Ask HN: Tricks to integrate late coding session in current workflow?

We're under quite a lot of pressure lately to finish a project by the end of Feb. Probably like a lot of you guys, I'm at best when I'm "in the flow" which often leads me to code till 3 am - 4am.

The problem is that if in my early twenties I used to be able to recover over only a few hours sleep for the next day, it seems like it is impossible for me right now (early 30's).

1/ Do you have any tricks or tips to ease the recover and have a somehow normal day after a late coding session?

I know that this approach while somehow good for work purposes is disastrous for health on the long run so:

2/ What tricks/tips do you use during your working day to minimize interruptions (so you could go at least 1/2 way "in the flow") ?

Cheers!

1/

  - Intense workouts early in the day
  - A lot of water
  - Sunlight

  - Airplane mode
  - Batching email, IM, SMS, ..
  - Automate payments
  - It's ok to be late with administration sometimes

  - The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss [1]
  - Getting Things Done by David Allen [2]
  - Rework by Jason Fried [3]

edit: added Rework

Solid advice. Your body learns from your habits and exercise is a great way to teach it when it needs to be awake.

Another trick is regularized sleeping patterns. I had sleeping issues when I was a teenager and had some "soft" sleeping therapy. The most important thing I learned is: don't aim for a certain amount of hours, aim for specific times. E.g. Go to bed at midnight sharp and wake up at 7AM, come hell or high water. If you do stay up late, wake up at your usual time so as to not throw your clock off any more than it already has been.

Finally, if you are sleep deprived you are stupid. You're doing everyone a disservice by being that "hero" that pulls an all-nighter. Get your regular sleep and carry on with the task tomorrow: you'll finish it faster and do a better job of it.

To make this situation worse, our office is very over-crowded. It's hard for me to see how anyone gets anything done.

But, we have meetings the devs need to be at. Project scoping, standups with the stakeholders, etc. Plus, major architecture decisions are made in person. So, we have a pretty strict "work from home only twice per week" rule.

How do I let this developer work when he is at his best, without excluding him from critical decisions? And, how do I encourage him to work at his best, without encouraging the lower-performing members to see it as an opportunity to slack off?

Seems like (a) if you focus on results rather than appearances, there won't be a problem with lower-performing members getting the wrong idea, and (b) sounds like you have a lot of meetings: are they really all as necessary as you think they are?