18 ms·

Best practices for remote software engineering

490 points by RuffleGordon 5y ago

itsmeamario 5y ago
Surprisingly, what really helped me become more productive and able to focus... is a pair of headsets with noise cancelling and music. It really sets my mood to "work".
jcadam 5y ago
The first is the big one for me: Work on things you care about. If I'm engaged with a project because it's intellectually stimulating and/or just plain "cool", I'm going to be 10x more productive working remotely than I ever would be in an office. In fact, unplugging and not overworking myself becomes an issue in such a situation. OTOH, if I hate what I'm working on, remote work makes it way too easy to procrastinate and slack off. If I'm in the office, management would be able to identify me as being unhappy and target me for termination :D You can coast working remotely an hour a day on an easy but painfully dull project for a long time.
uglycoyote 5y ago
Good article, but I found it a bit disorienting that I knew it was supposed to be a list of 10, but the numbers on each step kept resetting to 1 after each pull-quote.
philangist 5y ago
I was just having a discussion about this with my manager during 1:1. I'm curious how any fellow devs with ADHD have managed the transition to remote work over the last year? I love the freedom and ability to focus that working from home provides, but I often find myself taking advantage of that freedom and focusing instead on podcasts or reddit for 3 days to avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests.
- xenihn 5y ago
  Adderall 5 times a week instead of 3.
- mch82 5y ago
  Have you experimented with remote pair programming as a way to encourage focus?
- honkycat 5y ago
  I struggle in meetings, always have. Ive found i have to slow people down in meetings and have them repeat themselves a lot, and I will repeat back to them what they are saying because I easily miss a lot. I keep a list of tasks in a notebook and take the time to break them down and make sure I check them off. I take a nap when I need one, take a break occasionally. Keeo the task ritual going. I always get my work done on time.
- legulere 5y ago
  It’s important to have a good working environment with clear boundaries between work and private: - Work starts at a certain point and ends at a certain point with a pause or pauses. - Only work happens on the work computer, no work happens on the private computer. - Keep private distractions away when you work (put your phone in another room)
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- wrink 5y ago
  Regular 20-30 minute walks interspersed throughout my day have helped, usually every 2-3 hours It's probably more breaks than I would otherwise need but getting outside had helped me be mindful and exercise inhibition; a bit of a reset, so to speak. If not, I find myself getting stressed out at home more than I otherwise would as well
- wedesoft 5y ago
  We are using Mumble (https://www.mumble.info/ https://www.mumble.info/) to be able to hear your colleagues the whole day. When I need to focus more, I go to a virtual office in Mumble.
- brotherofsteel 5y ago
  Pair and mob programming
  - edabobojr 5y ago
    In my experience, pair and mob programming are just yet another scenario where neuro-atypical people are punished for approaching their work differently.
    - jacques_chester 5y ago
      I won't say it's for everyone. But for ADHD specifically, my personal experience is that pair programming is a godsend. I am able to use half my regular dose of ritalin while pairing.
      - edabobojr 5y ago
        I am glad it works for you. Maybe (hopefully?) I have just had an abnormal experience.
        wernercd 5y ago
        I'd say I can get behind pair-programming to a point... it helps get new ideas, different view points and leads to rubber-duck-programming like effects. I'm not sure I'm a fan of Mob programming... as others mention, over a phone/video conference, it seems inadequate. Turns more into an ad-hoc video lesson by the stronger personalities (for better or worse - I happen to be one of those in my small group at work). Do you have problems with both? 2 vs 3+? or is it one or the other?
        sodapopcan 5y ago
        To do mobbing effectively you should be switching the driver very rapidly. It's a bit tough remotely, but it can be done. There are probably other ways to make it effective, but if only a few people are contributing, then the mob has failed and should either be recalibrated or stopped altogether.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  Does it actually impact your relative productivity net of everything? I have done that a few times even without ADHD (presumably). But stripping away all the meetings (or at least the need to stop work to be in them), the chatting, and the distracting questions has made it net out to about the same.
- devoutsalsa 5y ago
  If you can get away with going down a Reddit rathole for three days, no one is watching you that closely. That gives you freedom to chase other things. One option could be writing a library to make your tests more interesting to write. Write the boring tests first, and then look for a way to make the process of writing them more interesting.
- xkeysc0re 5y ago
  Is that ADHD or are you just procrastinating? You clearly recognize the issue. Maybe try Screen Time limits or changing your hosts file
  - dboreham 5y ago
    Aren't these synonyms?
    - PragmaticPulp 5y ago
      No, far from it. The pop culture definition of ADHD has become extremely vague and watered down, almost to the same degree that "OCD" has become a pop-culture term for attention to detail. Procrastination is a common behavior in people with and without ADHD. Procrastination alone is not an indicator of ADHD. Likewise, someone who procrastinates does not fully understand the struggles of someone with ADHD.
  - jonfw 5y ago
    Software is absolutely inadequate to prevent you from being distracted... You can block a couple of things but it's an uphill battle, because there are no limits to the number of things more interesting in the short term than writing unit tests. It's import to identify and address the root of the problem rather than just the symptoms. Do you find your work rewarding? Will these unit tests help you to complete the goals you hold for yourself? Are you healthy enough to faciliate productive work?
  - jjj1232 5y ago
    Procrastination/lack of executive function is a symptom of ADHD.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - nemetroid 5y ago
    Are you suggesting that people suffering from ADHD do not recognize that there is an issue?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  Time management at home is a different ball game. A good first step is to understand what's fundamentally different about working from home, alone, versus working from the office. Some common differences: - Context shifting into the office can help context shift you to work mode. At home, if you use the same workstation for games and Reddit and work and entertainment, you lose the physical context shift. If possible, try using your company-provided computer for only work, and your personal computer for only play. Even better if you can have them in different rooms. Start training yourself to associate one context with work, and one context with not-work. When you sit down in the work context, it's time to work. - Accountability can feel lessened when no one can see over your shoulder. This can be misleading in the short term because it's easy to get away with it for a while: You can tell people you ran into unexpected difficulties, or you had to spend time on something else, or any number of excuses that work in the short term. Over the long term, the productivity difference starts to show up in your output relative to peers, so avoid falling into this trap. If your company isn't big on short-term accountability, give yourself some daily accountability. A good practice would be to write a short message to your team's Slack channel with what you're going to be working on for the day. At the end of the day, write a short summary of what you accomplished. Once this is routine and public (within your team) you will feel some of the same accountability you did when your team was sitting in the same room and could see you working (or not). - Offices provide a lot of social exposure that we take for granted. Slack and Zoom can't fully replace it. Make sure you get out of the house and see other people routinely, even if it's just walking around the neighborhood. Simply seeing other, real human beings goes a long way. - Track your time. Entering the office in the morning and leaving in the evening are natural delineators for your work day. Try to have some similar start and end times at home. Consider using something like RescueTime so you can see where your time is going during the day.
  - danielvinson 5y ago
    This is amazing advice. Thank you.
  - lostcolony 5y ago
    That accountability step is part of the intent for daily standups in most agile disciplines. The five minutes it takes for everyone to say what they worked on since the last one, what they plan to work on, and what obstacles they have, is great both for forcing people to focus a bit, as well as for managers to help point out when someone is stuck (i.e., "you've been working on that the past few days; is something wrong?")
- Bishop_ 5y ago
  This (might) help you, It helped me anyways. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/
  - misterremote 5y ago
    I often find myself looking at my website and trying to figure out what is the most important thing I have to work on right now. But hours can pass by like this. And I’ve learned that I need to start with something small. Even a tiny improvement/fix I spend my first 15 minutes on gets me going and into the flow state!
- sublimefire 5y ago
  There are a couple of things that allow me to get past these bottlenecks. First, let it go. Then do something else, get outside, have a cup of something. Instead of thinking about "3 hours of writing unit tests", start with "write just 1 unit test". Then get back and try to find something interesting about this depressing piece of work you need to do. Just one tiny thing, like "how fast does it take to run a test" or "how does this utility method is implemented". I do this a lot - trick myself into something small, and then let myself go with the same work, just like reading "one post in HN" leads me to write this response LOL. In my case, it is just a pure absence of motivation and interest that causes the attention to go somewhere else. And this is all right, as it's a signal that the shit I do is not worth it. I have to make it worth it in some way, worth it for my soul sake.
  - bradstewart 5y ago
    Agreed. Creating small, achievable tasks to start my day gives me some easy "little victories" which provide some confidence to tackle harder problems. Often tiny things like "send an email to X" or "write JIRA ticket for Y". Sounds stupid, but it really tricks my brain into not procrastinating on the more important tasks.
- gibrown 5y ago
  A coworker of mine (our company has always been “remote”) has written a lot about ADHD and working remote. https://aaron.blog/?s=Work https://aaron.blog/?s=Work https://aaron.blog/2016/03/25/how-working-remote-probably-saved-my-life/ https://aaron.blog/2016/03/25/how-working-remote-probably-sa... is a good place to start.
  - mjrbrennan 5y ago
    That was a great read, thanks for linking!
- nomy99 5y ago
  I'm not sure if it's wise to publicly post this "taking advantage of that freedom and focusing instead on podcasts or reddit for 3 days to avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests."
  - PoignardAzur 5y ago
    https://xkcd.com/137/ https://xkcd.com/137/
  - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
    At least he is honest and wants to change. Better than 99% of people out there.
    - nomy99 5y ago
      Honesty doesn't replace accountability. Wasting three days is a long time to just be "procrastinating"
      - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
        I can tell you've never suffered from ADHD.
        nomy99 5y ago
        So you are telling me a person suffering from ADHD is not accountable for the $ lost in productivity. If I had ADHD, just for survival, I wouldn't ever let my boss know that I have this condition which is costing his company X amount of dollars a year.
        weird-eye-issue 5y ago
        By not letting your boss know, you are making it harder on yourself, and then leading to less productivity in the future, as opposed to getting better. Also it isn't that it actually costs the company money. They could very well make up for that lost time by hyper focusing and finishing it quickly later. So it could be the same result for the company but much more stressful for the person with ADHD.
- treeman79 5y ago
  So I have ADHD. Official diagnosis. My kids have it. Official diagnosis. My mom and sisters clearly have it, but refuse to be tested. If something is sufficiently interesting I can hyper focus like crazy. For decades any level of boredom was physically painful. Remote is the worse for me. Staying on task is a nightmare. What helped? Pair programming. This keeps you engaged and on task. I try and pair as much as possible. Medication. I was on Adderal for awhile. It works great. I had to stop due to serious side effects. (Strokes) However it got me past the mental block of “boring is painful” I function a good better without medication now. It’s not where it needs to be to cope with 8 hours of no human interaction, but better. I tried another non stimulate med. my focus was fine, but I was so sleepy my work was crap. I’m on Vyvanse now. My kids are on Vyanse. It works a lot better. I get some of the same side effects as adderall But not as intense.
  - PoignardAzur 5y ago
    Have you considered modafinil? It allegedly has fewer side-effects, but a similar effect as adderal.
    - lkjlkj9 5y ago
      I've been using it, finding it less useful for me than stimulant options but sometimes it can unstick a feeling of ADHD helplessness or "death spiral".
  - potta_coffee 5y ago
    I'm in the same boat and pair programming has been a godsend. It's so much easier to think about and work on boring tasks with a colleague. We both have the same problem so it's a good match.
- koboll 5y ago
  I don't think you're going to find the best time management tips from people who are on Hacker News in the middle of a Monday afternoon.
  - avgDev 5y ago
    slow clap
  - jolux 5y ago
    Ouch.
  - lliamander 5y ago
    Which is too bad, because those of us reading right now could probably benefit the most from good advice.
  - domano 5y ago
    Well there is more than one timezone.
  - junga 5y ago
    It‘s not the middle of the afternoon all around the globe at the same time. Some of us already spent eight hours slacking off.
  - throwaway3699 5y ago
    It's midnight where I am. I think that might be worse.
- thestephen 5y ago
  ADHDer here. WFH was a nightmare the first six months, but the past few months have been working out great. My findings from this past year: * Finding the right medication, in the right dose. Biggest QoL improvement. YMMV * Whenever I get lost in the sauce and start spinning my wheels, I schedule a call with a colleague and ask them to help sort my priorities out. This also helps me with accountability, in a softer way than accountability-by-authority. This might require some self-awareness. * Finding a note-taking/task management system that works for me. So far, I've been having the most success with a combination of Roam Research; Apple Notes and Muse for drawing/diagramming on my iPad; and Todoist for hard reminders. * Getting enough physical activity. My headspace becomes awful if I don't get at least 30 minutes of walking in during the day. * Finding my context shift to work mode. Most days, 15 minutes outdoors first thing in the morning after checking my task list is enough. For rougher days, I work from the café down the street. * Avoiding social media before lunch, as it stresses me out. * I found the eureka moments striking at odd times, like evenings or in bed. I rarely regret following these strokes of inspiration, but they can really throw my off my work/life balance. Cutting my days shorter (most days), and allowing myself to work when inspiration strikes (a couple times a week), has really helped in lowering my stress levels. * A couple days a week without scheduled meetings. I can't focus if I know I'm going to have a meeting in 1 hour. * Splurging on equipment. If I'm going to spend a lot of time in front of my screen, I might as well get that 4K 32" and a G915 TKL.
  - cube2222 5y ago
    What features make Muse the one for you, as opposed to alternatives? Just curious. Definitely agree with working using the best equipment money can buy, if you spend so much time with it.
    - thestephen 5y ago
      So I really enjoy the spatial paradigm with Muse. It feels like a digital whiteboard - I can paste images, resize them, throw them around, and ink over them, which makes it great for thinking. Compare this to Apple Notes, where each note acts like a document. I can ink, write and paste images into a note - but text, ink and images are all their separate blocks, flows from up to down, and cannot "interact" with each other. Further, the Muse interface is very frictionless. Erasing ink is just holding a finger while using the Pencil. Switching tools is just swiping in on the screen with the pencil. Compare this to Apple Notes, where I usually need to chord several taps on different parts of the screen altogether just to change the tool or ink color.
- HumblyTossed 5y ago
  I use timers all the time. Basically a slightly modified tomato timer.
- titanomachy 5y ago
  I stopped being able to get work done at all. It gradually tipped me into a low-self-esteem death spiral. I tried lots of different approaches to fix it: more accountability with my manager, new medication, more regular exercise, therapy, a bit of disability leave, even moved to a bigger apartment where I could have my own office. Nothing got me past the block. I quit my job, spent six weeks studying and interviewing aggressively, and got hired for a higher-level position at a different company. I pushed back my start date enough that I'll onboard in an office instead of remotely. In the meantime I'm working on my health and personal projects, and spending lots of time with friends and in nature. I gave up trying to work remotely this time around, but I'm still hopeful that at some point I'll improve my coping skills enough that it will be an option.
  - tgaj 5y ago
    Heh, same problem as ADHD developer. The one thing that was helping me was a custom in our company that we sit on zoom as much as possible. But, to be honest, I just got back to office as soon as it was possible in my country.
  - daniellarusso 5y ago
    How long were you able to push your start date from when you accepted the offer? Weeks? Months?
    - titanomachy 5y ago
      Months. Certain very large companies hire engineers into a general pool rather than to a specific team, so once you've passed the interviews they don't mind too much if you put off actually starting work.
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    Strange tip, I use to do part time local delivery. It made my brain cool off (safe regular activity, simple money, low skills). In between deliveries I often wrote small bits or small feature branches. I found it a good balance. It also made me think differently because I'd favor changes that were high ROI. No large design, no syntactic change. Only solid and valuable additions. Something I never really felt before.
- mandeepj 5y ago
  > avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests Why? Unit tests are our closest allies
  - arvinsim 5y ago
    Just because something is important doesn't mean it is enjoyable.
    - twh270 5y ago
      I know this sounds like evangelism, but I absolutely hated writing unit tests until I learned TDD. Now, I don't always write tests first, but I usually do. I'll also say that I have seen a lot of time wasted writing useless unit tests. That can contribute significantly to the "I hate unit tests" feeling.
    - noisem4ker 5y ago
      Maybe not enjoyable, but also not anxiety-inducing like certain foundational design tasks can be. For procrastinators, writing a small unit test can be a near-mindless, easy activity to get going.
    - mandeepj 5y ago
      I consider Unit tests to be essential. People who don't like them, maybe they never tried to drive a value from them. I also use-to consider them not important, but they have saved my as* so many times. How would you drive a big refactor, without introducing new bugs - without unit tests? With a solid test coverage, via a button click, you can conclude - how functional is your code base. Of course, not on the basis of weak tests.
- jwdunne 5y ago
  I have quite the story. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to focus. Terrified I’d get distracted by home life. That my productivity would plummet. But it didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite. I never realised how much commuting and office noise harmed my productivity and energy levels. I was buzzing. And I did what any ADDer would do. I got drunk on it. Then burnt out. In typical ADHD fashion, I thought all that new energy was permanent and I could work insane hours. Sometimes from 7am until 1am. I was warned. But I didn’t listen - not to my mrs, not to my old man, my sister and colleagues. And then, once the dust of lockdown settled, I burst. After making damn sure that the company I worked for and my sisters business didn’t go bust, I couldn’t anymore. The code I wrote only a few weeks before? Hieroglyphs. But not that I’d lost understanding. I knew I could read it if I wanted to. But I really didn’t want to. Like my very being rejected any attempt to focus on the task at hand. I was reduced to attending scrums. And playing video games. It took a weekend away, a week off and a bit of advice from Dr Feynman. Thankfully, work was understanding. I was given a project where I could play, and still deliver value. And so I played, got something small done. Then I played some more. And so on. Now, a colleague works on the project with me. I played so much that I was prone to rabbit holes. My hyperfocus was out of tune. But then I took stock and was able to focus. We found a way forward, took some advice, got speaking to the users and focused development on fast iteration and feedback. The past few months have been the most productive of my life. All remote. I learned a lot of hard lessons in lockdown. The lessons I could not predict.
  - Avalaxy 5y ago
    This reads like a inspirational linkedin copypasta.
    - jwdunne 5y ago
      Sums up my life really, goes deeper than that hahaha
- joncp 5y ago
  I'll do your unit tests if you'll take my build scripts! :)
- animesh 5y ago
  Are you me? One thing that led me to not turn on my desktop workstation is to complete a personal project. For at least half a week, I did not bother to reach out for instant gratification via reading HN, proggit, podcasts etc. If I can only find the energy and appropriate time to do this, I figure I can save my work and work ethic.
- femiagbabiaka 5y ago
  I have. Some keys: - Lists. - Checkins for accountability. - Distinguish work space from other space. - Develop routine around work start and end times. Block off heads down work as opposed to meeting time. - Use the time flexibility that remote gives me to my advantage — if I want to start later and work later that’s fine. But keep routine. In other words, all the same stuff as before. An office just gives you a sociotechnical system in which doing all of the above is easier.
- nomel 5y ago
  I’ve been using Immersed VR with some good success. I use different virtual environments for different tasks. The coffee shop for deep work, space for emails, etc. Part of my problem is that my “office” is in my bedroom. I’m a strong believer in “physical” mental spaces, so it really helps me.
- znpy 5y ago
  I kinda made it explicit with myself (not with my colleagues of course, duh). I'll fuck off most of the morning, well aware that I'm doing so, and I'll work non stop in the afternoon. Some important things though: during the morning I mostly spend time on stuff I find interesting, usually tech stuff not directly related with my job. A few times non work stuff. But seriously, it's a joy to be able to spend the morning to get better at something about your job. I spent last week mornings playing with the kubernetes APIs and the client-go libraries, with only vagues ideas. Turns out, a colleague is findin one of the toy tools I've written useful. Wasn't expecting that. Last month I spent another week mornings diving into AWS IAM and now I finally finally understand stuff and I'm reporting problems to our head of it security, and we're fixing stuff before they become problems. The key, imho, is to be self-aware: I'll fuck off in the morning, and I will work in the afternoon, no interruptions. Important edit: I might be slacking, technically, but I always keep an eye on the company chat. If anyone or anything needs my attention, I drop my slacking off and be readily available (most often you only have to be able to hear the Slack client beeping)
- slaymaker1907 5y ago
  It definitely helps me to have at least some working in the office. I can work on something that is cool/exciting from home no problem such as implementing new features, learning some new API, etc. from home no problem, but going back to the office is very helpful for stuff like going through email. Also, thank you for speaking up! I feel like a lot of the discourse for ADHD folks has been how freeing it has been to get away from the distractions at work. For me, and it sounds like also for you, working from home often doesn't have enough structure.
- picobread 5y ago
  I'm struggling. When we were in the office there was still some semblance of normality. Particularly in 2021 my productivity has plummeted. I'm considering leaving this field altogether and have started applying for other jobs. At least with a physical job I can do the task at hand. I don't think I can be a successful developer with ADHD and I refuse to take meds full time. If anyone has figured out a solution to their own problems I'm all ears.
- stevewodil 5y ago
  This might sound pretty laughable but seriously try a standing desk. If you have a bookshelf or something that you can prop a laptop on to just try it without buying anything, do it. I find that when standing I'm able to get my brain to engage in problems or boring work that I otherwise wouldn't do and would instead avoid and watch YouTube. The ability to fidget and move around (calf raises, jumping in place, pacing back and forth), and not having the ability to sit back and relax has actually made a huge difference in my productivity. It's also important to not do leisure activities like watch YouTube or browse reddit at the standing desk. Make it a work-only space. Another thing to consider is ADHD and the emotional wall. When confronted with the idea that you have to do 3 hours of unit tests it seems daunting to start, because it's going to take so long! Instead, start by doing 3 unit tests (or something that will take 15 minutes). Even if that's all you get done today, do 3 again tomorrow. If you can make it through a much smaller task you'll likely have the momentum to keep going. And even if you don't, that's okay because you made some progress and can do a little more tomorrow.
yrgulation 5y ago
Barking at the wrong tree. In my view, most experienced software engineers can self organise and self manage. Not saying everyone can or that everyone should do remote work but many that enjoy and prefer remote work can. “This Viewpoint is intended for remote software engineers who are facing new challenges to thinking about routine, responsibility, and goal setting.” This viewpoint should be intended for non technical managers as they are the ones who tend to clutter project delivery with time management tools and meetings. This applies to onsite work as well. I feel like there is a lot of effort put in educating devs on doing the right thing while management is educated in the opposite direction.
- morelisp 5y ago
  Most software engineers are not experienced software engineers.
  - lostcolony 5y ago
    Most software engineers become experienced software engineers (enough to self-manage) very quickly in the right environment, I've found.
    - jzoch 5y ago
      That's probably survivor's bias and not true at scale. "Right environment" is shaky - we should strive towards defining what makes an environment the "right" one and how can we increase the number of engineers that successfully acclimate to their new way of working.
    - morelisp 5y ago
      I disagree (my anecdotal estimate would be around 1/3 do quickly, and 1/3 do "slowly" i.e. within 3-5 years), but those who do can still accelerate the process by reading documents like this, no? People who can self-teach still benefit from learning materials.
    - codingdave 5y ago
      Most software environments are not the right environment.
solosoyokaze 5y ago
I feel like most engineers are pretty good at working remotely (c.f. all of open source). Managers however seem to have a very hard time adjusting. If I were to give some "best practices" for remote management, they would be: * Don't worry about how your reports are spending their time. If someone doesn't get back to you, they are busy. * Don't factor an employee's location into their compensation. * Minimize meetings (this is for non-wfh too, but it's much easier when people are remote). * Allow people to leave their cameras off during calls. * Don't worry so much about flying people to meet IRL. It's expensive and disruptive. It may also introduce politics that won't exist if everyone stays remote. * Realize that a lot of what people think of as "management" is actually unneeded babysitting that's a vestigial cargo-cult from the industrial revolution. Your job is to hire, motivate and unblock. That's pretty much it. I wonder if the role of manager will go away and be replaced with more specialized roles. I actually think it might be nice for a company to provide a therapist for people to to privately talk to. That's always been a weird roll that managers often play. It would be nice to vent to someone who doesn't get to decide your next raise. Between some level of HR outlet, product management and mentorship, I don't really see a dedicated role for what we now call "manager".
- morelisp 5y ago
  > I feel like most engineers are pretty good at working remotely (c.f. all of open source). Most engineers are not on GitHub or any of the other social coding sites, let alone contributing to or managing an open source project. And anyone who is managing an open source project can tell you how much work it is to help other engineers contribute constructively. Your idea of a managerial role doesn't seem to leave much room for technical or team leads, only "product management". Sometimes your role is to hire/motivate/unblock - and sometimes the motivational role is make sure someone spends those three hours writing unit tests everyone agreed were important even though no one wants to.
  - solosoyokaze 5y ago
    Open source is just one example. In general I would say engineers work well in a quite place with no distractions and minimal bureaucracy. It is creative work after all. > Your idea of a managerial role doesn't seem to leave much room for technical or team leads, only "product management". Sometimes your role is to hire/motivate/unblock - and sometimes the motivational role is make sure someone spends those three hours writing unit tests everyone agreed were important even though no one wants to. I did include mentorship in my list of things needed to help engineers grow. I'd also add "everyone agreed" in a traditional management setting is pretty much identical to "the person who decides how much people get paid, said so". Good devs will typically write the appropriate amount of testing unprodded.
dboreham 5y ago
* Shower first * Put on clothes * Deliver tangible things often
- mvanbaak 5y ago
  Clothes are overrated. I'm not joking.
  - devoutsalsa 5y ago
    I’m not letting you use my furniture.
- bregma 5y ago
  Why should I change habits just because I work from home?
- mym1990 5y ago
  I prefer: * Put on clothes * Shower * Deliver tangible things often
- barbazoo 5y ago
  Midday showers are one of my favorite things about WFH.
  - selphy1 5y ago
    You can do this in the office too, assuming it has an office gym
    - barbazoo 5y ago
      Been there, done that. Not the same. Unless your company is fancy I guess? I just have a really cozy bathroom with everything I need =]
  - npsimons 5y ago
    I've run the numbers, and unless the PVs are putting out above approximately 4KW, it's cheapest to take my shower before 8AM. Thankfully I live where it's sunny almost all the time and I often get 6KW between 1100 and 1300, but in the Winter and cloudy days, it's best to get that shower in early.
dragosmocrii 5y ago
What a great article! I specifically like the emphasis on the human touch, like showing empathy and trying to build a connection with the customer and the team, despite the remote aspect. I also believe that correct use of communication media plays a huge role in the effectiveness of remote work. But personally, unlike the author, I believe that written communication is much better for remote teams. Shameless plug, I've wrote an article specifically on the topic of communication for remote work https://dragoshmocrii.com/remote-work-and-efficient-communication/ https://dragoshmocrii.com/remote-work-and-efficient-communic...
collaborative 5y ago
Lots of whiteboards. Clean, tidy desk. No visible cables. Sunlight. Fresh air. Caffeine
- yoz-y 5y ago
  > No visible cables I've been looking into this for a while and I'm always kind of jealous of people who manage to hide all their cables. When looking at tutorials, even advanced, on cable management, the people's setups are often so minimal to start with... Do you have any resources on how to properly cable manage a setup that is not trivial?
  - paisleypepper 5y ago
    From my experience doing desktop support at a large hospital: a bulk roll of self-gripping velcro tie, clips to mount the cables under the desk, cables that are long enough to run the route, some creativity, a headlamp and a good amount of patience and scuba gear so you can stay under the desk longer to do the job well.
- adverbly 5y ago
  This is a common list. So common it makes me wonder how unusual it is that I have no trouble focusing with visual distractions. I'm using the basement bar as a gigantic standing desk with tons of monitors, a desktop, and cables everywhere. Streaming setup stuff adds a lot well with the mic, lighting, camera stuff, etc... Its literally chaos. I don't drink any caffeine. I do have 2 whiteboards in the basement, plus another upstairs though, so I check that one at least. I really do miss sunlight though. Need to go on lunch time runs to get a bare minimum daily dose.
  - cruano 5y ago
    Sounds like so much chaos just turns into background noise
vladojsem 5y ago
I believe asynchronous communication is the key for remote work. It is super-hard to learn and requires a trust, however, I find it the most efficient style of work. Of course there will still be some regular meetings / synchronous communication, but more asynchronous you can do more focus time remains.
- u801e 5y ago
  I've really had a difficult time trying to get other team members to rely on asynchronous coummunication as opposed to video chat. Frequently, there are issues with video chat where the video or audio freezes and what was said doesn't get transmitted. Then there are issues where people don't precisely remember what was said during the meeting and it having to be repeated in chat.
  - joshxyz 5y ago
    > Then there are issues where people don't precisely remember what was said during the meeting and it having to be repeated in chat. In my experience that's crucial, after meetings there must be a short summary of what was discussed and decided, what are the next steps for everyone, and what they need to report on, and when are those expected. There are times we ditch video too and go audio-only if it's really important, otherwise things are only discussed in chat. When working with people in other timezones that's where async chat communication really shows its value.
  - vladojsem 5y ago
    yes, it requires a change in the mindset. we were also fighting with it at the beginning. but i work in a small company, cca 30 people, i guess it would be harder in a big company.
- robbiemitchell 5y ago
  Counterpoint: having a tricky conversation one. Jira. Comment. At. A. Time. can be comically slow and inefficient.
littlestymaar 5y ago
#0: a standing desk #0': external monitors & desk mount #0": an ergonomic keyboard Do work on a laptop on your kitchen table, you're harming yourself!
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znpy 5y ago
Since we're commenting a piece from the ACM: would you people recommend an ACM membership subscription and reading the communication of the ACM magazine? What if you're not directly a software engineer but more like a system engineer / system administrator / DevOps engineer?
- mavelikara 5y ago
  The Oreilly library access alone is totally worth the price of ACM membership.
  - mch82 5y ago
    Nice tip!
  - lolinder 5y ago
    Is the Oreilly access that comes with the ACM membership full access? The same level of access you'd get for $500/yr from Oreilly directly?
    - mavelikara 5y ago
      I think so, although I am not sure.
alberth 5y ago
Async communication = email overload? Now I’m the first to say I find synchronous communication (eg Slack) to cause massive productivity loss for an organization & can also cause employee burnout … but how do companies that have a culture of async communication not fall into a similar bad issue of email overload?
- oaw-bct-ar-bamf 5y ago
  My gut feeling tells me that as of late I am not able to stay on top of my inbox. The past 3 years I was able to leave for the day with no unread messages. The last few months I am unable to keep up. ~20 unread messages and several unanswered Skype chats each day. Other team members also noticed an increase in the amount of mails.
- brown9-2 5y ago
  what makes you think that Slack must be synchronous and that asynchronous == email?
  - alberth 5y ago
    I’m curious now, what would you view then as examples of both synch and async communication?
    - auslegung 5y ago
      I think async and sync is more about expectations, with the caveat that a non-recorded zoom meeting is sync, while a recorded zoom meeting can be async. That being said, I feel it's my responsibility to have my notifications tuned properly so I'm not interrupted. So to me synchronous comms are comms that can't be consumed asynchronously. The only text version of that I can think of is an exploding Signal message or similar. Any non-recorded video message is synchronous.
    - Jarwain 5y ago
      A key example of async communication are tickets/issues and merge requests. Slack can be both depending on the situation Calls are definitely sync, although I guess voicemail is async
bit_logic 5y ago
The most important thing is the whole team being in the same time zone. Even a 1 hour difference is too much. That may seem extreme, but I've had so many important discussions happen around 5pm near end of day when everyone's done with their main task and meetings and have time to think about something else. Then they realize it's really important and need to chat right now. If the team is not in the same time zone, this kind of communication simply can't happen. Asynchronous communication can only do so much. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone with a screenshare. Even during the day, different time zones means the lunch hour is mismatched which also affects communication and meetings. And it doesn't matter if those in the negatively impacted time zone say they're ok with super early mornings or late hours. No one wants to be the jerk who is making someone get up early or stay late. The time zone difference has a chilling effect in addition to adding friction. You can still hire in other time zones, but each time zone team must be an independent unit. So you can have a team that has members in Vancouver, Bay Area, and Los Angeles. And another team in New York, DC, and Atlanta. But these teams should rarely need to communicate and work with each other.
- anonytrary 5y ago
  Displeased to see the best comment at the bottom. This is spot on. People will always get the most work done when synchronicity is able to be maximized!
  - bit_logic 5y ago
    I’m a bit surprised at the downvoting and wondering if there’s misunderstanding. To be clear, I’ve been working remote for years and fully support it. Physical location doesn’t matter. A team could have someone in a Bay Area house, someone in Bakersfield with farming as a side project, another living in a Tahoe cabin with Starlink and hiking everyday, another in Oregon living in the small town they grew up in. Remote is the future and allows wonderful quality of life. But note that these examples are all the same time zone. My comments are from experience, I’ve been on teams with mixed time zones. And the issues from mixed time zones are hidden and silent because no one wants to upset anyone. No one wants to tell the manager that Bob is nice but hard to work with because he’s never online when we need him. But that doesn’t mean the issues don’t exist. The best way to handle this is to never let it happen in the first place. If it’s already happened, the next best option is to refactor the teams by time zone, for example hire more in Bob’s time zone and form a new independent team in that zone.
unobatbayar 5y ago
Pomodoro Technique seems to work brilliantly. There are many desktop apps like "Be Focused", you can actually do a lot more in a short amount of time using it and don't really have to work that much all day.
- uglycoyote 5y ago
  I tried the pomodoro technique yesterday. I had one successful pomodoro on the morning when it was quiet, and then when I went to take five minutes to clear a few things away before starting the next pomodoro, those five minutes some how became the rest of the day and I never got a chance to start my second pomodoro

490 points by RuffleGordon 5y ago

Surprisingly, what really helped me become more productive and able to focus... is a pair of headsets with noise cancelling and music. It really sets my mood to "work".

jcadam 5y ago

The first is the big one for me: Work on things you care about. If I'm engaged with a project because it's intellectually stimulating and/or just plain "cool", I'm going to be 10x more productive working remotely than I ever would be in an office. In fact, unplugging and not overworking myself becomes an issue in such a situation. OTOH, if I hate what I'm working on, remote work makes it way too easy to procrastinate and slack off. If I'm in the office, management would be able to identify me as being unhappy and target me for termination :D You can coast working remotely an hour a day on an easy but painfully dull project for a long time.

uglycoyote 5y ago

Good article, but I found it a bit disorienting that I knew it was supposed to be a list of 10, but the numbers on each step kept resetting to 1 after each pull-quote.

philangist 5y ago

I was just having a discussion about this with my manager during 1:1. I'm curious how any fellow devs with ADHD have managed the transition to remote work over the last year? I love the freedom and ability to focus that working from home provides, but I often find myself taking advantage of that freedom and focusing instead on podcasts or reddit for 3 days to avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests.

xenihn 5y ago
Adderall 5 times a week instead of 3.
mch82 5y ago
Have you experimented with remote pair programming as a way to encourage focus?
honkycat 5y ago
I struggle in meetings, always have. Ive found i have to slow people down in meetings and have them repeat themselves a lot, and I will repeat back to them what they are saying because I easily miss a lot. I keep a list of tasks in a notebook and take the time to break them down and make sure I check them off. I take a nap when I need one, take a break occasionally. Keeo the task ritual going. I always get my work done on time.
legulere 5y ago
It’s important to have a good working environment with clear boundaries between work and private: - Work starts at a certain point and ends at a certain point with a pause or pauses. - Only work happens on the work computer, no work happens on the private computer. - Keep private distractions away when you work (put your phone in another room)
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wrink 5y ago
Regular 20-30 minute walks interspersed throughout my day have helped, usually every 2-3 hours It's probably more breaks than I would otherwise need but getting outside had helped me be mindful and exercise inhibition; a bit of a reset, so to speak. If not, I find myself getting stressed out at home more than I otherwise would as well
wedesoft 5y ago
We are using Mumble (https://www.mumble.info/ https://www.mumble.info/) to be able to hear your colleagues the whole day. When I need to focus more, I go to a virtual office in Mumble.
brotherofsteel 5y ago
Pair and mob programming
- edabobojr 5y ago
  In my experience, pair and mob programming are just yet another scenario where neuro-atypical people are punished for approaching their work differently.
  - jacques_chester 5y ago
    I won't say it's for everyone. But for ADHD specifically, my personal experience is that pair programming is a godsend. I am able to use half my regular dose of ritalin while pairing.
    - edabobojr 5y ago
      I am glad it works for you. Maybe (hopefully?) I have just had an abnormal experience.
      - wernercd 5y ago
        I'd say I can get behind pair-programming to a point... it helps get new ideas, different view points and leads to rubber-duck-programming like effects. I'm not sure I'm a fan of Mob programming... as others mention, over a phone/video conference, it seems inadequate. Turns more into an ad-hoc video lesson by the stronger personalities (for better or worse - I happen to be one of those in my small group at work). Do you have problems with both? 2 vs 3+? or is it one or the other?
        sodapopcan 5y ago
        To do mobbing effectively you should be switching the driver very rapidly. It's a bit tough remotely, but it can be done. There are probably other ways to make it effective, but if only a few people are contributing, then the mob has failed and should either be recalibrated or stopped altogether.
MattGaiser 5y ago
Does it actually impact your relative productivity net of everything? I have done that a few times even without ADHD (presumably). But stripping away all the meetings (or at least the need to stop work to be in them), the chatting, and the distracting questions has made it net out to about the same.
devoutsalsa 5y ago
If you can get away with going down a Reddit rathole for three days, no one is watching you that closely. That gives you freedom to chase other things. One option could be writing a library to make your tests more interesting to write. Write the boring tests first, and then look for a way to make the process of writing them more interesting.
xkeysc0re 5y ago
Is that ADHD or are you just procrastinating? You clearly recognize the issue. Maybe try Screen Time limits or changing your hosts file
- dboreham 5y ago
  Aren't these synonyms?
  - PragmaticPulp 5y ago
    No, far from it. The pop culture definition of ADHD has become extremely vague and watered down, almost to the same degree that "OCD" has become a pop-culture term for attention to detail. Procrastination is a common behavior in people with and without ADHD. Procrastination alone is not an indicator of ADHD. Likewise, someone who procrastinates does not fully understand the struggles of someone with ADHD.
- jonfw 5y ago
  Software is absolutely inadequate to prevent you from being distracted... You can block a couple of things but it's an uphill battle, because there are no limits to the number of things more interesting in the short term than writing unit tests. It's import to identify and address the root of the problem rather than just the symptoms. Do you find your work rewarding? Will these unit tests help you to complete the goals you hold for yourself? Are you healthy enough to faciliate productive work?
- jjj1232 5y ago
  Procrastination/lack of executive function is a symptom of ADHD.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- nemetroid 5y ago
  Are you suggesting that people suffering from ADHD do not recognize that there is an issue?
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PragmaticPulp 5y ago
Time management at home is a different ball game. A good first step is to understand what's fundamentally different about working from home, alone, versus working from the office. Some common differences: - Context shifting into the office can help context shift you to work mode. At home, if you use the same workstation for games and Reddit and work and entertainment, you lose the physical context shift. If possible, try using your company-provided computer for only work, and your personal computer for only play. Even better if you can have them in different rooms. Start training yourself to associate one context with work, and one context with not-work. When you sit down in the work context, it's time to work. - Accountability can feel lessened when no one can see over your shoulder. This can be misleading in the short term because it's easy to get away with it for a while: You can tell people you ran into unexpected difficulties, or you had to spend time on something else, or any number of excuses that work in the short term. Over the long term, the productivity difference starts to show up in your output relative to peers, so avoid falling into this trap. If your company isn't big on short-term accountability, give yourself some daily accountability. A good practice would be to write a short message to your team's Slack channel with what you're going to be working on for the day. At the end of the day, write a short summary of what you accomplished. Once this is routine and public (within your team) you will feel some of the same accountability you did when your team was sitting in the same room and could see you working (or not). - Offices provide a lot of social exposure that we take for granted. Slack and Zoom can't fully replace it. Make sure you get out of the house and see other people routinely, even if it's just walking around the neighborhood. Simply seeing other, real human beings goes a long way. - Track your time. Entering the office in the morning and leaving in the evening are natural delineators for your work day. Try to have some similar start and end times at home. Consider using something like RescueTime so you can see where your time is going during the day.
- danielvinson 5y ago
  This is amazing advice. Thank you.
- lostcolony 5y ago
  That accountability step is part of the intent for daily standups in most agile disciplines. The five minutes it takes for everyone to say what they worked on since the last one, what they plan to work on, and what obstacles they have, is great both for forcing people to focus a bit, as well as for managers to help point out when someone is stuck (i.e., "you've been working on that the past few days; is something wrong?")
Bishop_ 5y ago
This (might) help you, It helped me anyways. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/
- misterremote 5y ago
  I often find myself looking at my website and trying to figure out what is the most important thing I have to work on right now. But hours can pass by like this. And I’ve learned that I need to start with something small. Even a tiny improvement/fix I spend my first 15 minutes on gets me going and into the flow state!
sublimefire 5y ago
There are a couple of things that allow me to get past these bottlenecks. First, let it go. Then do something else, get outside, have a cup of something. Instead of thinking about "3 hours of writing unit tests", start with "write just 1 unit test". Then get back and try to find something interesting about this depressing piece of work you need to do. Just one tiny thing, like "how fast does it take to run a test" or "how does this utility method is implemented". I do this a lot - trick myself into something small, and then let myself go with the same work, just like reading "one post in HN" leads me to write this response LOL. In my case, it is just a pure absence of motivation and interest that causes the attention to go somewhere else. And this is all right, as it's a signal that the shit I do is not worth it. I have to make it worth it in some way, worth it for my soul sake.
- bradstewart 5y ago
  Agreed. Creating small, achievable tasks to start my day gives me some easy "little victories" which provide some confidence to tackle harder problems. Often tiny things like "send an email to X" or "write JIRA ticket for Y". Sounds stupid, but it really tricks my brain into not procrastinating on the more important tasks.
gibrown 5y ago
A coworker of mine (our company has always been “remote”) has written a lot about ADHD and working remote. https://aaron.blog/?s=Work https://aaron.blog/?s=Work https://aaron.blog/2016/03/25/how-working-remote-probably-saved-my-life/ https://aaron.blog/2016/03/25/how-working-remote-probably-sa... is a good place to start.
- mjrbrennan 5y ago
  That was a great read, thanks for linking!
nomy99 5y ago
I'm not sure if it's wise to publicly post this "taking advantage of that freedom and focusing instead on podcasts or reddit for 3 days to avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests."
- PoignardAzur 5y ago
  https://xkcd.com/137/ https://xkcd.com/137/
- weird-eye-issue 5y ago
  At least he is honest and wants to change. Better than 99% of people out there.
  - nomy99 5y ago
    Honesty doesn't replace accountability. Wasting three days is a long time to just be "procrastinating"
    - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
      I can tell you've never suffered from ADHD.
      - nomy99 5y ago
        So you are telling me a person suffering from ADHD is not accountable for the $ lost in productivity. If I had ADHD, just for survival, I wouldn't ever let my boss know that I have this condition which is costing his company X amount of dollars a year.
        weird-eye-issue 5y ago
        By not letting your boss know, you are making it harder on yourself, and then leading to less productivity in the future, as opposed to getting better. Also it isn't that it actually costs the company money. They could very well make up for that lost time by hyper focusing and finishing it quickly later. So it could be the same result for the company but much more stressful for the person with ADHD.
treeman79 5y ago
So I have ADHD. Official diagnosis. My kids have it. Official diagnosis. My mom and sisters clearly have it, but refuse to be tested. If something is sufficiently interesting I can hyper focus like crazy. For decades any level of boredom was physically painful. Remote is the worse for me. Staying on task is a nightmare. What helped? Pair programming. This keeps you engaged and on task. I try and pair as much as possible. Medication. I was on Adderal for awhile. It works great. I had to stop due to serious side effects. (Strokes) However it got me past the mental block of “boring is painful” I function a good better without medication now. It’s not where it needs to be to cope with 8 hours of no human interaction, but better. I tried another non stimulate med. my focus was fine, but I was so sleepy my work was crap. I’m on Vyvanse now. My kids are on Vyanse. It works a lot better. I get some of the same side effects as adderall But not as intense.
- PoignardAzur 5y ago
  Have you considered modafinil? It allegedly has fewer side-effects, but a similar effect as adderal.
  - lkjlkj9 5y ago
    I've been using it, finding it less useful for me than stimulant options but sometimes it can unstick a feeling of ADHD helplessness or "death spiral".
- potta_coffee 5y ago
  I'm in the same boat and pair programming has been a godsend. It's so much easier to think about and work on boring tasks with a colleague. We both have the same problem so it's a good match.
koboll 5y ago
I don't think you're going to find the best time management tips from people who are on Hacker News in the middle of a Monday afternoon.
- avgDev 5y ago
  slow clap
- jolux 5y ago
  Ouch.
- lliamander 5y ago
  Which is too bad, because those of us reading right now could probably benefit the most from good advice.
- domano 5y ago
  Well there is more than one timezone.
- junga 5y ago
  It‘s not the middle of the afternoon all around the globe at the same time. Some of us already spent eight hours slacking off.
- throwaway3699 5y ago
  It's midnight where I am. I think that might be worse.
thestephen 5y ago
ADHDer here. WFH was a nightmare the first six months, but the past few months have been working out great. My findings from this past year: * Finding the right medication, in the right dose. Biggest QoL improvement. YMMV * Whenever I get lost in the sauce and start spinning my wheels, I schedule a call with a colleague and ask them to help sort my priorities out. This also helps me with accountability, in a softer way than accountability-by-authority. This might require some self-awareness. * Finding a note-taking/task management system that works for me. So far, I've been having the most success with a combination of Roam Research; Apple Notes and Muse for drawing/diagramming on my iPad; and Todoist for hard reminders. * Getting enough physical activity. My headspace becomes awful if I don't get at least 30 minutes of walking in during the day. * Finding my context shift to work mode. Most days, 15 minutes outdoors first thing in the morning after checking my task list is enough. For rougher days, I work from the café down the street. * Avoiding social media before lunch, as it stresses me out. * I found the eureka moments striking at odd times, like evenings or in bed. I rarely regret following these strokes of inspiration, but they can really throw my off my work/life balance. Cutting my days shorter (most days), and allowing myself to work when inspiration strikes (a couple times a week), has really helped in lowering my stress levels. * A couple days a week without scheduled meetings. I can't focus if I know I'm going to have a meeting in 1 hour. * Splurging on equipment. If I'm going to spend a lot of time in front of my screen, I might as well get that 4K 32" and a G915 TKL.
- cube2222 5y ago
  What features make Muse the one for you, as opposed to alternatives? Just curious. Definitely agree with working using the best equipment money can buy, if you spend so much time with it.
  - thestephen 5y ago
    So I really enjoy the spatial paradigm with Muse. It feels like a digital whiteboard - I can paste images, resize them, throw them around, and ink over them, which makes it great for thinking. Compare this to Apple Notes, where each note acts like a document. I can ink, write and paste images into a note - but text, ink and images are all their separate blocks, flows from up to down, and cannot "interact" with each other. Further, the Muse interface is very frictionless. Erasing ink is just holding a finger while using the Pencil. Switching tools is just swiping in on the screen with the pencil. Compare this to Apple Notes, where I usually need to chord several taps on different parts of the screen altogether just to change the tool or ink color.
HumblyTossed 5y ago
I use timers all the time. Basically a slightly modified tomato timer.
titanomachy 5y ago
I stopped being able to get work done at all. It gradually tipped me into a low-self-esteem death spiral. I tried lots of different approaches to fix it: more accountability with my manager, new medication, more regular exercise, therapy, a bit of disability leave, even moved to a bigger apartment where I could have my own office. Nothing got me past the block. I quit my job, spent six weeks studying and interviewing aggressively, and got hired for a higher-level position at a different company. I pushed back my start date enough that I'll onboard in an office instead of remotely. In the meantime I'm working on my health and personal projects, and spending lots of time with friends and in nature. I gave up trying to work remotely this time around, but I'm still hopeful that at some point I'll improve my coping skills enough that it will be an option.
- tgaj 5y ago
  Heh, same problem as ADHD developer. The one thing that was helping me was a custom in our company that we sit on zoom as much as possible. But, to be honest, I just got back to office as soon as it was possible in my country.
- daniellarusso 5y ago
  How long were you able to push your start date from when you accepted the offer? Weeks? Months?
  - titanomachy 5y ago
    Months. Certain very large companies hire engineers into a general pool rather than to a specific team, so once you've passed the interviews they don't mind too much if you put off actually starting work.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  Strange tip, I use to do part time local delivery. It made my brain cool off (safe regular activity, simple money, low skills). In between deliveries I often wrote small bits or small feature branches. I found it a good balance. It also made me think differently because I'd favor changes that were high ROI. No large design, no syntactic change. Only solid and valuable additions. Something I never really felt before.
mandeepj 5y ago
> avoid 3 hours of writing unit tests Why? Unit tests are our closest allies
- arvinsim 5y ago
  Just because something is important doesn't mean it is enjoyable.
  - twh270 5y ago
    I know this sounds like evangelism, but I absolutely hated writing unit tests until I learned TDD. Now, I don't always write tests first, but I usually do. I'll also say that I have seen a lot of time wasted writing useless unit tests. That can contribute significantly to the "I hate unit tests" feeling.
  - noisem4ker 5y ago
    Maybe not enjoyable, but also not anxiety-inducing like certain foundational design tasks can be. For procrastinators, writing a small unit test can be a near-mindless, easy activity to get going.
  - mandeepj 5y ago
    I consider Unit tests to be essential. People who don't like them, maybe they never tried to drive a value from them. I also use-to consider them not important, but they have saved my as* so many times. How would you drive a big refactor, without introducing new bugs - without unit tests? With a solid test coverage, via a button click, you can conclude - how functional is your code base. Of course, not on the basis of weak tests.
jwdunne 5y ago
I have quite the story. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to focus. Terrified I’d get distracted by home life. That my productivity would plummet. But it didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite. I never realised how much commuting and office noise harmed my productivity and energy levels. I was buzzing. And I did what any ADDer would do. I got drunk on it. Then burnt out. In typical ADHD fashion, I thought all that new energy was permanent and I could work insane hours. Sometimes from 7am until 1am. I was warned. But I didn’t listen - not to my mrs, not to my old man, my sister and colleagues. And then, once the dust of lockdown settled, I burst. After making damn sure that the company I worked for and my sisters business didn’t go bust, I couldn’t anymore. The code I wrote only a few weeks before? Hieroglyphs. But not that I’d lost understanding. I knew I could read it if I wanted to. But I really didn’t want to. Like my very being rejected any attempt to focus on the task at hand. I was reduced to attending scrums. And playing video games. It took a weekend away, a week off and a bit of advice from Dr Feynman. Thankfully, work was understanding. I was given a project where I could play, and still deliver value. And so I played, got something small done. Then I played some more. And so on. Now, a colleague works on the project with me. I played so much that I was prone to rabbit holes. My hyperfocus was out of tune. But then I took stock and was able to focus. We found a way forward, took some advice, got speaking to the users and focused development on fast iteration and feedback. The past few months have been the most productive of my life. All remote. I learned a lot of hard lessons in lockdown. The lessons I could not predict.
- Avalaxy 5y ago
  This reads like a inspirational linkedin copypasta.
  - jwdunne 5y ago
    Sums up my life really, goes deeper than that hahaha
joncp 5y ago
I'll do your unit tests if you'll take my build scripts! :)
animesh 5y ago
Are you me? One thing that led me to not turn on my desktop workstation is to complete a personal project. For at least half a week, I did not bother to reach out for instant gratification via reading HN, proggit, podcasts etc. If I can only find the energy and appropriate time to do this, I figure I can save my work and work ethic.
femiagbabiaka 5y ago
I have. Some keys: - Lists. - Checkins for accountability. - Distinguish work space from other space. - Develop routine around work start and end times. Block off heads down work as opposed to meeting time. - Use the time flexibility that remote gives me to my advantage — if I want to start later and work later that’s fine. But keep routine. In other words, all the same stuff as before. An office just gives you a sociotechnical system in which doing all of the above is easier.
nomel 5y ago
I’ve been using Immersed VR with some good success. I use different virtual environments for different tasks. The coffee shop for deep work, space for emails, etc. Part of my problem is that my “office” is in my bedroom. I’m a strong believer in “physical” mental spaces, so it really helps me.
znpy 5y ago
I kinda made it explicit with myself (not with my colleagues of course, duh). I'll fuck off most of the morning, well aware that I'm doing so, and I'll work non stop in the afternoon. Some important things though: during the morning I mostly spend time on stuff I find interesting, usually tech stuff not directly related with my job. A few times non work stuff. But seriously, it's a joy to be able to spend the morning to get better at something about your job. I spent last week mornings playing with the kubernetes APIs and the client-go libraries, with only vagues ideas. Turns out, a colleague is findin one of the toy tools I've written useful. Wasn't expecting that. Last month I spent another week mornings diving into AWS IAM and now I finally finally understand stuff and I'm reporting problems to our head of it security, and we're fixing stuff before they become problems. The key, imho, is to be self-aware: I'll fuck off in the morning, and I will work in the afternoon, no interruptions. Important edit: I might be slacking, technically, but I always keep an eye on the company chat. If anyone or anything needs my attention, I drop my slacking off and be readily available (most often you only have to be able to hear the Slack client beeping)
slaymaker1907 5y ago
It definitely helps me to have at least some working in the office. I can work on something that is cool/exciting from home no problem such as implementing new features, learning some new API, etc. from home no problem, but going back to the office is very helpful for stuff like going through email. Also, thank you for speaking up! I feel like a lot of the discourse for ADHD folks has been how freeing it has been to get away from the distractions at work. For me, and it sounds like also for you, working from home often doesn't have enough structure.
picobread 5y ago
I'm struggling. When we were in the office there was still some semblance of normality. Particularly in 2021 my productivity has plummeted. I'm considering leaving this field altogether and have started applying for other jobs. At least with a physical job I can do the task at hand. I don't think I can be a successful developer with ADHD and I refuse to take meds full time. If anyone has figured out a solution to their own problems I'm all ears.
stevewodil 5y ago
This might sound pretty laughable but seriously try a standing desk. If you have a bookshelf or something that you can prop a laptop on to just try it without buying anything, do it. I find that when standing I'm able to get my brain to engage in problems or boring work that I otherwise wouldn't do and would instead avoid and watch YouTube. The ability to fidget and move around (calf raises, jumping in place, pacing back and forth), and not having the ability to sit back and relax has actually made a huge difference in my productivity. It's also important to not do leisure activities like watch YouTube or browse reddit at the standing desk. Make it a work-only space. Another thing to consider is ADHD and the emotional wall. When confronted with the idea that you have to do 3 hours of unit tests it seems daunting to start, because it's going to take so long! Instead, start by doing 3 unit tests (or something that will take 15 minutes). Even if that's all you get done today, do 3 again tomorrow. If you can make it through a much smaller task you'll likely have the momentum to keep going. And even if you don't, that's okay because you made some progress and can do a little more tomorrow.

yrgulation 5y ago

Barking at the wrong tree. In my view, most experienced software engineers can self organise and self manage. Not saying everyone can or that everyone should do remote work but many that enjoy and prefer remote work can. “This Viewpoint is intended for remote software engineers who are facing new challenges to thinking about routine, responsibility, and goal setting.” This viewpoint should be intended for non technical managers as they are the ones who tend to clutter project delivery with time management tools and meetings. This applies to onsite work as well. I feel like there is a lot of effort put in educating devs on doing the right thing while management is educated in the opposite direction.

morelisp 5y ago
Most software engineers are not experienced software engineers.
- lostcolony 5y ago
  Most software engineers become experienced software engineers (enough to self-manage) very quickly in the right environment, I've found.
  - jzoch 5y ago
    That's probably survivor's bias and not true at scale. "Right environment" is shaky - we should strive towards defining what makes an environment the "right" one and how can we increase the number of engineers that successfully acclimate to their new way of working.
  - morelisp 5y ago
    I disagree (my anecdotal estimate would be around 1/3 do quickly, and 1/3 do "slowly" i.e. within 3-5 years), but those who do can still accelerate the process by reading documents like this, no? People who can self-teach still benefit from learning materials.
  - codingdave 5y ago
    Most software environments are not the right environment.

solosoyokaze 5y ago

I feel like most engineers are pretty good at working remotely (c.f. all of open source). Managers however seem to have a very hard time adjusting. If I were to give some "best practices" for remote management, they would be: * Don't worry about how your reports are spending their time. If someone doesn't get back to you, they are busy. * Don't factor an employee's location into their compensation. * Minimize meetings (this is for non-wfh too, but it's much easier when people are remote). * Allow people to leave their cameras off during calls. * Don't worry so much about flying people to meet IRL. It's expensive and disruptive. It may also introduce politics that won't exist if everyone stays remote. * Realize that a lot of what people think of as "management" is actually unneeded babysitting that's a vestigial cargo-cult from the industrial revolution. Your job is to hire, motivate and unblock. That's pretty much it. I wonder if the role of manager will go away and be replaced with more specialized roles. I actually think it might be nice for a company to provide a therapist for people to to privately talk to. That's always been a weird roll that managers often play. It would be nice to vent to someone who doesn't get to decide your next raise. Between some level of HR outlet, product management and mentorship, I don't really see a dedicated role for what we now call "manager".

morelisp 5y ago
> I feel like most engineers are pretty good at working remotely (c.f. all of open source). Most engineers are not on GitHub or any of the other social coding sites, let alone contributing to or managing an open source project. And anyone who is managing an open source project can tell you how much work it is to help other engineers contribute constructively. Your idea of a managerial role doesn't seem to leave much room for technical or team leads, only "product management". Sometimes your role is to hire/motivate/unblock - and sometimes the motivational role is make sure someone spends those three hours writing unit tests everyone agreed were important even though no one wants to.
- solosoyokaze 5y ago
  Open source is just one example. In general I would say engineers work well in a quite place with no distractions and minimal bureaucracy. It is creative work after all. > Your idea of a managerial role doesn't seem to leave much room for technical or team leads, only "product management". Sometimes your role is to hire/motivate/unblock - and sometimes the motivational role is make sure someone spends those three hours writing unit tests everyone agreed were important even though no one wants to. I did include mentorship in my list of things needed to help engineers grow. I'd also add "everyone agreed" in a traditional management setting is pretty much identical to "the person who decides how much people get paid, said so". Good devs will typically write the appropriate amount of testing unprodded.

dboreham 5y ago

* Shower first * Put on clothes * Deliver tangible things often

mvanbaak 5y ago
Clothes are overrated. I'm not joking.
- devoutsalsa 5y ago
  I’m not letting you use my furniture.
bregma 5y ago
Why should I change habits just because I work from home?
mym1990 5y ago
I prefer: * Put on clothes * Shower * Deliver tangible things often
barbazoo 5y ago
Midday showers are one of my favorite things about WFH.
- selphy1 5y ago
  You can do this in the office too, assuming it has an office gym
  - barbazoo 5y ago
    Been there, done that. Not the same. Unless your company is fancy I guess? I just have a really cozy bathroom with everything I need =]
- npsimons 5y ago
  I've run the numbers, and unless the PVs are putting out above approximately 4KW, it's cheapest to take my shower before 8AM. Thankfully I live where it's sunny almost all the time and I often get 6KW between 1100 and 1300, but in the Winter and cloudy days, it's best to get that shower in early.

dragosmocrii 5y ago

What a great article! I specifically like the emphasis on the human touch, like showing empathy and trying to build a connection with the customer and the team, despite the remote aspect. I also believe that correct use of communication media plays a huge role in the effectiveness of remote work. But personally, unlike the author, I believe that written communication is much better for remote teams. Shameless plug, I've wrote an article specifically on the topic of communication for remote work https://dragoshmocrii.com/remote-work-and-efficient-communication/ https://dragoshmocrii.com/remote-work-and-efficient-communic...

collaborative 5y ago

Lots of whiteboards. Clean, tidy desk. No visible cables. Sunlight. Fresh air. Caffeine

yoz-y 5y ago
> No visible cables I've been looking into this for a while and I'm always kind of jealous of people who manage to hide all their cables. When looking at tutorials, even advanced, on cable management, the people's setups are often so minimal to start with... Do you have any resources on how to properly cable manage a setup that is not trivial?
- paisleypepper 5y ago
  From my experience doing desktop support at a large hospital: a bulk roll of self-gripping velcro tie, clips to mount the cables under the desk, cables that are long enough to run the route, some creativity, a headlamp and a good amount of patience and scuba gear so you can stay under the desk longer to do the job well.
adverbly 5y ago
This is a common list. So common it makes me wonder how unusual it is that I have no trouble focusing with visual distractions. I'm using the basement bar as a gigantic standing desk with tons of monitors, a desktop, and cables everywhere. Streaming setup stuff adds a lot well with the mic, lighting, camera stuff, etc... Its literally chaos. I don't drink any caffeine. I do have 2 whiteboards in the basement, plus another upstairs though, so I check that one at least. I really do miss sunlight though. Need to go on lunch time runs to get a bare minimum daily dose.
- cruano 5y ago
  Sounds like so much chaos just turns into background noise

vladojsem 5y ago

I believe asynchronous communication is the key for remote work. It is super-hard to learn and requires a trust, however, I find it the most efficient style of work. Of course there will still be some regular meetings / synchronous communication, but more asynchronous you can do more focus time remains.

u801e 5y ago
I've really had a difficult time trying to get other team members to rely on asynchronous coummunication as opposed to video chat. Frequently, there are issues with video chat where the video or audio freezes and what was said doesn't get transmitted. Then there are issues where people don't precisely remember what was said during the meeting and it having to be repeated in chat.
- joshxyz 5y ago
  > Then there are issues where people don't precisely remember what was said during the meeting and it having to be repeated in chat. In my experience that's crucial, after meetings there must be a short summary of what was discussed and decided, what are the next steps for everyone, and what they need to report on, and when are those expected. There are times we ditch video too and go audio-only if it's really important, otherwise things are only discussed in chat. When working with people in other timezones that's where async chat communication really shows its value.
- vladojsem 5y ago
  yes, it requires a change in the mindset. we were also fighting with it at the beginning. but i work in a small company, cca 30 people, i guess it would be harder in a big company.
robbiemitchell 5y ago
Counterpoint: having a tricky conversation one. Jira. Comment. At. A. Time. can be comically slow and inefficient.

littlestymaar 5y ago

#0: a standing desk #0': external monitors & desk mount #0": an ergonomic keyboard Do work on a laptop on your kitchen table, you're harming yourself!

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

znpy 5y ago

Since we're commenting a piece from the ACM: would you people recommend an ACM membership subscription and reading the communication of the ACM magazine? What if you're not directly a software engineer but more like a system engineer / system administrator / DevOps engineer?

mavelikara 5y ago
The Oreilly library access alone is totally worth the price of ACM membership.
- mch82 5y ago
  Nice tip!
- lolinder 5y ago
  Is the Oreilly access that comes with the ACM membership full access? The same level of access you'd get for $500/yr from Oreilly directly?
  - mavelikara 5y ago
    I think so, although I am not sure.

alberth 5y ago

Async communication = email overload? Now I’m the first to say I find synchronous communication (eg Slack) to cause massive productivity loss for an organization & can also cause employee burnout … but how do companies that have a culture of async communication not fall into a similar bad issue of email overload?

oaw-bct-ar-bamf 5y ago
My gut feeling tells me that as of late I am not able to stay on top of my inbox. The past 3 years I was able to leave for the day with no unread messages. The last few months I am unable to keep up. ~20 unread messages and several unanswered Skype chats each day. Other team members also noticed an increase in the amount of mails.
brown9-2 5y ago
what makes you think that Slack must be synchronous and that asynchronous == email?
- alberth 5y ago
  I’m curious now, what would you view then as examples of both synch and async communication?
  - auslegung 5y ago
    I think async and sync is more about expectations, with the caveat that a non-recorded zoom meeting is sync, while a recorded zoom meeting can be async. That being said, I feel it's my responsibility to have my notifications tuned properly so I'm not interrupted. So to me synchronous comms are comms that can't be consumed asynchronously. The only text version of that I can think of is an exploding Signal message or similar. Any non-recorded video message is synchronous.
  - Jarwain 5y ago
    A key example of async communication are tickets/issues and merge requests. Slack can be both depending on the situation Calls are definitely sync, although I guess voicemail is async

bit_logic 5y ago

The most important thing is the whole team being in the same time zone. Even a 1 hour difference is too much. That may seem extreme, but I've had so many important discussions happen around 5pm near end of day when everyone's done with their main task and meetings and have time to think about something else. Then they realize it's really important and need to chat right now. If the team is not in the same time zone, this kind of communication simply can't happen. Asynchronous communication can only do so much. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone with a screenshare. Even during the day, different time zones means the lunch hour is mismatched which also affects communication and meetings. And it doesn't matter if those in the negatively impacted time zone say they're ok with super early mornings or late hours. No one wants to be the jerk who is making someone get up early or stay late. The time zone difference has a chilling effect in addition to adding friction. You can still hire in other time zones, but each time zone team must be an independent unit. So you can have a team that has members in Vancouver, Bay Area, and Los Angeles. And another team in New York, DC, and Atlanta. But these teams should rarely need to communicate and work with each other.

anonytrary 5y ago
Displeased to see the best comment at the bottom. This is spot on. People will always get the most work done when synchronicity is able to be maximized!
- bit_logic 5y ago
  I’m a bit surprised at the downvoting and wondering if there’s misunderstanding. To be clear, I’ve been working remote for years and fully support it. Physical location doesn’t matter. A team could have someone in a Bay Area house, someone in Bakersfield with farming as a side project, another living in a Tahoe cabin with Starlink and hiking everyday, another in Oregon living in the small town they grew up in. Remote is the future and allows wonderful quality of life. But note that these examples are all the same time zone. My comments are from experience, I’ve been on teams with mixed time zones. And the issues from mixed time zones are hidden and silent because no one wants to upset anyone. No one wants to tell the manager that Bob is nice but hard to work with because he’s never online when we need him. But that doesn’t mean the issues don’t exist. The best way to handle this is to never let it happen in the first place. If it’s already happened, the next best option is to refactor the teams by time zone, for example hire more in Bob’s time zone and form a new independent team in that zone.

unobatbayar 5y ago

Pomodoro Technique seems to work brilliantly. There are many desktop apps like "Be Focused", you can actually do a lot more in a short amount of time using it and don't really have to work that much all day.

uglycoyote 5y ago
I tried the pomodoro technique yesterday. I had one successful pomodoro on the morning when it was quiet, and then when I went to take five minutes to clear a few things away before starting the next pomodoro, those five minutes some how became the rest of the day and I never got a chance to start my second pomodoro