Productivity Is Killing Software Engineering?
We live in a world that seems obsessed with productivity these days. If you go onto any social media you see tips and tricks about how to be more productive and achieve more in one day than you ever thought possible.
There is long form content, short form content, books, videos, podcasts, blogs, shows, talks. You name it, there will be someone out there making that kind of content and seemingly experiencing a wonderfully productive existence.
But why do we want to be productive? When did this obsession with productivity at the individual level begin? Why are we so convinced that doing more and more in a shorter and shorter amount of time is the way forward?
My Personal Experience
I jumped onto the productivity bandwagon with as much enthusiasm as the next person. I found out about time management, Pomodoros, the two-minute rule, task batching, 80/20 rule, ‘Eat the frog’ technique and this was all before generative AI came along and enabled me to do so much more.
At work I am now able to work as a semi product owner whilst still wearing the Software Developer hat most of the time due to all these productivity hacks. I can link tools together to auto generate tickets which then auto generate Pull Requests which then auto generate notifications which inform everyone on the team about how productive I am being.
I can use Github co-pilot and Chat GPT to skim through the actual coding implementation, write some tests and create Git commit messages and Pull Request descriptions. Send through a notification on Slack to get my PR reviewed and onto the next task.
Back to the task board to go through the motions once again and before I know it I have completed three tasks in the morning, released the current feature branch to staging (obviously all automated) and updated the tasks to be released in the next release.
I am a productive little bunny.
Life is good. Right?
Well not really... Something doesn’t feel quite right.
What Is This Productivity For?
When I have a productive morning like this I come away with mixed feelings. On the one hand it feels good to accomplish things. To get things done. To tick some boxes and know you have contributed to a better and brighter future.
On the other hand though there is that lingering dark thought in the back of your mind that you are just a cog in a machine.
I am an enabler for the monstrous beast of capitalism to continually grow and devour our society. A meaningless part of a moving a much bigger meaningless machine in some random direction.
Then other thoughts come along… ‘What if I was as productive as possible and completed everything on the list?’. Well, I would get a pat on the back, because I have made the owners of the company a tidy profit for less costs. Objective achieved. KPIs met. I would then be moved onto another project. And then another project. And then another project. I would be squeezed and squeezed until my coding juices run dry.
Woah!!! Timeout! I am sounding a little bit nihilistic now and this is not a road I want to go down.
Reality Check
The thing is, as a Software Developer, you will work for a business and a business will want to continually expand and grow. There will be a never-ending list of things to do until one day the product either dies, the company dies or you die.
You are also pretty well compensated for you efforts. Generally Software Engineers receive higher than average salaries. They also receive other benefits which usually exceed what the average Joe might get.
Then there is the amount of opportunities. For Software Engineers, you are really spoilt for choice. If one ship goes down then you can just jump onto the next one.
There is always someone with money who wants to make more money and thinks Software Engineers can help them achieve that.
My point is, there are plenty of upsides to being a Software Engineer in 2024.
However, Productivity Does Kill Something
By going faster and faster we are losing something in the process. This is the time to sit and wonder. The time to let our thoughts roam around and grow ever expansive to allow us to think of solutions and innovations we previously wouldn’t have discovered.
And before you tell me to be quiet and stop dreaming like a little boy, hear me out.
There are plenty of exceptions in history where when people, whose work was to use their minds, were given time and space to work they produced remarkable results.
Take Albert Einstein for example, who formulated the theory of relativity in 1905, worked a steady job as a patent clerk and had plenty of time to let his mind wonder and come up with many a thought experiment.
Another example is Ada Lovelace, the English mathematician who is often considered the first computer programmer. She grew up in an environment which afforded her time and space to come up with ideas far ahead of her time such as the first algorithm designed specifically to be processed by a machine.
Whilst these examples may be a little lofty and extreme, they do quite clearly show what a mind is capable of if it is allowed a little time and space to explore and play.
Introducing Time & Space Into The Day
I realise that most Software Engineers are not going to be coming up with the next evolution in computer programming. Most of us are working from a Jira Board and doing smallish tasks required as they fall onto our desk.
But we have reached a point where we are so consumed by ‘Getting things done’ that we don’t take a moment to pause and reflect. To try out a new idea. To spend an afternoon exploring a whim and going down a rabbit hole.
To do such things feels almost scandalous when you have a ToDo list 5 miles long. But I would argue that these activities are the ones that bring so much value over the long run. With 80% of Software Engineers being unhappy at the moment something is obviously broken.
Conclusion
Software Engineering is a strange career in some respects. On the one hand it enables many people to do what they love everyday of the week and get handsomely rewarded for it.
On the other hand Software Engineers are a means to an end. They are generally hired to turn someone else’s vision into reality. They are put under a great amount of stress to get things done and they spend the large part of their day stuck in their heads. Which for any human being is not easy.
The current obsession in society with productivity is really unhealthy and it’s especially pronounced in Software Engineering where you have people who pride themselves on finding quicker and easier ways to do things. Getting to a destination quicker does not make you any happier. If anything it’s worse as you didn’t enjoy the journey and now you have to go on another one.
Subscribe to My Weekly Updates!
Enjoyed This Post?
If you found this blog post helpful, why not stay updated with my latest content? Subscribe to receive email notifications every time I publish. New posts go live every Monday at 8:30 AM Central European Time.
What You’ll Get
By subscribing, you’ll get:
- Exciting Discoveries: Be the first to know about the latest tools and libraries.
- How-To Guides: Step-by-step articles to enhance your development skills.
- Opinion Pieces: Thought-provoking insights into the world of frontend development.
Join Our Community
I live in the vibrant city of Prague, Czech Republic, with my family. My blog is more than just articles; it’s a community of like-minded developers who share a love for innovation and learning.
About me
I’m a passionate Frontend Developer specialising in React and TypeScript. My professional journey revolves around exploring and mastering new tools and libraries within the JavaScript ecosystem.
Check out the original blog post on my blog.
Check out my LinkedIn and Github if you are interested.
Then other thoughts come along… ‘What if I did less?’. ‘Would anyone really notice?’. ‘What would it change anyway?’.
