I have spent fair share of hours trying to improve my productivity, rather than actually doing the things I wanted to be efficient on.
And then I realized this...
Here are my 5 simple habits that actually boost developer productivity.
Let's get started.
TL;DR
- Track Time ⏰
- Aggressively Prioritize 📌
- Remove Distractions 🔇
- Automate Repetitive Tasks ⚙️
- Take Regular Breaks ☕️
Track Time ⏰
Monitoring your time will make you aware of your unproductive habits.
If you constantly wonder where all your time went, this exercise can immensely help.
Create a spreadsheet and for each task log it’s:
- Start time
- End time
- Total time
- Break time
End of day, flag unwanted tasks and delays. Avoid them the next day.
Repeat this exercise until you are satisfied with your workday.
Aggressively Prioritize 📌
Working hard ≠ Working smart
Goal should be to maximize the value of your effort.
Use “Eisenhower Matrix” to create a prioritized todo list.
Categorize tasks into following:
- Urgent and Important → Do them next
- Urgent and not important → Delegate
- Not urgent and important → Schedule
- Not urgent and not important → Eliminate
Focus only on one task at a time.
Remove Distractions 🔇
Once distracted, it takes ~23 minutes to regain focus.
Creating a schedule is irrelevant if you don’t protect it.
Some hacks that I use:
- Disable notifications
- Using noise cancellation headphones
- Keep my phone on airplane mode
Notice what is distracting you. Get rid of it while working.
Automate Repetitive Tasks ⚙️
Automating tedious chores lets you focus on higher value work.
Reflect on your development workflow and ask — “what can I automate?”
You can set up automation for:
→ Documentation
→ Release notes
→ Code reviews
→ Tests
Choose tools which work best for your tech stack.
Take Regular Breaks ☕️
You can’t focus for long hours straight.
Short bursts of work are far more effective.
One technique which is popular among developers is — “Pomodoro technique”
You take:
- 5 minutes break after a 25 minute work session.
- 15-20 minutes break after 4 work sessions.
Use pomofocus.io as your pomodoro timer.
Wrapping up 📝
Hope these tips will help you in increasing your productivity.
Also, share in comments your best developer productivity tip.
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Top comments (4)
Awesome tips, Void
Thanks Rakesh 🙏
Can you elaborate on how you automate any of the four items you listed?
hahaha