Short Reads: Optimizing time for Software Engineers

As Engineers, we are always looking to optimize our environment. Whether it’s the codebases we work on, our IDE plugins and settings, or our platforms.

Optimization is something we all love to do. But why do so many of us ignore one of the most important things to optimize? Time.

Time management is an area many Engineers struggle to master.

I am constantly focused on organizing my time and spending my day on what matters.

And my approach changes as the environment around me changes. It’s constantly evolving as my work environment changes.

But I’ll share a few things that I’ve found work for me and are consistent.

🪣 Create buckets of time for certain activities

My calendar is split into several buckets throughout the day and week. There are buckets of time for meetings, buckets of time for 1:1 mentoring sessions, and buckets of time for coding.

By grouping similar activities, you can stay “in the zone” and reduce context switching between hands-on engineering tasks and discussions or decisions.

😵‍💫 Don’t make buckets too large

With hands-on Engineering time, I like to have two buckets in a day: a 1-hour bucket where I can focus on small or quick tasks and a 2 to 3-hour bucket where I can focus on more substantial tasks.

I like to feel like I’ve accomplished something each day; the 1-hour bucket gives me that.

I also know that if I have too much time to work on something, I will get writer’s block or be distracted. So, I limit my engineering time to 3 hours per session.

Sometimes, I break this limit, but those are special days when I ignore everything else and have a mission.

✋ Set boundaries for your time

The day is full of distractions; force distractions into the appropriate time buckets. The only exceptions to this are your boss, production issues, and other engineers who need help. Always make time for those three.

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