Abstract: Engineers need to get into the zone to be productive and creative, and yet, many companies go out of their way to unwittingly destroy it or introduce arbitrary productivity measures that create the wrong incentives. In this talk we will explore why it is so important to optimize for flow state by looking at all the things that do NOT make us productive, the things that break flow state and hurt developer experience.
Great developer experience (DevEx) is what you get when developers can easily get in and maintain flow state at work. Flow state must be the goal of great DevEx for the following reasons:
It makes developers happier, more creative and far more engaged in their work.
It increases the quality of software delivered by the developers.
BIO: Fernando Villalba has over a decade of miscellaneous IT experience. He started in IT support (“Have you tried turning it on and off?”), veered to become a SysAdmin (“Don’t you dare turn it off”) and later segued into DevOps type of roles (“Destroy and replace!”). He has been a consultant for various multi-billion dollar organizations helping them achieve their highest potential with their DevOps processes.
fernandovillalba.substack.com/