The developer’s resistance, how changing our mindset makes us more productive
You begin working on your user story. You fix one issue. Then the next one seems tricky.
Maybe I need to listen to music to help…
We can get easily distracted. I know this firsthand.
Work is there. Of course, chatting with a co-worker or getting a cup of coffee is easier.
The Resistance
In the book, The War of Art author Steven Pressfield details the resistance. It affects all who create things.
Developers are creators. The work is in our heads. We experience resistance.
What is resistance? It is the voice that shares doubt. “This code won’t work.” “You can’t figure out this bug.”
“Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.” — Steven Pressfield
Pressfield shares a few things to help us overcome it.
Everyone has resistance
He makes it clear that it affects us all. So don’t feel like you are unique. We all need to learn to deal with it.
Show up
Steven’s simple advice is to show up every day. The resistance shrinks after repeated efforts.
Consistency helps lessen the impact. So show up and keep going.
Developer Resistance
Where does the resistance show up for developers? There are quite a few but here are some of the most impactful.
Perfect
Have you ever met a clean freak? They want everything spotless.
Code-clean freaks are the same way. Every little issue can cause delays.
We need to remind ourselves to ship. The end of the sprint for a Scrum team is helpful.
Paralysis by analysis
Developers can be analytical people. We can take too long to select a solution.
There may be numerous options but we need to choose one. It helps to create a deadline.
Metric obsession
There are innumerable metrics that programmers use to measure their contribution. I feel many are suspect. Therefore, easily gamed.
A co-worker related a story of a manager who measured lines committed. No surprise the lines committed went through the roof.
Code coverage is another. Some see their unit tests as magical. They strive for 100% code coverage.
It is better to do your job. Complete your story. Don’t worry too much about the metrics.
Yak shaving
We have all done it. Find other tasks to complete before getting to actual work. It was coined a while ago.
yak shaving is what you are doing when you’re doing some
stupid, fiddly little task that bears no obvious relationship to what
you’re supposed to be working on, but yet a chain of twelve causal
relations links what you’re doing to the original meta-task.
So as you get down to work, shave your yak and then get to the real work.
In conclusion, developers need to keep resistance at bay. We must understand that it affects us all. Then show up every day. Consistency is a strong remedy to the resistance.