Productivity is Messing Around and Having Fun by Trisha Gee, Holly Cummins

Developers only spend around 32% of their time actually writing code - the rest is spent on other activities like meetings, debugging, and waiting for builds/tests

Joy and productivity are not trade-offs - they reinforce each other. Happy developers are 31% more productive and deliver better quality code

Automating repetitive tasks and “toil” is crucial for both productivity and job satisfaction. Focus on eliminating meaningless, repetitive work

Taking breaks and making space for “boredom” (walks, showers, knitting) activates the brain’s default mode network, which is essential for problem-solving and creativity

Build optimization techniques like caching, parallel test distribution, and predictive test selection can significantly reduce feedback cycles and developer frustration

Measuring productivity purely by activity metrics (lines of code, commits) is problematic and can incentivize the wrong behaviors. Focus on meaningful outcomes

The DORA research shows that job satisfaction is the #1 predictor of organizational performance and team outcomes

Play and experimentation are crucial for creativity and problem-solving - studies show that activities like watching funny videos can increase productivity by 12%

Fixing reliability issues (like flaky tests) has compound benefits - it reduces developer frustration while improving code quality and productivity

AI tools should be used thoughtfully - they’re good at generating code but may produce unnecessary boilerplate that adds maintenance overhead