10 Tricks For Improving Developer’s Productivity

We have all struggled with productivity at some point in our lives. Because of the nature of their profession, developers are at the frontline of this struggle. Coding is a time-consuming process that sometimes necessitates working long hours and chasing unrealistically tight deadlines, which can lead to burnout. This persistent drive to perform might have a negative impact on their productivity.

To make the most of their time, developers should remove potential distractions and disturbances. In this article, we share 10 tricks for improving developer productivity.

How To Increase Developer Team Productivity

Increasing developer productivity in challenging tasks is not as difficult as you would think. Here are a few easy techniques to increase developer team productivity:

1. Maintain a Healthy Work-life Balance

Employees mostly ignore their overall well-being in the name of efficiency and productivity. Working longer hours and depriving yourself sleep is sometimes counterproductive. A recent study shows that sleep deprivation reduces developer productivity by 50%. 

Regular exercise and a healthy, balanced diet can help with productivity. Exercise does not imply enrolling your developers in a gym membership. Sitting at a desk all day might have a negative impact on their mental and physical health. Getting up and walking about for a few minutes after an hour or two at your desk may be all that is needed most times to boost your productivity. 

2. Understand Your IDE

An integrated development environment (IDE) delivers integrated tools in a single graphical user interface (GUI). Concentrate on teaching your developers how to utilize the IDE efficiently for simple access and comprehension. 

When developers don't comprehend specific features or procedures, their productivity decreases. Plugins and snippets can be used to supplement your IDE and increase productivity. Snippets handle duplicate code, while plugins can aid in the detection of syntax mistakes. 

By automating dull and repetitive processes like indentation, refactoring, and autocomplete, a sophisticated code editor may make a developer's life easier.

3. Set Reasonable Deadlines

Deadlines encourage developers to create a strategy and meet milestones. Tasks are prioritized more effectively when deadlines are met. Tight and unreasonable timelines, on the other hand, might overwhelm the team. Setting objectives using the S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) framework is a simple method to avoid this.
When setting timelines, it is best to consult developers. They can predict how long a task will take and account for any complications or priorities that may arise.

4. Automate Everything

Automation is one of the most effective strategies for increasing production. In many cases, the time you invest in automating some of your processes will pay for itself several times over. Knowing which tasks consume more time and simplifying those procedures is the key to success. 

The ideal use cases for automation are repeated operations that must be completed in the same way each time or in a specific order. Automation has improved significantly throughout the years. Nowadays, you can automate anything from unstructured data processing to data input. 

Take a step back at work and consider what can be automated. Next, keep note of the minor things that consume your time while you are working. Finally, collaborate with your team or technology consultants to create automated solutions that will save you time and allow you to be more productive at work. The more you automate, the more time you will save.

5. Projects Should Be Matched To The Developer's Strengths

Every developer is a specialist in a variety of fields. When they focus on things that are within their area of expertise, their productivity skyrockets. When a developer with the necessary skill works on the project, you may reach project deadlines quickly. This will further increase developer team productivity.

6. Connect and Communicate

Connect with your developers and encourage open communication to complete tasks quickly. Everyone is kept informed and feels included when important information is shared.

Some common modes of communication include:

• Project management boards
• Scrum teams
• Stand-up meetings every day
• Channels on Slack
• Lunches for teams

Developers may learn to capture and discuss difficult tasks and new procedures with a consistent communication flow. For convenient access, essential data might be saved on a cloud-based server. Even if a developer quits the firm or job, the saved data remains accessible. This serves as a good legacy as well as an excellent teaching tool for new employees.

7. Begin With Small Tasks

If you want to be more productive in software development, you may begin your day by correcting bugs or doing little tasks that take less than 30 minutes.

As a consequence, you would feel more driven because you would have accomplished a few fast wins (possibly without too much effort). Small victories make us happy and productive. You will also be prepared to take on extra responsibilities.

8. Take Rest Periods

It is critical to take pauses from work. The Pomodoro technique is a common way of determining when to take breaks. The primary concept is to take a brief break every 25 minutes and a longer break every four Pomodoros (25-minute sessions). This strategy ensures you are not wasting time on activities that are not productive.

9. Practice TDD

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is a strong approach that helps you develop code quicker and with greater quality than usual. When using TDD, you write both test and production code at the same time. To make this strategy work, you must first commit to TDD and be prepared to adapt your coding style (at least until TDD becomes your default). 

Alternatively, using low-code/no-code platforms, you may substantially cut the amount of coding stages. This implies you can move quickly through development and testing. As a consequence, your apps will be available sooner and with less work and time on your part. You will feel more productive after completing development activities.

10. Don't Try To Multitask

The most common error that developers make is failing to focus on what they are doing. Multitasking, or attempting to focus on many tasks at once, is a known productivity killer. The brain is not designed to pay attention to two things at the same time. Instead, you will end up struggling without achieving anything at all. Multitaskers do worse than single-taskers in filtering out extraneous information. 

Conclusion

The key to enhancing developer productivity is not extending working hours but rather boosting developer satisfaction and promoting a positive working environment. Stress leads to burnout and has a detrimental influence on productivity. Reduced stress and great motivation lead to good performance. If you are searching for freelance web developers to help you design your web application or website, look no further. Visit our site to hire the best.