As a Software Developer, whatever your work profile is, one is frequently required to multitask a lot. Coding the components, writing test cases, team meetings, preparing reports, documenting the work, being up to date with the latest technologies, etc., developers need to work towards developing their skills in all areas.
When one has to do so much, the question of time management is a glaring one. It becomes a great necessity to get everything done in given time, so as to achieve maximum success at work.
Speaking out of my personal experience, here are 6 points that you can follow to increase efficiency and manage time better:
1. Whenever you are assigned some work, plan all the steps to be performed in advance. Even better, write them down as a list. There shall be times when unexpected surprises will come up, but planning in advance ensures a smoother process, saving critical time.
2. Make templates for repetitive tasks like typing. Be it the daily reports, support emails or something else. If you have a template ready, you won’t have to spend time doing the same thing again & again. You’ll only need to fill in the data and you’re sorted.
3. Maintain a document or a repository of frequently used codes, if your team doesn’t already have one. Developers often have to write certain code snippets more than once. One can either make a function or a class for it, name it as per the work it does and save it in the cloud storage or locally, ready for use, so you don’t have to waste time searching for it repeatedly.
4. As much as possible, automate tasks. Tasks like sending reminder emails, sharing weekly reports, etc. can be automated. Let app automation services like IFTTT work for you. For instance, on IFTTT, you can create a task that is to be performed by a particular app at a particular time or whenever it is required. At that time, the change will take place, automatically. One can choose an appropriate tool that suits their case the best.
5. Don’t try to reinvent code snippets, unnecessarily. As a developer, to achieve some common functionalities in your software, there are predefined ways and standards. You just need to follow the path already laid for making some of the common components. This saves time. Innovation is always welcome, but avoid experimenting when you’re short of time.
6. Use your idle time tasks that you can manage normally. Sometimes we wait through downloads, build processes, testing processes, for a dependency to be delivered by a teammate, etc. Tasks of replying to emails, assigning work, studying blogs can be done during this time. There is always a way to utilize free time, find the way to do it for yourself.
Time management, in the present professional world, is more of a survival skill. However, for a software developer, it can make a world of difference. It can even mark the gap between a happy client and the loss of one. I have learnt a lot at Appiness, from seniors and juniors alike. Due to the regular flow of projects and active time limits, the teams here are ever improving and finding new, innovative ways to manage time and increase the speed of project delivery.
