Can you update your JIRA tickets?”

And just like that, your mental stack trace is gone. Trust me, I have been there more times than I care to count.

The Management Paradox

The funny thing is, Ive watched management try to “fix” productivity in ways that make me want to bang my head against my keyboard. Their solution usually looks something like this:

  1. Add more meetings (because that helps somehow?)
  2. Increase “visibility” (aka micromanagement)
  3. Create new processes (because we definitely need more of those)

Let us put that in a developer’s perspective:

class ManagementSolution:
    def improve_productivity(self):
        while True:
            self.add_meetings()
            self.increase_oversight()
            self.create_processes()
        return productivity  # then wounder why mysteriously decreased

The Real Cost of Context Switching

Let me break down what actually happens when you interrupt a developer (speaking from painful experience): You spend 15 minutes getting into the flow state. You hit your stride for maybe 30 minutes. Then some notification pops up, and… back to square one. Rinse and repeat until you’re staying late trying to actually get something done.

TLDR:

  • 15 minutes to get into the flow state.
  • 30-45 minutes of peak productivity.
  • One Slack notification.
  • 15 minutes to get back into flow.
  • Repeat until day ends.
  • Net productive time: Approximately 12 minutes.

What Actually Works

1. Focus Time

Give developers 4-hour blocks of uninterrupted time. Watch in amazement as features materialize out of nowhere. I once had a manager who blocked out “No Meeting Wednesdays” for the entire team. Productivity doubled. Not kidding.

2. Clear Requirements > Constant Updates

A well-written ticket is worth a thousand meetings. When developers know what to build, they actually build it. The best sprint I ever had was when our product owner wrote crystal-clear tickets and then (gasp!) left us alone to build them.

3. Trust The Devs

The most effective team I worked on had almost complete autonomy. We made our own technical decisions and owned our outcomes. Guess what? We delivered faster than any other tea

4. The Tools Matter

Nothing makes me die inside quite like watching a developer wait 20 minutes for their code to compile on a laptop from 2015. Seriously, I once calculated that we were losing about 2 hours per day to slow builds. That new M1 Mac doesnt seem so expensive, does it?

TLDR, Nothing kills productivity like:

  • A laptop that takes 20 minutes to compile.
  • A CI/CD pipeline held together with duct tape.
  • Development environments that work “sometimes”.

The Simple Truth

Here’s the thing about developers (and Im including myself here) we’re basically cats:

  • We are self-motivated.
  • We hate being micromanaged.
  • We perform best when left alone with proper resources.
  • We will let you know when we need something (usually salary increase or better hardware :smile:).

The Real Metrics That Matter

Forget story points and velocity metrics and Instead of tracking lines of code or tickets closed. Here’s what we should really care about:

  • Hours of uninterrupted focus time.
  • Time spent waiting for approvals/reviews.
  • Number of context switches per day.

A Better Approach

The best manager I ever had spent more time removing obstacles than adding processes. Novel concept!

Instead of Adding, Try Removing:

  • unnecessary meetings.
  • approval bottlenecks.
  • arbitrary processes.
  • unnecessary bureaucrats.

Try to Create Space for:

  • Deep work.
  • Creative problem-solving.
  • Learning and experimentation.
  • Actually writing code.

The Manager’s Guide to Actually Improving Productivity (or at least not making it worse)

What I am wishing to see, and probably a note for my self if one day I am in a position to manage developers:

  1. Protect time for actual development by scheduling no-meeting days.

  2. Normalize turning off Slack. Push the culture that developers should be able to work in peace. Implement ‘Focus Time’ culture.

  3. Trust Your Developers, they want to build good things, let them and give them the freedom to make decisions.

  4. Upgrade their tools, the ROI on good equipment is astronomical. Nothing kills productivity like a slow laptop or a slow CI/CD pipeline.

Wrapping up

P.S. If you’re reading this in a productivity improvement meeting, the irony is noted. Maybe it’s time to end the meeting and let your developers get back to work. or update your resume?