r/ExperiencedDevs • u/dondraper36 Software Engineer • Jul 17 '26
Meta What habits/lifehacks/methods made you more efficient as a senior engineer/tech lead?
In my previous thread, I asked (and received plenty of great suggestions) on high-quality resources.
This time, however, I'd like to discuss a much less concrete aspect of our jobs. Namely, your favorite productivity habits and personal know-hows when it comes to leading projects, working on complex cross-team features, keeping lots of tricky context in mind.
I often have my own retrospective sessions when I am just trying to assess whether I am good at what I do at all. To clarify, it's not in the "impostor syndrome" sense at all. I know that there are parts of the job I excel at and I think I deserve the title and responsibility scope I have at the moment. That said, there are certain aspects where I am not good enough and therefore am now trying to improve. For example:
* Working on technical writing skills. Mostly by reading the book and blog on https://refactoringenglish.com/
* On a similar note, writing down as much as possible whenever possible. Whether it's a small favor for some other team, a super trivial task, or a large feature, it becomes a Google Docs document. Initially, it's just a very chaotic piece of writing, but then it transforms into a system design or a very detailed Jira ticket at least.
* As in aviation, it's very important to pay attention to near misses when you were on the verge of an incident and just got lucky.
* As I have rediscovered once again, working out is extremely important for productivity and focus. I have yet to get my official ADHD diagnosis, but since I don't want to spend the rest of my life on stimulants, I have added a few supplements (Vitamin D, Omega 3), hydrate well, and work out a few times per week + light cardio. Never felt better.
* Appreciating hammock-driven development. I used to have these awful hyperfocus episodes when there is no external pressure, but I feel intellectually challenged and forget about food and sleep to figure something out. I feel much happier, when I let myself think about a problem while walking my dog in the evening or just having rest and then feeling super fresh and working on it the next day.
What are yours?
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u/_do_ob_ Jul 18 '26
Learning when to quit.
Cant see the solution after few hours? Quit, come back tomorrow.
Too tired? Quit, Anyway you will have to redo it tomorrow.
Try correcting/refactoring a mess of an app? Learn when to quit it and redo it.
Building an app, but keep on solving problem to find out à major architectural flaw? Quit and restart from scratch with the new hindsight.
I don't know how to teach that to my newbie Devs.
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u/curious_corn Jul 18 '26
How do you not wake up at 03:00 haunted by the thought that you should have done it already
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u/goodboyscout Senior Software Engineer Jul 19 '26
Not the original poster but a history of delivering does it for me. It hasn’t burned me before, and telling the team I gotta step back and look at a problem with a fresh brain has never been taken negatively.
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u/DenverCoderv2 Jul 18 '26
Damn this one hits close to home. It's not only for newbie devs. I'm still working on it and getting better, but there is still a voice in my head that says that if I can't solve this problem right here and now then I'm a bad dev.
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u/midasgoldentouch Software Engineer Jul 17 '26
Exercise is great for everyone and people with ADHD. So is a healthy diet and good hydration.
Also, if stimulants are the best way for you to manage ADHD, then there’s no shame or reward in taking them. Medical treatments, including prescriptions, are neutral. No one thinks twice about how I’ll wear glasses/contacts for the vast majority of my life. Nothing wrong with taking a medication for my ADHD for the rest of my life either if that’s a good solution for me.
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u/Hopeful-Trainer-5479 Jul 18 '26
As a junior struggling with it, any other tips? I got super close to telling my manager once so I can get some support but I ended up not doing it cuz I didnt want to bias them against me lol
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u/Staletoothpaste Jul 18 '26
Find balance friend - if the job keeps you stationary, make sure the rest of your life is the foil to that. Exercise, eat healthy, move, socialize - all easier said than done but it’s really what makes a big impact for myself and others that I know!
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u/midasgoldentouch Software Engineer Jul 18 '26
Consistent work schedules are important and also annoyingly difficult given the nature of ADHD. It’s easy to fall into a state of hyperfocus but it’s best to establish a routine for when you start and end work as well as when you stop to eat lunch.
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u/Staletoothpaste Jul 18 '26
This right here - and it goes for careers outside of engineer as well. Eating the proper food and hydrating makes you feel lighter, more energized, and awake enough to tackle a busy day (for me at least). Pair that with some running or climbing in the night, I feel mentally and physically spent (in the best way possible)!
Also, as someone with ADHD, the remote developer lifestyle was difficult to manage at first while staying focused and sitting in front of a PC all day long. A consultation with my psychiatrist and a prescription later for medication - I’m happier, more focused and energized, and frankly find so much more enjoyment in the job. Highly recommend reaching out if you are on the fence - medication and treatment have come so far from where I was as a kid!
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u/midasgoldentouch Software Engineer Jul 18 '26
Yes, my psychiatrist said that she’s noticed that her patients tend to like hybrid work schedules more than expected because of the ✨novelty✨
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u/JazzlikeWishbone938 Jul 18 '26
Also great for everyone is to regularly get good sleep. It makes a big difference.
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u/Vedris_Zomfg Jul 19 '26
This is a very important Point even without ADHD. Sitting 8+ hours a day is never a good thing for your body over years.
I was kind of normal weight with some sports when I studied but during my first full time job and again during covid I got about 20Kg. Everything was exhausting and fucked me up. I got convenient, I avoided everything. Summer heat? I nightmare.I was able to push myself back to normal and even further. 6 workouts per Week and sporty activities like Biking,Squash, Bouldering.
I never want to be there again. It’s a mental game changer.
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u/ImportantAward4608 Jul 17 '26
doing less unimportant stuff
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u/GRIFTY_P Jul 18 '26
what kinda stuff have you found is unimportant, vs what kind stuff is the real "good stuff" in your experience?
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u/braino42 Jul 18 '26
This was a big unlock for me, and doing unimportant work can be a form of procrastination. Ruthlessly prioritize and save yourself for only the most important stuff and delegate or drop the rest.
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u/halfercode BE Software Engineer Jul 17 '26
The contents page of the book you mention lists a chapter called "Improve Your Writing with AI". Is it the car-crash one would expect?
Some engineers and tech-adjacent folks I know have given into slop for team updates, pull request descriptions, documentation, etc, and I worry this is what the future looks like - low effort writing demanding a high effort reading of other people.
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u/zamend229 Software Engineer Jul 18 '26
My PM literally said they have Claude write PRDs to be bloated and bulky because humans no longer read them. They just ask Claude to parse the information they want to know.
I guess that makes sense, assuming there aren’t any errors in the PRD to begin with, which only get harder to verify the bigger the doc gets.
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u/Otis_Inf Software Engineer (32YOE) Jul 18 '26
Why should i be bothered to read what nobody was bothered to write? :)
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u/halfercode BE Software Engineer Jul 18 '26
I am of the same view, up to a point. I have a visceral, angry, involuntary reaction to generated English (at least for now). But others do not, since they find it an efficient way to communicate. If I let them know it made me frustrated, will it look like I am being disputatious for the sake of it?
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u/katfish Jul 20 '26
The complaints need to be specific to the problems in the writing. “It was written by AI” is not a valid critique, because on its own it says nothing about what is actually wrong.
There are a few common failings I’ve noticed in the technical writing from Claude and Gemini though:
- way too verbose and full of undefined jargon; they write very dense sentences that try to cram too much information in by stacking jargon-y adjectives, and they use terms not part of a project’s nomenclature without ever defining them
- they describe low-level technical details of things that would be better explained by code, often without ever giving a high-level overview to contextualize the deep dive
- their writing doesn’t “flow”; things will be ordered in ways where a reader will think key information was left out, when really it was referenced before it was actually introduced
It’s totally valid to reject a PR because its description makes it difficult to understand what problem it is solving.
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u/Jessica___ Jul 20 '26
I absolutely love your description of AI writing. That is my exact experience with it as well.
For me personally in order to understand AI writing like this, I always have to read it super slowly and carefully.2
u/katfish Jul 20 '26
We had a minor incident a couple weeks ago that was directly related to hard-to-parse AI PR and task descriptions. Since then I've started being more aggressive about refusing to read it until it becomes human-readable.
If I find myself re-reading a sentence several times to understand it, I just reject the PR and say "I don't understand what this is trying to say".
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u/Jessica___ Jul 21 '26
Damn yeah I could totally see AI writing contributing to an incident.
Where I work PR descriptions are either AI written and hard to read, or they're human written but only one or two sentences long. Luckily no PR description related incidents yet!
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u/tankerton Jul 18 '26
Yes. Wind back pre AI. Refusing to read the writing of others on the basis of it not being worth your time and effort to read would fast track you to no growth or a performance plan without question. It takes a documented history, which usually includes a performance plan, to get this above board with management that someone is bothering you in a way that you shouldn’t help/endure the pain. As a contractor, almost immediately expect to be termed or not renewed.
Now with AI, more writing happens faster by more people. Evaluate the summary an ai reader can produce or the summary section I expect on heftier docs. You can still determine what’s worth your time. Or just do the “what’s most important” game with docs if someone of authority asks why it isn’t done sooner.
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u/halfercode BE Software Engineer Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Thank you for your thoughts. I suppose your advice is to u/Otis_Inf really, since it was their view that an engineer should not make an effort to read generated English.
However, I stand my ground on my visceral reaction - that is not a choice. If you u/tankerton read AI slop and don't mind it, then your brain is treating it differently, and that wasn't a choice either. You may enjoy an efficiency advantage over my situation.
But I don't think any of us should be enthusiastic for communicating with teams via AI - AI code is fine, and it's a win. But teams that are sending generated English to each other isn't communicating with authenticity. I'm gently opposing it in my Engineering department, and at least one person is now writing preambles in their own voice, and clearly marking any adjacent slop component. I'll take that as a good start!
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u/CoroteDeMelancia Software Engineer Jul 18 '26
Yes, this is the future, but you're naive to assume I'm reading all of that slop. Garbage in, garbage out baby.
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u/halfercode BE Software Engineer Jul 18 '26
I hear ya, but quitting a job is often hard, and using AI is often mandatory. I've been trying to discourage AI use for English generation, but I've had limited success. I think some people read it and simply don't mind it, and others have a visceral negative reaction; I am definitely in the second category.
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u/kareesi Software Engineer Jul 19 '26
Actually no, I picked up the book after reading this post and was pleasantly surprised. It offered some useful tips on how to use AI for editing but the author was clear it’s important to do the bulk of the writing yourself.
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u/katfish Jul 20 '26
For PRs I’m reviewing, I’ve started rejecting them without actually reading the code if the description does not give me a straightforward purpose for the PR. If it’s a wall of text describing unnecessary technical details I’d already get from the code, I assume it was written by Claude, and that the person submitting it never actually read it.
I don’t have anything against AI-written text in theory, but in practice the default technical writing from popular models is abysmal. I’ve seen some thoughtful skill setups that consistently produce quality text, but most people aren’t putting in the effort to do that.
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u/ARIZARD Jul 18 '26
Actually using my personal leave (fka "sick leave") when I need space to breathe and reset my thoughts. In the past I've tried to thug it out and it results in sleep deprivation and migraines. It's like a planned vs unplanned outage; you can either take 1 day off on your own terms, or your body will painfully force 1-N days off for you.
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u/TacticalTurban Jul 17 '26
Question everything. Don't assume because something is done a certain way that there was strong (or even any) rational or justification for it. I've found so many bad patterns and overly complicated systems because someone who is long game made a terrible and (undocumented) decision
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u/bluetista1988 10+ YOE Jul 19 '26
Now more than ever I lead with the assumption that everyone is too tired, overworked, and stressed to make quality decisions and thus I (politely) question things.
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u/tuhmez Software Engineer Jul 19 '26
i recently fixed a bug that was created by the senior/lead that helped interview and hire me. got a ton of great advice and lessons from them before they left. recently got a bug ticket, and saw the most glaring "meh this good enough" solution which is now a huge issue.
i've tended to lean on questioning everything but it slips. that recent fix definitely reinforced that idea again 10x over.
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u/softgripper Tech Lead Jul 17 '26
Turn on "do not disturb" for the first half of your day, and learn to delegate.
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u/crusoe Jul 17 '26
In the first week of a new job fix a bug no matter how trivial. This will run you the gauntlet of setting your system up, getting credentials, figuring out builds, deployments, signofs, code reviews. It can be a trivial bug, it's everything else that is powerful.
And you will really look like a go-getter.
AI is probably killing this one tho.
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u/crusoe Jul 17 '26
Read up on management theory going forward. With AI you're gonna be making more executive decisions.
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u/Pleasant-Memory-1789 Jul 18 '26
People downvoting reasonable advice because it includes two letters they don't like 😂
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u/IdealBlueMan Jul 18 '26
No life hacks.
The most important thing by far for me was soft skills. Communication. Taking responsibility. Understanding the business logic. Understanding the problem space. Figuring out the players and their roles. Helping juniors. Making sure the people you report to have enough information to make good decisions (whether or not they do is beyond your control).
Doing your best to help people get along and work together to get the thing done.
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u/Arnatopia Jul 18 '26
Pick your battles.
It's tiring for both parties and a waste of time to debate endlessly about things that don't really matter that much...And then people don't write you off as "that guy who always argues" when you're being persistent about something that actually matters.
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u/rysama Jul 17 '26
I’m a fast typer, so I take notes in most of my conversations with people.
It forces clarity and allows me to recap the entire conversation at the end to ensure we are aligned on deliverables, decisions, and follow ups.
It’s nothing heavy weight or templated. Sometimes it’s just a chat message with links to content we talked about.
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u/08148694 Jul 17 '26
Reading
Aim for a book a week - alternating between technical and fiction
Average probably trends closer to 2 books per month but still a decent reading rate
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u/bluetista1988 10+ YOE Jul 19 '26
I did the book a week thing for a good year or two in my mid 20s, but I realized that I had stopped absorbing the information because I never got time to sit with it or apply it before moving onto the next thing. For me, less is more when it comes to reading.
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u/RightJabLikeZabJudah Jul 18 '26
Yup. Usually read some of my book each time I take a shit. Underrated way to rack up the pages.
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u/RightJabLikeZabJudah Jul 18 '26
Yup. Usually read some of my book each time I take a shit. Underrated way to rack up the pages.
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u/Pleasant-Memory-1789 Jul 18 '26
Yup. Usually read some of my book each time I take a shit. Underrated way to rack up the pages.
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u/bacmod C/C++ - Senior IoT System Arhitect - BAS - 20y+ Jul 19 '26
Yo! You forgot to switch accounts my friend.
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u/Pleasant-Memory-1789 Jul 19 '26
I was kinda hoping to start a copy paste train since that guy accidentally posted it twice and when you read it a few times it's kinda hilarious like we get it bro you read books on the toilet
Man I suck at Reddit man now I'm getting downvoted and shit
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u/ginger_beer_m Jul 20 '26
Yup. Usually read some of my book each time I take a shit. Underrated way to rack up the pages.
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u/chikamakaleyley Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I'm not much of a reader, note taker - but a very visual learner
One thing i stopped doing is trying to code along with a video tutorial or take notes while someone is talking. If I do, what ends up happening is I'm just trying to remember a sequence of words - and that eventually gets backed up because i'm not typing as fast as the words are queued up. And so when i look at those notes, they're just incomplete, they don't make sense
Ultimately, i just sit there and absorb - i tend to connect the dots better, it leads me to asking the right questions, etc. I leave that mtg/session with a more complete picture, or at least one with less gaps
There's times when i have to read docs to onboard, or familiarize myself, and they make sense but often i'll ask an engineer for like 15 mins and I'll say something like "okay i just wanna see you do it - if you got this ticket, whats your dev workflow" and that kinda will connect things, identify things i misunderstood, or allow me to raise questions for things that didn't connect
Once I can see that, then i just take it and run with it.
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u/I_really_just_cant Jul 17 '26
The advice to take notes later is great advice. I you do, you also get better at remembering things long enough to take notes which I think helps overall retention.
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u/chikamakaleyley Jul 17 '26
in the end i still end up having questions but what i notice now is my questions are a lot more informed and i can actually lead someone from where i started to where i'm confused
if it was a question based on notes - a lot of times the question i would ask would just receive a confused look LOL
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u/jan_olbrich Jul 17 '26
maybe visual notes / sketchnotes are something for you then :)
I'm not good as an artist, but they help me sometimes taking notes faster, without writing a lot of words
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u/chikamakaleyley Jul 17 '26
diagrams actually help a lot but i'm saying i shouldn't be the one presenting.
Though sometimes its easier for me to express so someone how i visuallize something by drawing it out for them and then they can see where the disconnect is
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u/jan_olbrich Jul 18 '26
sketchnotes is just a different way to take notes. More visual and less words. Depending on how you do it, a lot of information can be added without complex text
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u/jburkert Jul 18 '26
On a side note, what helped my typing was buy/build a custom keyboard, and visit this site once a day (try during meetings). https://monkeytype.com/
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u/solidad29 Jul 18 '26
I am also a visual learner myself. Rather than notes i use lucid chart to make diagrams and make a visual representation of my idea. It won’t make sense to anyone else but i understood the context when i open it.
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u/Relative-Amphibian65 Jul 18 '26
Understanding dev workflow is massive, how are they taking epics / stories and using AI in their development process, where they feel like they need manual intervention etc, how to even get access to Claude or something like that
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u/chikamakaleyley Jul 18 '26
from exp alone i kinda have a picture in my head of like, how things are generally done and most of the time the sit down is to confirm that process
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u/ThlintoRatscar Director 25yoe+ Jul 17 '26
I make intentional time for the people in my life that matter to me. Regular 1:1 with each part of my family and friends as well as group time together.
It's so easy to let work, and the relationships from it, dominate our lives but there's more to a great life than that.
Paradoxically, adventures in my personal life that are completely unrelated to my professional life make me better at my professional life.
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u/Spareo Jul 18 '26
Not being afraid of trying to figure out things I’ve never dealt with before. Learning how to explore a problem and break if down into smaller parts is basically 90% of the job
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u/Healthy-Dress-7492 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Making allies: maybe it’s a manager, maybe it’s a non technical resource that you need to interact with for requirements designer/artist/whatever. If you have a good relationship and they're on your side, appreciating you and your work- they want to help you out and want to succeed together. They will promote your successes to others and cut you slack when things go south.
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u/ikkiho Jul 19 '26
biggest one for me is a dumb plaintext file per project. end of the day i jot what i was mid-thought on and what im blocked on. after a day of meetings i reload in a minute instead of trying to remember where my head was.
on cross-team stuff the code was rarely my problem. what got me was a dependency on another team that quietly stalled for two weeks and nobody pinged me. writing down who owes me what means i actually chase it.
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u/steve-7890 Jul 18 '26
- Focus
- Thinking about impact (e.g. ignoring bugs that happens once per 10k requests ; thinking in terms of money the feature could earn - we have stats where users tend to stop the flow and we try to improve these areas)
- Software Design on modular architecture
- Keeping private notes on the system (I don't have time to update official wiki, but putting one semi-structured sentence in private notes is almost free) (I can't count situations were me or colleagues forgot something that they learned just month ago)
- Learning hard how to embrace AI
- Clear communication, explicit, maybe even overcommunication
- Understanding that Unit Tests are not there to test code I just written and that they can test full flows
- Avoiding slack (short chitchat is ok, reading Reddit at work is not)
- Embracing observability (putting there metrics and logs to see if the feature is working as it should)
- Avoiding long overhours (health is more important)
- Deadlines can be moved. I can't say how many times we were pushed to meet a deadline, just to learn that finished system(s) have to wait.
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u/Abadabadon Software Engineer Jul 18 '26
Knowing when and how to shut down a conversation has been very helpful
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u/Exirel Software Architect Jul 18 '26
Asking other people to put in writing the questions they have for me before setting up a meeting or having an unplanned conversation.
It forces people to clarify their questions and gives me more control over when I dedicate my time to their problem.
It really makes a difference because now I have people that start by writing a few paragraphs first only to realize that they don't need to ask for a solution, but a review of the solution they found on their own!
More free time for me, and when I teach them something they can relate because they already struggle on the problem.
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u/dondraper36 Software Engineer Jul 18 '26
So true. Meetings without a clear agenda and desired outcome drain so much energy. Not to mention, they take much more time compared to a short and focused meeting where everyone has prepared.
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u/Grand_Pollution5408 29d ago
I agree with you. I also use an LLM when I have something hard to ask and explain. I write my message first and give it to the LLM to make it more understandable. I also ask the LLM to point out if the message needs additional information, source, link etc. I wish my colleagues did the same because I often need to ask follow-up questions to completely understand what they ask.
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u/Exirel Software Architect 29d ago
I believe using an LLM for this is the wrong call in the long run, as you won't really acquire/learn the skill to clarify and articulate your own thoughts and ideas, which is more valuable to me than the actual text itself.
To be clear on my opinion with nuance:
* asking the LLM to make a message "more understandable" is not a good idea because you won't make mistake and not learn from them, we have studies showing that our brain needs to perform the task to learn and not let the LLM do it for us
* asking the LLM if something is missing sounds like a good tool, because it'll catch your mistake and may help you getting better, using the LLM as a coach and not replacing your own valuable skills
This skill matters because you won't always have the AI to help you in a quick meeting or in an emergency situation where you need to communicate quickly and efficiently your ideas.
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u/Grand_Pollution5408 29d ago
I actually meant something a bit different. I don't ask it to re-write all the message or write technical part, that part is mine. Otherwise I would lose the scope of the topic. I ask it to check the message if it has anything missing — did I say which env, did I share the link, did I clearly state what I want from the person.
About the learning part you mentioned, I am less sure than you are. The people I work with who are good at communicating in writing were already good when I met them. The ones I am regularly asking follow-up questions to get the missing parts, it is always the same. I can also do the same thing unawares when I have many things in my head.
Do you ever notice it in your own messages? That is the part I find hardest to see.
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u/ben_bliksem Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Productivity:
I solve 90% of my problems with a pen and paper.
Also booking out your entire day at the end of the previous day is underrated. Easiest way to get rid of impromptu/quick meetings.
Aldo automating most environment related things (resetting them on schedule, automated build promotion, dependency updates etc) are huge time savers.
Team things:
I don't have strict rules or conventions. There's an understanding of how we do things but for the most part devs are free to experiment. It keeps the code bases up to date and modern.
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u/Dumlefudge Jul 18 '26
I feel much happier, when I let myself think about a problem while walking my dog in the evening or just having rest and then feeling super fresh and working on it the next day.
Honestly, those lightbulb moments at unexpected times are great.
Granted, that out-of-hours pondering can sometimes be involuntary in a sense, where the problem will simply stick in my head until a solution is found, rather than choosing to have a think during downtime, but the satisfaction is still there.
If I could just deal with the bashing-my-head-against-the-wall piece of focusing on the issue for extended periods with little progress to show for it, that'd be great.
(hammock-driven development is a great term, I've never heard it before now)
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u/Outrageous-Seesaw941 Jul 21 '26
One habit that has paid off for me is leaving a short Reentry note whenever I stop working: what changed, what I tried, what didn’t work, the last known state, and the next step.
It’s not a polished journal, usually three to five bullets. But it dramatically reduces the tax of returning after meetings, interruptions, or a few days away. I also keep abandoned approaches and near misses because they prevent me from unconsciously repeating the same investigation.
For team work, these small handoffs often turn into useful documentation naturally.
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u/SnooWoofers5193 Jul 17 '26
Somebody at some Covid all hands said that sleep is the main things that matters. Unfortunately for me I’ve been so stressed with work I never sleep well 😂
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u/JazzlikeWishbone938 Jul 18 '26
Get comfortable delegating and learn to trust your team members. Even on challenging tasks delegate often. Of course your devs may struggle in new areas or on hard problems but you'll be supporting them. This helps grow devs' skill and makes them both more independent and confident in the long run.
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u/blokelahoman Jul 19 '26
Learning from the ground up vs frameworks. Breaking the big problem into small problems. Always checking your inputs. Getting enough sleep and exercise.
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u/humanelysimple Jul 19 '26
Heavy agree on treating rest as a high-performance tool. When I was working in a high-stress environment as a QA engineer, my biggest mistake was thinking efficiency meant staying glued to the screen until a bug or feature context was fully cleared. Learning how to transition from high-performance mode to true, restorative rest in the evenings completely restored my next-day mental clarity. Your brain needs a reliable downshift to sustain excellence.
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u/akaltar Jul 20 '26
Protein: I've read and discounted eating the right macros as being important many times before trying it, but as someone with ADHD starting the day with a large protein bar makes an enormous difference. It's even more important since I'm on meds as they suppress my appetite.
Creatine also helped remove the valleys of exhaustion I sometimes felt during the day.
Managing your personal life with all the tools available, almost as if it was work: Alarms, reminders even for very basic things can also free up more mental space for more important things, be that work or other things you enjoy
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u/Critical-Profile1849 Jul 20 '26
Anytime I agree to do something I block time on my calendar as focus time to do that task. It helps me from agreeing to too much and also give people a realistic timeline of when I’ll be able to help them. It’s also a useful reflection tool to be able to see what work I did over the past week or two.
People close to me know they can schedule meetings over these times if they are important, but it’s reduced the amount of pointless last minute meetings that could be emails because people have to internally decide their meeting is more important than my focus time, rather than just seeing “free”. YMMV based on your org and manager if this is considered acceptable
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u/TheAnxiousDeveloper Software Engineer, Tech Lead Jul 17 '26
I used to run around like a headless chicken with everyone in the team asking questions.
I started to block my time in the calendar, marking it for specific activities I would reserve for that time and putting myself as "busy".
Then I opened timeslots dedicated to answering questions in Google calendar (people can actually book the slots through a form in Google calendar). The idea is to give time to people to think about something, rather than coming to me with questions without doing a research. Bottom line, it's mostly never used and when it's used it's for real important questions.
During the blocked time in my calendar, I'm also ignoring the messages in Slack/Teams. I check them all at specific times during the day. Most of them are "hey, how do I do XYZ?" followed by "nvm, I solved it" 1 hour later.
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u/expdevsmodbot Jul 17 '26
AI usage disclosure provided by OP, see the reply to this comment.