2 ms·
TLDR: Some things are more important than others, but it depends on the person and/or domain. I think a few of these items are a bit more than debating the uni
by turbo104 10y ago
TLDR: Some things are more important than others, but it depends on the person and/or domain.
I think a few of these items are a bit more than debating the unimportant.
I don't personally feel like I need "the perfect" setup, however there are a few things that I think make me leaps and bounds more productive.
Working on a few older platforms that you have to build locally can cause some machines to really bog down and chew up a ton of your development time - taking us back to the the old, "hardware is cheaper than programmers" concept that another commenter mentioned.
There have been many productivity experts saying that in every field, having an extra monitor can give you huge efficiency gains. I find I got the most gains adding up to 3 monitors.. the 4th wasnt as much of a gain. I think this is domain dependent though. When working as the sole developer on small websites for clients as a side business, I really only ever use two monitors at most.
Headphones, keyboards, and chairs I think are the most "diva" things to spend a bunch of time on. Yes, the chair has to be comfortable, the keyboard has to be accurate, and the headphones have to work for your work environment. However, like delivering software, sometimes good enough is better than perfect.
Having an office diner of any form I think is a productivity play. If you are hungry, you are not at your best. If you have to figure out what you are going to go out and get you are taking more time - plan what to get, travel to get it - instead of just grabbing something quick across the office and eating it at your desk.
I want to be productive. Not productive to the max, navigating through every single minuscule inefficiency, but making changes to get the most gain. Everyone has their preferences and friction points. If you are pissed off at your tools a good portion of the time, you probably aren't going to be as productive.