Top 10 Software Developer Productivity Killers
If you’ve recently found yourself trapped in a catacomb of chaotic code or entangled in a web of woefully unclear requirements, fret not! Bob’s journey through the perilous pitfalls of developer productivity is the adventure you’ve missed. Over the past two weeks, we’ve run a daily series of blog posts about the most prevalent software developer productivity killers we, at Facet Digital, often see in the engineering teams we are hired to assess. Some of these have do to with the technical team and their decisions, and some of them have to do with the business support around them.
Here’s a quick recap:
| 01 | Useless Meetings | Breaking up the Maker’s focus time |
| 02 | Open-Plan Offices | Noise and visual distraction disrupt concentration |
| 03 | Technical Debt | Short cuts now make innovation take longer later |
| 04 | Dead Code | Hours wasted maintaining or searching through garbage |
| 05 | Too Many Status Reports | Talking more about work than doing the work |
| 06 | Unclear Requirements | Spending too much time guessing at the wrong intent |
| 07 | Poor Branching Strategy | Working in too large of chunks and not getting feedback quickly |
| 08 | Unrealistic / Arbitrary Deadlines | Demoralizing and stifling creativity |
| 09 | Micromanagement | Not letting the brains you hired use their brains to the fullest |
| 10 | Poor Documentation | Making the next dev guess and explore without a map |
Familiar foes? If these productivity antagonists have been causing chaos in your dev-life, contact us for some superhero assistance.
🙋♀️ Encountered another productivity villain we missed? Share in the comments which dastardly devils resonate with you and any others lurking in the shadows!
