The Habits of Fast Developers

Some developers just seem to fly when things get hectic — when bugs pop up, deadlines tighten, or priorities shift overnight. What’s their secret sauce? In this talk, I’ll share the habits, mindsets, and workflows that help you move fast without cutting corners or sacrificing quality. You’ll learn how to shorten your debug loop, master your IDE, terminal tricks, and build a mental map of your team’s work to avoid reinventing the wheel. We’ll explore why sometimes slowing down to really understand a problem can actually speed you up, and how small automations and smart documentation can multiply your impact. Whether you’re at a scrappy startup or a big company, junior or senior, this session is for anyone who wants to get sharper, stay calm under pressure, and deliver better, faster.

Transcript

1. Sam Jarman @samjarman The Habits of Fast Developers X World + /dev/world 2025
2. The Habits of Fast Developers Sam Jarman • /dev/world 2025 • @samjarman
3. About Me 👨💻 • Engineering Manager at Cochlear • Former iOS Developer • Current on AWS/Backend Node • Originally from Nu Zillind • My 8th /dev/world! • Thoughts are my own • Em-dashes are my own
4. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Today • Why • Mindset and Approach • Mastering Your Tools • Ef f icient Work f low Practices • Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing • Continuous Improvement • Some Words on AI
5. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Disclaimer I’m not perfect at this stuff. I don’t claim to be the fastest developer in the room. What I’ve done is collect a set of habits, tools, and approaches that have made a real difference for me and my teams. Some you may already use, some might be new. The point is to keep adding to your own toolkit, and hopefully you’ll leave today with a few you can put into practice right away.
6. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Why??? • You get more done in the same amount of time • Having the skills to do so when the time calls for it - eg production issues, POCs • Hopefully you get rewarded - bonuses, raises, faster growth etc • It builds a reputation: you get things done • Increase the density of your experience https://www.samjarman.co.nz/blog/on-experience
7. Abraham Lincoln, but possibly others “And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”
8. Sam Jarman “it's not the years in your experience that count. It's the experience in your years.”
9. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 What This Talk is Not About 👎 • Rushing: skipping steps, lowering the bar, compromising, shipping sh*t • Trying to speed run your way to burn out • Trying to make your life miserable and your f ingers tired
10. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 It’s about habits. Good and Bad. They both stack. Every little positive thing you do helps, every little thing you don’t do hurts
11. Mindset and Approach
12. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Develop a Sense of Urgency 🏃 • You’ve got to want to go fast. Develop a bias towards action. • This develops over time, it’s not instant – and takes practice • It will also come and go – good days and bad
13. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Understand the Big Picture of the Business 📊 • What is this business? How does it make money? How does this current task help? Why are we doing it? • This can help with smaller decisions and trade offs across many units of work – and ask good questions! • Look to challenge things that could cost you time - e.g. moving a button
14. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Understand the Big Picture of the Code 🌄 • Step back and learn the big picture of your task • Not just Swift UI - but more declarative languages • Not just Combine - but more events over time, producers, consumers, pipes etc
15. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Slow Down To Speed Up 🐌 • Sometimes, the fastest way forward is to slow down and learn something properly • Don’t just hack away at tasks to get them done – or keep prompting 😉 • Take the time to fully understand what you’re doing, and you’ll move faster in the long run
16. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Two Way Doors 🚪 • It’s software • You can change your mind if you’re wrong • So don’t panic about getting it right the f irst time • Give yourself options to reverse things
17. Mastering Your Tools
18. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Master Your Language 🗣 • Build your muscle memory for typing out code • Practice regularly – beyond the backlog tasks • Write code for practice – seriously.
19. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Use IDE Extensions 🧩 • Find and install extensions that can help you • Practice using them so you naturally reach for them when you need them • Give and ask for recommendations • Set them up for yourself and others in your codebases https://github.com/theswiftdev/awesome-xcode-extensions
20. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Use Terminal Aliases and Dot f iles 🗃 • Create aliases in the terminal for common tasks, such as git, package management, clearing derived data…etc • Use “dot f iles” to store settings you like in your OS and upload them to GitHub • Take them with you, iterate on them https://www.daytona.io/dot f iles/ultimate-guide-to-dot f iles
21. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Learn your IDE 🛠 • Xcode is a powerful IDE and visual editor • Lean into it, learn how to use it and learn how to use it well • Do you know multi-cursor editing? Do you how to restart Xcode? Reset state? Install new simulators? Clear out old ones? Install packages? Bump packages? Jump to de f inition? Use the debugger? Use lldb? Use instruments? Get to documentation fast? Know when things aren’t working right?
22. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Be an Expert In All Your Tools ⛓ • Not just IDE… but also GitHub, Jira, Slack, etc • Just get good at them • Be on the lookout for more tools that can help you save time • Give and ask for recommendations for tools
23. Ef f icient Work f low Practices
24. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Search Documentation Smartly 🔍 • You should understand how Apple organises their Documentation • You should be able to jump to areas you want, using Cmd+F. • Slow down to speed up • Open source tools use same docs frameworks - recognise that and use them • Knowing how to get to the documentation for something from your IDE • Bookmarks, knowing the terms to google, etc • Shorten: Needing the docs → Getting to the docs → Finding the docs you need.
25. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Shorten Your Debug Loop 🔄 • Debug Loop: The time between writing code and knowing if it works • Eg: • Using the simulator over device • Using a unit test over build and run • Build your own tools - a playground f ile, demo app, unit test, etc • Hardcode skipping of login or typing in of login details
26. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Bookmark Everything 🏷 • Websites • Code snippets • cURL/Postman requests • If it’s useful, bookmark it • Mentally bookmark it - practice using your bookmarks. • Organise them effectively in your browser.
27. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Scale Yourself 📈 • Great documentation can do the talking for you • Internal packages, sample code bases, CI pipelines etc • If someone asks you about code that is meant to be shared – you’ve failed • What this talk is doing for me right now – saving a 1:1 conversation with all of you
28. Great documentation does the explaining for you so you can focus on the next thing
29. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Automate Repetitive Tasks 🏧 • Obviously • CLI tooling, scripts, make it easy to share scripts • Does your team have an internal CLI? • The ROI is changing on this with AI generated code • Have an automation hackathon?
30. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Stay Busy 📆 • If you’re blocked - move onto something else • Don’t wait for stand up • Try to have 1-2 backlog tasks on the go at once plus some extra curricular • Your manager will always have something for you
31. Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing
32. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Leverage What Already Exists 👀 • You’re rarely the f irst to solve a problem • Look around: teammates, Slack threads, sprint reviews, other repos • Copy ideas/code — but understand them before reusing • Use existing patterns & architecture to stay consistent • Awareness saves time, effort, and future pain • Eg: How do I make one of those shiny card UIs??
33. My Dad. A lot. “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”
34. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25
35. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Read and Leave Clues 🕵 • Code changes over time → leave breadcrumbs • Small actions matter: Comments, READMEs, Code Patterns • Future-you (or teammate) will thank you • “Read the room” in a codebase: Code structures, Architecture https://www.samjarman.co.nz/blog/codebases
36. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Ask for Help at the Right Time 🙋 • Mastering the timing of when to ask for help is an art – a skill you will build over your career. • Don’t spend hours in the weeds – reach out when you’re stuck • BUT – Pushing through a challenge on your own will lead to valuable learning and potentially make you faster in the future • Continue honing your intuition of when to ask vs when to persevere • Respect the time of others
37. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Document What You’re Learning ✍ • If you’re struggling to learn something – document it • Writing helps retention and gives a reference for later (Is this what I am doing right now?) • Doesn’t have to be a talk - blog post, tweets, tiktoks, even a private diary. • Sharing and teaching can create a great work culture that helps everyone • Lock in the learning – more on this later
38. Continuous Improvement
39. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Practice Makes Perfect ✅ • Side projects, hackathons, working on internals tools can give you more practice • The more you code – the more ef f icient you will become • It’s cliche – but practice makes perfect • There’s always more to be done at work – ask your leader for more work • Extra curricular backlog of practice/low priority tasks
40. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Re f lect Often 🤔 • Re f lect regularly on your work. Re f lect, re f lect, re f lect. Lock in that learning. It will accumulate. • Experience = Sensations + Reflection • Ask yourself (or your leader) some questions: • What was different from last time? • What was the same? • In what other situations would this approach work? • In what situations wouldn’t it work?
41. Get a good keyboard, chair, desk Listen to High Tempo Music Block Out Focus Time Code Snippet Managers Get Noise Cancelling Headphones Pair and Mob Programming Read Blogs/Books
42. Some Words on AI
43. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 AI: It’s early days 🤖 • The LLphant in the room • Has its issues around power consumption, copyright, creativity, etc • Clearly a step-change in technology and perhaps society
44. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 AI: Stay curious 🧐 • Be curious about AI • Install it in your IDE, and even try other IDEs (VS Code, Cursor) for agentic tasks
45. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Develop an intuition of when AI will be good – and when not. Revisit that every few months.
46. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Use AI to accelerate learning, not replace it. Ask it about common knowledge that isn’t yours yet.
47. @samjarman • /dev/world ‘25 Conclusion ❤ • Going faster isn’t about typing faster, it’s about producing faster. • The habits you build today compound for the rest of your career. Good luck!