5 Tips to get the most out of your coding time

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I remember seeing an add from Microsoft I believe for hiring programmers and the jist of it was “We give you an office with a door”.

Why you might wonder?

Well, it might take up to 20 minutes to refocus on the task at hand after you get distracted either by a phone call, by a coworker barging in or by a video someone posted on Facebook.

I will give you an example of a spiral I used to find myself in. I will be happily hacking at this new feature that we need to ship soon and an email notification shows up for an email that I was cc’ed in so I open the email read it and can’t remember what it  was about so I end up reading the whole thread just to remember. Then I switch to my browser to see if there is anything new in my RSS reader, oh wonder if someone sent me something on Facebook. Off to Facebook I go.

An hour later I am back to visual studio and completely lost the thread to what I was doing. And that’s when bad stuff happens, bugs introduced and things get forgotten.

These are a few tips I use now to keep me focused and get the most out of my work hours.

1. Close your internet browser

As hard as it might seem, learn to open your browser only if you need it to research something related to the task you are doing.

What I like to do is to dedicate a couple hours before I start  coding to research the references I need. So that when I get started it’s only coding and nothing else.

Try it for a week and see how much stuff you get done.

2. Close your mail client / instant messenger

Don’t worry, if something really urgent happens you would know about it. You don’t need to keep your mail client open at all times, and read each email as it arrives.

Think of how many emails you are CC’ed in just for the sake of it and to which you have no say in. And think of how  many hours you waste opening those emails and getting distracted by them and having to refocus on what you were doing before.

Set specific times at which you read your emails. I find just before my lunch break and at the end of the day the best time. I find emails a good way to unwind :). I also end up writing better quality emails instead of the quickly I have to get back to what I was doing mess I used to send to clients.

If you don’t want to close just turn off the notification sounds and status bar alerts.

3. Unhook your phone  (or put it in silent mode)

This follows on the no email theory. I ask all our clients that if something is really urgent to send me an SMS. They almost never do so I let the calls go to voice mail  and I can check it later.

This tip is also good for keeping your clients  happy and show your professionalism,  you wonder how? Well when they leave a voice mail your already know what they want to talk about when you call them back. Say the leave the following message:

Hey Hatim, I wanted to know what’s the status of feature N° 156 and if we are still on for the system update schedule by the end of the week.

What you can do is go find out what the status of that feature, check with your team that everything is good and ready to go for the system update.

The phone conversation will take less time as you won’t have to stall them and scramble while you open your tracking application or IM the person responsible for the feature or your team to see what’s going on.

4. Buy good noise canceling headphones

I have a pair of Bose® QuietComfort® 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones. These are great for listening to music and also shields you from all the distractions. Coworkers talking in the hallway, the guy talking loud on his phone, … . They also work I just put them on without anything playing.

A nice plus is that they have great sound quality!

Of course you don’t have to use noise canceling heaphones they are just nice to have, regular headphones will do too, specially with some loud music!!

5. Make small and regular breaks

When I am coding I like to have a 5 to 10 minutes break each hour and a half to 2 hours. I either go get a coffee,  talk to a coworker, check voice mail, walk in the hallway. The idea is when I get away from my  screen I can have a better spatial thinking and find new ideas or solutions more easily.

It’s also revigorating and gives you a mental boost when you are working.

Oh I can finish this new screen and have my break.

A great book on how to manage time is Tim Ferris’s “The 4 Hour Work Week” you can get it for free as an audio book if you sign up for a free audible trial or if you prefer you can get the dead tree version.

I hope this was helpful and would to would love to hear if you have any tricks and stratagems to keep your self focused.

Hatim