Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 23 posts

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#11

Post by atmosx »

zimpenfish wrote: post #5
t-rav wrote: post #3

I agree with your boss, 40h work weeks are the right way to do things. It's up to you to find the discipline to focus during the day to make it truly productive, not just feel productive. Finding a good workflow for what you do is the hard part. A good workflow will include timeboxed sessions between 50-90 minutes with regular breaks after each session to keep your mind fresh and focused. A lunch session away from th…

> messaging and social media [are] nasty distractions [that] will destroy productivity and focus I have talkative people behind me, CTO to my left (on the phone a fair bit), sysadmins to my right (frequently desk-meeting with people), and a row of project managers over the minimal partition. Trust me when I say that there are far bigger problems for some people's focus than messaging and social media.

Maybe you should try working remotely if that is a possibility.

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#12

Post by samizdatum »

markcmyers wrote: post #7

On your quiz, the average answer is "3-5 hours," and this squares with recent research suggesting that in an 8-hour day, mind workers are doing actual work about 3 1/2 hours on average. The rest of the day is spent on snacking, gossiping, Facebook, etc. I'm a highly motivated independent developer and writer, and I've been studying my own work habits to try to become more productive. I use toggl — https://www.toggl.c…

Sometimes, at the tail end of a day, I'll be sitting in front of my computer, with a clear idea of exactly what I need to do and how to do it... and yet I'm just sort of sitting there stupidly, because my brain feels fried. It's the same sensation you get when you crank out one too many reps at the gym- you're sending all the right signals, the nerves are firing, but your muscles just don't work.

When I get this fried brain feeling, I've found that eating something sugar-rich, like a piece of chocolate, can attenuate this feeling- not completely, but enough to get me out of the paralysis and started, at least. I don't know how much is placebo, but hey, it works, so I'm not complaining, and there seems to be at least some studies supporting the existence of similar effects.

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#13

Post by zimpenfish »

atmosx wrote: post #11
zimpenfish wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> messaging and social media [are] nasty distractions [that] will destroy productivity and focus I have talkative people behind me, CTO to my left (on the phone a fair bit), sysadmins to my right (frequently desk-meeting with people), and a row of project managers over the minimal partition. Trust me when I say that there are far bigger problems for some people's focus than messaging and social media.

Maybe you should try working remotely if that is a possibility.

It is but only really for 1 day a week at the moment.

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#15

Post by saluki »

Going back to your boss . . . not recommended . . .

y, most likely you're never going to convince your boss that you're only productive 3 or 4 hours per day . . . if anything you'll be bringing scrutiny on what you accomplish daily and possibly lower reviews/raises/advancement.

Very few companies are open to anything less than 40 hours per week or even 4 day work weeks.

I would put your efforts in to finding a company/boss that does or work on starting your own thing in your extra time.

Good luck in 2016, fight the good fights.

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#16

Post by cweagans »

zimpenfish wrote: post #5
t-rav wrote: post #3

I agree with your boss, 40h work weeks are the right way to do things. It's up to you to find the discipline to focus during the day to make it truly productive, not just feel productive. Finding a good workflow for what you do is the hard part. A good workflow will include timeboxed sessions between 50-90 minutes with regular breaks after each session to keep your mind fresh and focused. A lunch session away from th…

> messaging and social media [are] nasty distractions [that] will destroy productivity and focus I have talkative people behind me, CTO to my left (on the phone a fair bit), sysadmins to my right (frequently desk-meeting with people), and a row of project managers over the minimal partition. Trust me when I say that there are far bigger problems for some people's focus than messaging and social media.

A good, noise cancelling headset has been one of my best investments - and I'm not talking about one of the nice looking $50 models from Best Buy. I'm talking about something in the $200-300 price point - high end gaming headsets are particularly nice for a number of reasons, but anything will do.

It seems like a lot of money, but if it triples your productivity while in the office (and I'd recommend measuring it with something like RescueTime - if the headset doesn't help your productivity significantly, you can always return it), it's worth it.

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#17

Post by coderKen »

That depends on the kind of project you are working on, If you are highly motivated and the project is fun you may work for longer hours, my case I could go as long as 8hrs non-stop but if it's not as described above then 3hrs max.

Two years ago I experienced a burnout for the first time, for a 23-year old freelancer, I knew nothing about burnouts and thought I was severely depressed. My motivation level was 0.

So if your job is fun then you may find 8hrs a day not even enough, but it's not your fault, it's your employers.

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#18

Post by hanniabu »

samizdatum wrote: post #12
markcmyers wrote: post #7

On your quiz, the average answer is "3-5 hours," and this squares with recent research suggesting that in an 8-hour day, mind workers are doing actual work about 3 1/2 hours on average. The rest of the day is spent on snacking, gossiping, Facebook, etc. I'm a highly motivated independent developer and writer, and I've been studying my own work habits to try to become more productive. I use toggl — https://www.toggl.c…

Sometimes, at the tail end of a day, I'll be sitting in front of my computer, with a clear idea of exactly what I need to do and how to do it... and yet I'm just sort of sitting there stupidly, because my brain feels fried. It's the same sensation you get when you crank out one too many reps at the gym- you're sending all the right signals, the nerves are firing, but your muscles just don't work . When I get this fri…

> I'll be sitting in front of my computer, with a clear idea of exactly what I need to do and how to do it... and yet I'm just sort of sitting there stupidly, because my brain feels fried

Thank you for that comment, I thought this was just me....definitely makes me feel a little better

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#19

Post by hanniabu »

cweagans wrote: post #16
zimpenfish wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> messaging and social media [are] nasty distractions [that] will destroy productivity and focus I have talkative people behind me, CTO to my left (on the phone a fair bit), sysadmins to my right (frequently desk-meeting with people), and a row of project managers over the minimal partition. Trust me when I say that there are far bigger problems for some people's focus than messaging and social media.

A good, noise cancelling headset has been one of my best investments - and I'm not talking about one of the nice looking $50 models from Best Buy. I'm talking about something in the $200-300 price point - high end gaming headsets are particularly nice for a number of reasons, but anything will do. It seems like a lot of money, but if it triples your productivity while in the office (and I'd recommend measuring it wit…

Can confirm, always was skeptical when I heard people say this, but I borrowed my brothers for a week when he was on vacation and it was a game changer. Now I've become a proponent myself.

Re: Ask HN: Developers, how many hours do you feel you are productive in a day?

#20

Post by zimpenfish »

cweagans wrote: post #16
zimpenfish wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> messaging and social media [are] nasty distractions [that] will destroy productivity and focus I have talkative people behind me, CTO to my left (on the phone a fair bit), sysadmins to my right (frequently desk-meeting with people), and a row of project managers over the minimal partition. Trust me when I say that there are far bigger problems for some people's focus than messaging and social media.

A good, noise cancelling headset has been one of my best investments - and I'm not talking about one of the nice looking $50 models from Best Buy. I'm talking about something in the $200-300 price point - high end gaming headsets are particularly nice for a number of reasons, but anything will do. It seems like a lot of money, but if it triples your productivity while in the office (and I'd recommend measuring it wit…

I have in-ear Etymotics - they do an effective job of blocking most noise at a decent price point. But the combination of noises and movements and people banging laptops on the omnidesks and ... mean they're at best a limited stopgap.
Post reply on HN