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Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

contextkeeper.io

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Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#11

Post by 908B64B197 »

danginmytoliet wrote: post #5

[flagged]

> From a risk management perspective, why would I hire a programmer and pay them 200k a year when they cannot handle basic communication without becoming unproductive?

Do you actually hire programmers (people just transforming detailed spec into code) at 200K/y? Or do you hire Engineers for 200K + Stock to transform uncertain requirements and constraints into a working solution? If the former, you are overpaying a lot.

> Are humans still necessary when robots are able to understand humans and become fluent ESLs?

Does such a robot exists?

Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#12

Post by properparity »

danginmytoliet wrote: post #5

[flagged]

If an AI is ever capable of replacing a human programmer it would also be capable of replacing a manager and running its own company.

So why would you even be in a position to hire anyone?

In fact why are you working at all? The robots are doing everything already. Just sit back and relax, enjoy the matrix.

Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#13

Post by dmcq2 »

At a job I had they wanted me to install an instant messaging app on my compute! I refused point blank. I said they could email me and I'd look at he email every so often. If it was really important they could get up and walk to see me. If it wasn't important enough for others to walk then it definitely wasn't important enough to interrupt me. Before that I was at a place where they had tannoys. I moved the tannoys away from me but they were still annoying. I tried showuing that they were losing the place millions. It would have been far cheaper to have somebody employed to walk around looking for people. They only got rid of them when marketing got in and the first thing they said was to et rid of the tannoy.

Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#14

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

danginmytoliet wrote: post #5

[flagged]

Would you fire a brain surgeon if he's not willing to stop and provide a consult while he's operating? There's even robots who are equally as capable of surgery as AI are of software development.

Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#15

Post by jrockway »

dpkirchner wrote: post #3

ContextKeeper sounds interesting. Can anyone here recommend a similar extension for VSCode? Ideally would offer a way to stash and unstash code and tab metadata (cursor position, undo state, etc) with one IDE keystroke.

This sounds very similar to Emacs's desktop-mode.

Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#16

Post by MH15 »

asdff wrote: post #9

If I know I am going to have my day broken into sub 1hr chunks thanks to meetings and such, I pretty much write off the day entirely. It takes time to get into the flow state, some studies cite over 20 minutes, and once you are in it you want to stay in it for like four hours. No emails to follow up with, no slack, no zooms, no one tapping your shoulder, no conversations about the weekend distracting you on the perip…

Having tmux sessions for each open task is a life-saver, especially in an environment where I do all my work on a remote server. Now I can close the laptop lid and never lose work. Simply reopen the ssh connection and keep going.

Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#17

Post by zwieback »

My code editing style definitely has changed since the 90s when one-file-at-a-time without Intellisense was the norm. Jumping to compile errors was about the only automated thing.

Now I just expect my IDEs, be it VS, VSCode, Eclipse to do a lot of heavy lifting for me.

I wonder, though, whether I was more disciplined and kept a lot more context in my head back in those days. I'm also a lot older so I really don't want to go back to the old days.

Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#18

Post by asdff »

MH15 wrote: post #16
asdff wrote: post #9

If I know I am going to have my day broken into sub 1hr chunks thanks to meetings and such, I pretty much write off the day entirely. It takes time to get into the flow state, some studies cite over 20 minutes, and once you are in it you want to stay in it for like four hours. No emails to follow up with, no slack, no zooms, no one tapping your shoulder, no conversations about the weekend distracting you on the perip…

Having tmux sessions for each open task is a life-saver, especially in an environment where I do all my work on a remote server. Now I can close the laptop lid and never lose work. Simply reopen the ssh connection and keep going.

Its especially helpful for stuff where I haven't touched it in a while too. One alias and boom, I'm back in a session with a pane with my editor open, a pane with the log, a pane with some notes, and a pane with the shell displaying the last line of code I ran from when I was last working on this pet project over six months ago. Right where I left everything and I can jump back in as if I was working on it an hour ago.

Re: Programmer interrupted: The cost of interruption and context switching (2022)

#20

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

Sadly, the cost of context switching is well-known, and has been proven, over and over again, for decades.

But managers don't care (and many co-workers also).

A quick shufti at most modern open-plan offices, shows the contempt that managers have for developer context. They know better, and have made the conscious decision to go open, anyway.

I remember visiting the Facebook/Instagram building, in NYC, and was aghast at the huge, noisy, crowded office. I would not be able to get any work done, in that environment.

I'm grateful to be in a position, where I work alone (mostly), as I can keep all those balls in the air, and the difference in productivity is amazing.

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