{"id":34166,"date":"2022-09-19T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/?p=34166"},"modified":"2026-03-11T01:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:50:45","slug":"productivity-for-busy-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/productivity-for-busy-developers\/","title":{"rendered":"13 POWERFUL Productivity Tips for Developers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great productivity is <\/span>one of the best soft skills you can have as a developer<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve used these tips<\/span><\/a> to create courses, write books and build apps, websites & digital products at a rapid pace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below you\u2019ll learn 13 programmer productivity tips that actually work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Make a plan to implement these tips and you\u2019ll be able to explode your output.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get 2x More Done Using These High-Level Developer Productivity Tips<\/h2>\n

Software Engineers and Lead Developers Need to be Extra Productive<\/b><\/p>\n

As a software engineer, you have to take care of many varied tasks each day. You also hold a lot of responsibility. This means you need A+ productivity to get everything done and make sure you keep bosses, coworkers and clients happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Stop Wasting Time<\/h3>\n

\"Software<\/span><\/p>\n

The average office employee is <\/span>wasting more than eight hours per work week<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

What if you could reclaim that time and use it to finish your coding projects more quickly?<\/span><\/p>\n

Procrastination can happen for different reasons. But in the end it comes down to pushing through The Resistance (<\/span>as Steven Pressfield calls it<\/span><\/a>) and working on your stuff no matter how you feel. <\/span><\/p>\n

Use the following tips to give you a strategy for the fight against procrastination.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Prevent Unnecessary Task Switching<\/h3>\n

\"Coding<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say you’ve just finished a difficult coding task. Your head is on fire; but there’s another tough assignment waiting down the line.<\/span><\/p>\n

You commit yourself to it, but after a while, you say \u201cWell, this one is actually not so urgent; I\u2019ll get back to it later.\u201d Then you start doing something easier because you’re mentally drained.<\/span><\/p>\n

After a few hours, you go back to the committed task, but you feel absolutely puzzled because you don\u2019t remember what you were supposed to do. This means you now need to take some extra time to get back on track.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an example of <\/span>context switching<\/span><\/a> and is something that can lose you a lot productivity as a programmer.<\/span><\/p>\n

A study conducted by the <\/span>American Psychology Association<\/span><\/a> reveals that shifting between tasks creates mental blocks that can cost 40% of your productivity.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Laser-Focus Your Efforts with WIP Limits<\/h3>\n
\"WiP
Image source: leanguru.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Work-in-Progress limits will help you fight overwhelm and ensure higher quality work.<\/p>\n

If you have multiple projects in the pipeline, and you need to wait for something for Project A, it could be tempting to start on Project B. But in the end, this will lead to you working on all projects at once: You\u2019ll constantly be task-switching.<\/span><\/p>\n

To prevent productivity snags from happening, you should limit the number of work items you’re handling at once.<\/span><\/p>\n

Limiting work in progress has the potential to speed up your work by slowing yourself down.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re able to process four tasks in the span of three days, then your WIP limit would be four for that specific time period. From here, you can use the information as a rule of thumb and prevent overburdening yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Take Control with Management Tools that Fit Your Work<\/h3>\n