Time management: Tips for Developers and Engineers
There are never enough hours in the day for busy R&D teams to work on bug fixes, new features, customer demands, sprints, and deadlines.
But, as developers and engineering teams confront more tight constraints, we must finally decide how to effectively manage our workdays. As a rapidly expanding firm, we attempted to adapt by implementing certain essential rules of thumb and everyday practices such as time-blocking (easier said than done, we know), remaining up to date on the best devtools for the team, and selecting accountability partners.
To that end, here are some time management techniques that I'd like to offer.
1. Track of your time
Before you can create objectives for better time management, you need to examine where you're squandering time in the first place. If meetings are one of the most time-consuming aspects of your day, there may not be much you can do about it, and you'll simply have to plan the rest of your day around them.
However, there are many things over which you have control. Jot down how you spend your time throughout the day for a set length of time to identify where there are pockets of time to claim and organize.
2. Make use of time blocking
Focusing in time blocks - addressing your work in chunks of time by executing a combination of comparable activities or working on one larger project - helps steer you away from task switching, which zaps productivity for most people.
Interruptions are a productivity killer as well. By laser focused for a defined amount of time, you can get more done while still having time for meetings and connecting with coworkers. Also, schedule work during times of day when you are most productive. So, if you discover that you perform your best debugging in the afternoon, optimize your calendar to include time blocks in the afternoon. And, if in doubt, go as off-grid as possible.
3. Use your preferred development tools or replace them
Whatever development tools you and your team use should be the finest available. When they are no longer the best match, start a discussion with the rest of your team about replacing them.
4. Pick accountability partners for your team
Working in squads, the atmosphere of teamwork is advantageous for R&D teams. Because, as structured as we try to be, working in groups helps us stay on target. When you're stuck, your team may be a terrific resource. You can't place a premium on venting to someone on your team. You almost always leave with a new path, concept, etc.
5. Take into consideration the unanticipated vital job
Prioritizing essential activities (resolving a problem or responding to status update requests) over "normal" important ones is a negative habit that affects everyone but especially developers and engineers (writing code). Just a few pressing activities per day, and you've squandered a few hours.
While you're putting out fires, consider the idea of "free float," which refers to the amount of time you may put off a task without it delaying other duties. The ideal approach is to set aside an additional half hour or more throughout the day for unforeseen crises so that they don't disrupt the rest of your day.
6. Done is preferable to flawless
Perfect is rarely, if ever, the objective of developers and engineers. Even if you're theoretically constantly aiming for outstanding, good is generally adequate.
Knowing when you've done enough and should move on to the next activity is ultimately the key. Because if something is never completed because it is not perfect, you will get trapped in a cycle of perfection vs. completion. And that is almost always a losing struggle.
You can confidently tackle your list each day if you use superior time management tools and strategies. It is very unusual for teams to be motivated by the increased productivity of others; building great time management practices is always a win-win situation for individuals and teams.
Source: https://swimm.io/