The Flow
Psychologists have identified a state of mind called flow in which we’re capable of incredible concentration and productivity. The importance of flow to programming has been recognized for nearly two decades since it was discussed in the classic book about human factors in programming Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister.
The two key facts about flow are that it takes around 15 minutes to get into a state of flow and that even brief interruptions can break you right out of it, requiring another 15-minute immersion to reenter.
Anything that distracts you, breaks the flow. A co-worker dropping by to enquire about something, the phone ringing can all break the flow.
Increased developer productivity will mean increased revenues and profits for the organizations that employ them. Still it is surprising to see how little effort is made towards this end. An individual office, or phones with voicemail could go a long way. Still many organizations that say they will do anything to increase productivity don’t have either of them…
Posted under: Technology/Software Development
