Whether or not you have worked remotely before, you’ve likely never had to share your “home office” with your partner and two children.

Before quarantine, a study showed that engineers preferred working from home and felt more productive than they were in the office. However, over a month into quarantine, many software developers sharing small spaces are starting to look back at those late nights in the office longingly.

By adopting some realistic tips along with help from supportive employers, developers can regain some focus, return a little bit closer to peak productivity, and achieve a state of mental wellness.

My team at Coderbyte surveyed 150+ software developers to better understand how they were coping with social distancing. The results illustrate how many software developers have more time to code and even work on side projects, but many are also struggling to maintain focus and productivity.

We also interviewed a senior software engineer, Geoff Chin, with a wife and two children under the age of four to understand what it really looks like to shelter in place with two full time working parents.

We captured his reactions to the adrenaline-fueled optimism of tips and tricks from other experts below, and then provide recommendations for employers:

How realistic is it for developers coping with distractions to...

Set a schedule?

Sounds reasonable enough, right? Work is scheduled, school is scheduled, why not quarantine too? Here’s what we learned:

“The first week we were excited to be together. We had every hour blocked off with time for Legos, lunch, outdoors time, arts and crafts just waiting for the department of education to start online classes.

After the first week our schedules quickly broke down. The kids were bored easily, our work schedules didn’t align with the kids’ schedules. And then class started. You think Zoom meetings are bad with adults? They are way worse with kids.”

Since rigid schedules are out of the question, maintain a flexible mindset and split up the day so that one parent is fully available at all times.

Signal to kids when you cannot be interrupted, by using physical separation?

As many articles noted, when space is limited this can be difficult. However, even within a 500 square foot apartment, this family has found “tag-teaming” childcare as the best way to make it work.

“We thought we could work and watch the kids at the same time — not a chance. We invested in proper furniture to set up workspaces at home so my wife and I can tag-team watching the kids.”

Stockpile activities that don’t require adult supervision?

“All activities need a certain amount of adult supervision when your kids are under four.

I talked to my employer and let them know early on that my kids are going to be in meetings. I said, ‘I’ll do my best to mute when I can, but I need to be physically with them during the day.’”

Take time for yourself?

“That’s a hard question,” he said, when asked about carving out time for himself. Geoff said he started trying some “meditation and yoga stuff” in the morning, but that is quickly interrupted by the kids running around.

“Time alone is very difficult right now.”

During Covid-19, supportive leaders can...

Now that you have insight into what it’s like to be a software engineer trying to cope with distractions, how can you show up for your employees knowing the stresses they deal with at home?

Reach out to your people and check up on them.

You might not know if your employee is having a rough time and it can be difficult to reach out, especially right now.

Demonstrate a high level of emotional intelligence. By being proactive you show that you are available to support them. Be the one to ask “How are you, really?”

Allow periods of focused, uninterrupted time for your team to work

Clearly communicate the expectations for the week and encourage time for focused work. Lead by example and block off hours in your schedule for “heads down work,” encouraging your team to do the same.

Paul Graham refers to this working style as the “Maker’s Schedule.” Unlike business stakeholders, developers are far more productive when they limit the amount of context switching throughout the day. Instead of scheduling meetings throughout the day, block off several hours to accomplish work, uninterrupted.

Remote workers are 20% more likely to say they complete all their daily tasks every or most days.

Continue to develop your company culture, remotely

All of the fun happy hours, sports leagues, and clubs you used to offer in person? Find a way to keep them alive online.

This could mean offering a stipend for takeout where everyone can eat lunch together, or a virtual happy hour with a game.

Oftentimes this is the only connection your employees have with their peers beyond meetings. Create opportunities to keep your team’s spirits high.

Give permission to go offline

This might sound obvious, but with increased workloads and high stress working environments, it is difficult for employees to know when to shut off. Give permission for nights and weekends off and encourage time offline.

People who work from home are 17% more likely to leave work “feeling accomplished about what they set out to do”.

As with everything, there are pros and cons to remote working. While adjusting and re-adjusting to a work from home culture, it is important to understand the impact of quarantine and living through a global pandemic.

Unfortunately no amount of guides and resources is going to be able to help your household adjust quite like trial and error. The good news is that you are not alone.

Continue to try different tricks and tips as the situation evolves and keep the lines of communication open with your manager so you can get the support you need. If you suddenly find yourself with more time, consider practicing your coding skills to level up.

If you are an employer, do not be shy to reach out and check in with your team. They need a steady hand and guidance now more than ever.

Make sure to check our guide to remote software development during Covid-19, bookmark our continuously updated article with software development data, and keep testing out different ways to keep building culture and connection to prioritize the mental and physical health of your company.

I, like many programmers (I assume), struggle with focusing and staying on task. Every hour of every day it seems I am being bombarded with texts, emails, messages, tweets, and in-person interruptions. Not to mention all of the blog sites I like to check and the new videos from my favorite YouTubers.

This has become a greater challenge as I consult, travel, and work remotely frequently. Here are some of the ways I have been able to maximize my output vs time efficiency and minimize interruptions.

App/Website Blockers

Staying focused while working on the computer is never easy, but it has gotten ‘easier’ for me by using app and website blocker programs. Right now, I use a Mac for most of my work, and I also travel with one. Thus, some of the app specific information here is for Mac users. I also want to note here that desktop apps are better than browser plugins because they block across all browsers and desktop apps as well (plus if you are an app developer, you probably have enough plugins in your browser already). ?

So here are a few apps to help keep you focused:

• Focus (Mac) - This is the app that I currently use which is Mac only and lets me block any website (on any browser) along with desktop applications. There are also options for me to write scripts inside the app to customize it. Another reason I love this app is that it’s one of the few out there that has a pretty good privacy policy.
• Cold Turkey (Windows) - I have not personally used this one, but it comes recommended and they seem to have a pretty good privacy policy - they use Matomo for analytics instead of Google, and they are very clear about how data is stored and used.
• Freedom (cross-platform) - Please do not use Freedom without reading their privacy policy! They admit in their ‘sharing > general use’ section that they sell personal information to advertisers for profit. And yet, so many people recommend and use this service. Yeah, no thanks.
• Browser Plugins - if you are using Chrome, there are lots of good options like Stay Focused which I used to use before switching to Firefox as my main browser. Firefox doesn’t seem to have anything comparable (Leech Block hasn’t worked for me, but some people like it) though I don’t really need this type of plugin while I’m using my desktop app. I do use exclusively browser-based plugins for Linux though, so I will try to find a better Firefox one again in the future.

I use these types of tools to create a schedule for myself and block out all news, social media, sports, and tech blog sites for most of the day. The Focus app (mentioned above) is nice because I can denote certain break times — sometimes I really do need to look at social to grab some info real quick so this gives me flexibility.

Phone

I used to have so many social apps on my phone. I got rid of them years ago - Facebook, Twitter, and the whole lot. Now I have only educational apps, useful things like maps, and apps for phone calls/SMS/chat.

Because chat and SMS messages are also distracting, I turned off notifications for them. I also turned off the ability to view them from my lock screen. This means I have to be very deliberate in unlocking my phone to look at messages.

I even took this a step further and moved all messaging and phone apps away from my home screen. I have them in folders where I have to swipe over to a new screen and then open the folder to find the app. This has salvaged so much time that I used to spend in mindlessly opening apps. I also blocked any apps/tools from being available on the lock screen. I can only enter my passcode or use the camera.

my home screen; yes, I like Thor :)

Other Tips

• Timers - For especially difficult tasks or ones I just don’t want to do, I just start a timer. Once I’ve been doing it for at least 5 or 10 minutes, then usually I will keep doing it for an hour or more and just get it done. For some reason, timers change my mindset and get me to start things I would otherwise put off until later.
• Schedule Planning - I schedule things monthly, weekly, and daily. If I know what I am doing and what I need to accomplish, I am much more mindful… I also schedule time for specifically checking social media.
• Web Addresses - I don’t use autocomplete in my search bar. I find that if I have to type out the whole web address I am less likely to mindlessly visit social media pages.

I found myself typing in two or three letters of a blog or social site and then it would just pop up. It was too easy. It is harder to use it as a distraction if you have to type out the full URL. Plus you give yourself enough time to consciously change your mind.

Related Reading

These first two are phenomenal books that have changed my life and made me way more focused and productive.

• Getting Things Done - This book hands down changed my life. I was getting really frustrated with my level of productivity before I read this. I cannot recommend it enough. Just an aside: I use Nirvanahq to manage my projects and actions as recommended in the book.
• Deep Work - Excellent book on the how and why of maintaining deep focus.
• 4 Hour Workweek - I also got some ideas about outsourcing and delegating tasks in this book. Using some of these methods has helped me spend more quality time working on important tasks.

Conclusion

I’m not perfect and my methods aren’t either. These are just the things that have helped me. If you have any other suggestions, let me know.

Thanks for reading my article and have a nice day :)