The best way to survive in today’s competitive market is to cut down superfluous work and concentrate all workforces on what is needed. Many a times clients fail to communicate their precise needs and this results in wastage of valuable time and resources. In this dog eat dog world people do not have time to go back and correct their booboos. This is the norm for the software developers who literally live in their workstations to meet client deadlines.
A very recent study shows that a 20 percent growth in global productivity levels of software developers could lead to an expansion worth 90 billion dollars in the 21st century. So today we are here to help you master the art of software development and maximum utilization of your potential to become a master programmer.
1. Let’s get started by measuring your productivity levels
What are the 5 tips of a productive developer?
Very simply speaking, you cannot improve what you cannot quantify. Just like any other measure of efficiency or productivity, the two fundamental parameters of productivity for software developers are comprised of input and output.
The easiest process used by master developers to measure productivity is by the application of a very simple formula,
Productivity = Total Software Program Output/ Total Software Program Input
Usually, inflation, singular values for both input and output and market dependent revenue generate problems in accurate calculation of current productivity levels. The most common input measures are money and person-hours. The most commonly used output parameters used in the productivity equation include Source Line of Code or SLOC and Function Point Analysis.
2. Get ready to understand where you may be wasting your resources
6 Visual Studio Tips to Increase Your Productivity
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Overproduction: this is a fairly simple point. Overproduction refers to the unnecessary creation of multiple elements due to lack of communication between clients and developers.
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Over-processing: do away with the extra rounds of redundant testing. These steps might seem light-weight, but trust our expert opinion; these redundant tests take up a lot of your time.
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Too much information: most software developers are overworked and tired more than we would like to admit. As a result they spend a lot of unnecessary time gathering redundant data. This wastes a lot of resources in addition to time and yields fewer positive results.
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Unexpected delays: waiting for sign-offs and responses cause a lot of delays. Multiple times derivatives from previous steps get carried over due to lack of proper communication between customer and developer. As a matter of fact, seemingly trivial issues like slow typing speed and less than sufficient hardware configurations often lead to unwarranted delays in the software development procedure.
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Transfer of information: transfer or transport of the project may take up a longer than usual time due to lack of efficient connection and hardware configuration. This incurs delays which are unaccountable and also compromises the quality of the work. Lags in the transportation process causes less than optimum productivity.
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Errors: failure may be the pillar of success, but that is not at all true in the field of software development. Rework takes a heavy toll on the project quality and the pace of production. This creates trouble in integration of the data from different teams and causes reassignment of maximum available sources in fixing bugs rather than creating new programs. To minimize time spent in this area, invest in some bug tracking software that will identify all potential problems so they may be resolved as quickly as possible.
3. Steer your productivity in a positive direction
24 Quick Tips to Boost Your Career as a Software Engineer, This Year
The next step is to understand what drives your productivity in a positive direction. This list will help you enlist your qualities as a software developer and will also help you to focus on specific areas which need to be worked on.
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Optimization: this is one of the simplest process but also one of the most extensive. Optimization essentially means the analysis of all activities and categorizing them as absolutely necessary and superfluous for your immediate project. This process will definitely help you remove all sorts of non-value added tasks.
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Create an positive environment: environment is a very important factor when it comes to optimum productivity. So before starting on a new project you need to recheck the work infrastructure and ambiance. This will further decrease the chances of moving the infrastructure while the development is on.
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Shortlist your requirements: when you start out as a software developer you may have difficulty in understanding exactly what is being asked for. This is especially true in case of clients who do not regularly communicate with the software developers. So before starting out on your next new project makes sure you have all your customer’s requirements jotted down and verified. This will leave minimum room for assumptions and reconstructions.
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Automate: this is the new mantra of all software developers. Automate everything under the sun. From your daily quota of work to your carb intake you need to automate everything in detail. This saves a lot of time in archiving and also gives you instant access to all information related to your projects, their progress, deadlines and delivery schedule.
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Reusability: this is one quality of programs that saves a lot of precious resources. When you become a seasoned programmer you gradually understand the inclination of the market demand. A few software programs recur throughout the market with very few variations. You can actually use the same program for multiple clients (just like templates) with a few modifications to add unique elements to the end product.
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Knowledge database: this is something every company should have irrespective of the size of their employee strength and client’s list. This knowledge database should be accessible to all employees, should have an easy to understand indexing system and it should not archive any non-usable or unnecessary information.
4. It’s time to move forward
Must-See Tech Talks for Every Programmer
Once you have eliminated all the tasks which squander your resources and strengthened all the qualities which potentiate the programming procedure it is definitely time to move forward to the actual creative process. All companies and their employees must understand the value of logic and reasoning in their decision making procedures. This will help in elimination of wasteful activities.