Posts Tagged with "productivity"

#19: High quality worktime and creative productivity.

Creative work depends far more on the quality of work time than its quantity. From times of deep work and in a state of flow come breakthroughs.Read more →

#19a: The perils of distraction on productivity.

Software development is a creative field, and so the engineers, designers, and product managers whose creative output comprise most of their work depend greatly on the quality of their work time.Read more →

#19a1: How managers suffer less from distracted environments (to the detriment of their teams).

Managers, unlike their team, face little of the deleterious effects of interruption. Their work is by nature fragmented; it relies less on creative output and hence deep work.Read more →

Reference #39: An Elegant Puzzle

Larson references the four measures of developer velocity from "Accelerate":Read more →

Reference #128: Peopleware

Long ago, there were two competing theories of value, which historians called the Spanish Theory of Value and the English Theory of Value.Read more →

Reference #131: Peopleware

Quality, in and of itself, is not the most desirable trait in the marketplace. While reducing quality of a product will reduce the number of people willing to buy, it will simultaneously increase the profit margin as less time was spent on development.Read more →

Reference #133: Peopleware

Parkinson's Law — that work tends to fill the time allotted for it — is not an axiom. The law is not based in data (having been written by a humorist). And it is certainly not true for software teams.Read more →

Reference #134: Peopleware

In 1985 study of software teams by Jeffrey and Lawrence found that productivity was highest for teams with no estimate of completion time.Read more →

Reference #135: Peopleware

Believing in non-solutions for productivity gains, such as a technological tool, makes working towards real solutions more difficult.Read more →

Reference #137: Peopleware

Due to the distractions present in a work day, overtime — or, starting early or staying late — is often used not as a means to increase the quantity of work time but rather its quality.Read more →

Reference #140: Peopleware

Early advocates for open-plan office design touted improvements in employee productivity, but gave no proof to this claim.Read more →

Reference #144: Peopleware

Certain types of work — such as engineering, design, or writing — require a state of flow to be done productively. Re-entering flow after an interruption costs a re-immersion time of over 15 minutes.Read more →

Reference #154: Peopleware

Employee turnover costs about 20% of all people-hour expenses. This is due to the cost involved in hiring a new employee, as well as the several months it takes for the employee to be fully productive.Read more →