4 ms·

Programmer productivity is also very hard to measure. Just this afternoon I finally nailed a tough problem that I 'd banged my head against for weeks and then s

Programmer productivity is also very hard to measure. Just this afternoon I finally nailed a tough problem that I 'd banged my head against for weeks and then set aside while I was watching an episode of The Glades, when I should have been "working". Goofing off can be highly productive.

venomsnake 12y ago
When I hit a wall - shower or gym.
collyw 12y ago
sure it is hard to measure objectively, but I can tell I am significantly less productive than 3 years ago when I started my job. There were just two of us in the office, so either we were talking with each other or concentrating. Now there are 4 and constant interruptions. I suppose it is because the in house database I have been building and maintaining is used more heavily and as such I am a source of knowledge for a lot of stuff that goes on in the organisation as a result. I am personally less productive, but the organisation is more productive. Now if only I could persuade the users to read the error messages and think for a minute ("there is no sample in the database with the name blah" ), rather than come straight to me and ask me to fix it, then we would all be a lot more efficient.
- csbrooks 12y ago
  Push back a little. "Did you read the error message? What did it say? Did you do what it said to do?"
mariodiana 12y ago
I was thinking about this yesterday, as I was trying to get started on an new project, and I was reminded of the cliché scene from many movies of the writer, architect, or what have you, writing something on a piece of paper, crumpling it up and tossing it in the waste basket. You know, then the camera cuts to a pile of crumpled up papers cascading out of a filled up waste basket and onto the floor. A good part of programming is design, and design can't be measured by lines of code per day or anything like that. I think we all need to come to grips with that. Some days we code; some days we crumple paper.
- ddmf 12y ago
  "some days we code, some days we crumple paper." perfect analogy, I now have something to tell upper management when I'm asked why I look like I'm dreaming into space...

venomsnake 12y ago

When I hit a wall - shower or gym.

collyw 12y ago

sure it is hard to measure objectively, but I can tell I am significantly less productive than 3 years ago when I started my job. There were just two of us in the office, so either we were talking with each other or concentrating. Now there are 4 and constant interruptions. I suppose it is because the in house database I have been building and maintaining is used more heavily and as such I am a source of knowledge for a lot of stuff that goes on in the organisation as a result. I am personally less productive, but the organisation is more productive. Now if only I could persuade the users to read the error messages and think for a minute ("there is no sample in the database with the name blah" ), rather than come straight to me and ask me to fix it, then we would all be a lot more efficient.

csbrooks 12y ago
Push back a little. "Did you read the error message? What did it say? Did you do what it said to do?"

mariodiana 12y ago

I was thinking about this yesterday, as I was trying to get started on an new project, and I was reminded of the cliché scene from many movies of the writer, architect, or what have you, writing something on a piece of paper, crumpling it up and tossing it in the waste basket. You know, then the camera cuts to a pile of crumpled up papers cascading out of a filled up waste basket and onto the floor. A good part of programming is design, and design can't be measured by lines of code per day or anything like that. I think we all need to come to grips with that. Some days we code; some days we crumple paper.

ddmf 12y ago
"some days we code, some days we crumple paper." perfect analogy, I now have something to tell upper management when I'm asked why I look like I'm dreaming into space...