I see this kind of rhetoric often, whether at work or here on HN. I think some important factors are typically left out, however:
1. Business value isn’t always a measure of coding velocity. Interruptions are often gifts in disguise.
2. The ability to work in a way that allows for interruption is a skill that can be learned.
As a younger programmer who loved nothing more than to sling vast amounts of code, interruptions were killers. Over the years I’ve learned to recognize interruptions as opportunities to re-assess my priorities. I’ve also learned to write code in a way that reduces cognitive load so that interruptions aren’t so disruptive to my productivity.
I’m not going to try and say these are universal principles or that any business can apply them, but as highly skilled workers I think this is an area where we tend to put in relatively little effort to overcome obstacles.
1. Business value isn’t always a measure of coding velocity. Interruptions are often gifts in disguise.
2. The ability to work in a way that allows for interruption is a skill that can be learned.
As a younger programmer who loved nothing more than to sling vast amounts of code, interruptions were killers. Over the years I’ve learned to recognize interruptions as opportunities to re-assess my priorities. I’ve also learned to write code in a way that reduces cognitive load so that interruptions aren’t so disruptive to my productivity.
I’m not going to try and say these are universal principles or that any business can apply them, but as highly skilled workers I think this is an area where we tend to put in relatively little effort to overcome obstacles.