Useful skills for developers not related to programming

So I’ve been working as a developer for a short time and realized that just knowing “how to code” is not enough. Very often I found my self in a situation on which I could have used more self management to do better designs and/or be more efficient. So far I’ve learned to keep ideas ordered using spreadsheets, tracking my time and trying to give a better use to scrum cards, but I was wondering if lainons could share some of their “self-management” skills or experiences where you gained a useful skill not related to coding. Or maybe is it something that can only be gained by experience? Pic somewhat related.

It's important to keep some kind of roadmap or checklist so you can keep track of progress on whatever it is you're making. I use a half-assed sort-of-kanban system in org-mode, where I have one big checklist tree as my "Todo" section and a "Doing" list of items copied from said list, then as I finish items I just check them off in the Todo tree and move the item from Doing to Done. Reason behind using a tree is so that I can easily break down a task into smaller ones, that way things feel less daunting and I can better plan how I'm going to accomplish it. I like to use the pomodoro technique for time management. Without it, I tend to just think "okay I'll work on my project," then two hours pass and I haven't done a damn thing because I let myself get distracted. With it, I look at my timer and go "alright, I'm going to do this item on the list, I have 25 minutes to do as much as I can, and I'm not going to do anything else until that time is up." Then 25 minutes pass and I've either gotten it done or at least made progress towards it.

>>21141 I have been using toggl to keep track of the time elapsed, but using pomodoros seems like a good supplement to that. Indeed getting distracted is one of my most frequent faults. Thank you anon.

>keep ideas ordered using spreadsheets Is this 1985?

Personally, I hate having to use kanban boards (trello) because i can keep track of everything in my head, I mostly work on my own, and it's such a waste of time just to keep the bosses and managers happy. I also hate slack, if it's an important request use email, which is easy to keep an archive of.

>>21150 I find with Kanban and Jira style boards I often end up splitting work into soykafty subdivisions that are actively to the detriment of the project just to keep managers happy. Sometimes that big chunk of work just is a big atomic chunk of work rather than something that can split to something finer >I also hate slack, if it's an important request use email, which is easy to keep an archive of. Only thing I like about slack, teams and the similar 'enterprise' instant messaging platforms is that it creates a paper trail which previously wouldn't have existed because they would just walk over and talk to you instead of emailing. This means I have something to point to when people try to change their stories.

>>21140 I'd like to know myself. My disorder makes me exceptionally disorganized so any advice on how to get decent at this would be great.

>>21154 Begin with using org-mode or something like that. org-mode is to be organized, and it worked for me. Good luck

Design is important too. I like the 6 principles in Agile Patterns and Practices, as well as some of the patterns.

>>21154 org mode and org roam

>>21161 >>21155 i dont use emacs

>>21140 What do I do: >Journaling I have a "work journal", and after every thing I do, I write down what I did in 2-3 short sentences and write down what I am going to do next and what I want to do. This externalizing helps me immensely, even more than the "scrum" and whatever buzzword methods >timer script I wrote a small timer script that I can start with a shortcut key. I enter for example 20 minutes in which I am forced to work, even when I don't work I just stare at the code and think about what I want to do. then another 10 minute timer after that, during which I do everything else. Browse youtube, lainchan, read a book, whatever. I am very easily distracted an this helps a lot. I can totally recommend it. >keep my mail inbox empty probably more of a general thing, but yeah, that's it. One folder for "still important" mail, but everything that is answered or dealt with goes straight into the "archive" folder. an empty or almost empty inbox is so beautiful. >talk to people, a lot Project managers, colleagues, friends outside of work, people at the book store, whatever. Talking to people is important, especially when you're a shut-in programmer type that manages to not go outside for weeks. It's important, you degenerate if you don't do that. It doesn't have to be much, just regulary. Even some soykafty smalltalk will do. About organization systems: If you're chaotic by nature, stick to the most simple organizing system, even if it is just a piece of paper or a small journal. You're more likely to stick to it. Once you really built a habit over a few weeks (not days!!), it feels like second nature and you can use more complex method. but diving right into a complex organizing method will just lead to you stopping to use the method.

>>21164 org-mode can be thought of as an application in itself that just happens to run on top of emacs. For a long time, my primary editor was not emacs, but I still kept my personal journal in org documents, because I liked it that much.

>>21150 I can sympathize. Task allocation is pointless if it's just you in a corner. They should just let you update them with an email. At least making tasks is good practice, like how using version control on your own is helpful, but also prepares you to use version control while working with others, when version control is much more useful. Splitting a project into tasks that multiple people can work on without overlap is so very hard. There's never a guarantee the team members can spend their full time on the project or that the number of team members is optimal for the project. Even if many FOSS projects are developed by a small cabal, it's amazing that the existing community contributions exist at all.

>>21177 >timer script I'll add to this. Personally I split my timing between 3 states, active work, active leisure and passive time. Scrolling and watching 90's sci-fi are passive leisure while reading a book, playing a game or going on a walk is more active. I try to keep more of my down time on the active side and I've found that paying attention to that has me generally less "bored tired" at the end of the day if that makes sense. You still should have some passive time, but it shouldn't be taking up the bulk of your off hours. >talk to people, a lot I can say from experience, you degenerate faster than you might imagine and it takes a very long time to build back up.

>>24515 Are you saying we shouldn't talk to people or that we should?

>>24687 Oh, yeah that was a poor choice of quote wasn't it. Being able to socialize is a use it or lose it kind of thing.

>>21158 What do you mean? What 6 principles?