I find working in isolation, on a piece of code that won't be seen by anyone else for weeks, draining. I'm looking for ideas to try to keep myself productive and motivated.
What do you do to remain motivated and productive, when given a long term programming task, and working on your own (for example, from home, without any team-mates or coworkers)?
Maintain a balance.
Given something novel (e.g. playing a game, having a beer, etc.), we're able to focus and do that one thing for an extended amount of time. The only way to power through a mundane task (without overdosing on coffee) is to maintain a balance. I say 'mundane' because if this were a task you were really passionate about, you wouldn't have meandered to site and asked this question.
Suggestions:
Setting targets is the only way for me to work...
By the end of the hour, I want to have X done. And by lunch I want Y & Z finished. At lunch you review where you have got to, then set new targets. For completing each target, there is a reward; the reward might be a cuppa, or a walk from your desk or 10 mins on stackexchange...
It's clearly better to set achievable targets too - you are after the mental reward of ticking an item of work off your list. It doesn't matter what your target it is, as long as it can usually be achieved within your time window.
Approach it like a programming problem
It is easy to get so caught up in writing code that we separate out the way we solve programming problems from how we solve regular real world problems. But actually the conceptual tools we use to solve programming problems are pretty good for everything.
As a programmer you already have the tools you need to resolve this, it's just a question of applying them.
This is what I think according to me works,
Clearly defining the task at hand: The most important thing here is to write the task down and not to keep it in memory.
Break down into tasks if the single one is huge: Again break it down into tasks and write them down.
Assign a ETA or a deadline: This is really important, and be very strict and disciplined about this. Else you will procrastinate.
Use pomodoro technique for short term focus. And use the interval time for errands and other things like email checking.
Make sure all your focus is on the task at hand. Avoid stray tasks as much as you can.
Once you finish a task, mark it complete also a keep a track of the time you started and time you finished. Keep log of things that you did solve something special while executing a task.
Once you have finished executing the task, Decide the Next step.
Make this data tabular. All this is there in David Allen's Getting things done.
A few more important things.
Remember:
Taking the next step is important. If you have a next step for each task your task opportunities grow linearly and if they they lead to more than one next step the task opportunities grow exponentially.
Indeed as Sun Tzu said : Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Summing it all up:
Follow this religiously.
I find that having peers who are willing to share your thoughts on whatever you're working on helpful. There's never been an entire problem I've worked on alone that hasn't benefited from being discussed with others.
Ask a senior or a friend if they can spare any time to peer review your code. If you can pair through the review, even better!
You may also find it helpful to blog about your coding experiences. I'm sure there are things you've learned or are practising (TDD for example) during this long period, or ideas about how you've done something and wondering if it could have been done better.
I'm working on a small project that is going to end up getting over-engineered. Nobody else really cares, but I'm trying to stretch my skills. I'm reading a book on refactoring, so I'd like to apply as many of the practices as I can. I'm not in a time crunch. As the lone programmer, no one is going to look at my code (not anyone who could understand it but the occasional visitor to my cube can get a glimpse.) I made a prototype and did a demo. I'm looking forward to the change requests.
Although I'm motivated to get things done, I prefer a good challenge as well.
I've done this on a few projects. I find the best way to keep motivated it to make myself accountable.
Even if no one is going to be looking at my code or what I'm doing, I still make it a priority to talk with either my supervisor, boss, or the PM and let them know where I'm at and what I plan on finishing by the end of the week. It takes 5min to run through it with them, and I've been told by a few PMs that it's really helpful to them as well.
For me it sets a goal, and a soft deadline that I want to meet. For the PM it lets them know where I'm at on the task and gives them time give their input.
If you can't do it face to face, fire off a short email. It's all about making yourself accountable for your tasks.
Also, try breaking a very large job down into small manageable and measurable tasks. Use a ticket tracking system and assign yourself tickets. This way you can manage how you're doing and keep yourself accountable for all the tasks you have to do.
Good music for programming (techno, trance) helps, keeping me pumped up when not in the mood or when working on parts of the software I'm not particularly thrilled about.
