More Flow, Less Overtime

Managers of software teams have long battled with an interesting conundrum.

Our people seem to be working longer and yet projects still keep getting delayed.

According to positive psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, it all boils down to a concept called Flow. We experience a Flow state when we are completely and wholeheartedly immersed in an activity. It is not unusual for those that have experienced a Flow state to be surprised at how much time flew by while they were engrossed in an activity. Furthermore, workers that regularly achieve a state of Flow at work report better job satisfaction.

We experience a Flow state when we are completely and wholeheartedly immersed in an activity

Most of the work we do in technology is knowledge work.  Knowledge work requires concentration and concentration requires focus. We can safely assume that engineers are at their most productive and creative while in a state of Flow.  Flow is good for our teams and certainly great for the project timelines.

However many offices are not engineered for enabling Flow. Interruption from colleagues, phone calls, emails and other distractions are some of the many factors that limit the ability of our teams to experience Flow. It’s little wonder why the rate of productivity is not increasing in line with longer working hours.

We can safely assume that engineers are at their most productive and creative while in a state of Flow

In the book Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, the authors (Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister) presented the results of a study designed by the architect Gerald McCue to research into the work habits of IBM employees. Although the main purpose of the study was to help design better workspaces for IBM employees, nevertheless, the results provide key insights into the working practices of software engineers.

This result shows that software engineers have a limited window during their workday to achieve a state of Flow. And of course, there are still other distractions like phone calls and emails that could possibly limit this window further.

This research should ideally help shape the perspectives of managers.  Rather than finding ways to stretch the workday of teams, managers should ideally focus on how to engineer longer periods of flow within the workday.

…result shows that software engineers have a limited window during their workday to achieve a state of Flow

Understanding your team’s work practices

Before going around changing things around, managers need to first of all understand their team’s work habits.  This data can be generated by conducting an anonymous survey among the team over the course of two weeks.

The survey should ideally cover the following questions

1.    How many hours did you spend in meetings today?

2.    How many hours did you spend working alone today?

3.    How many hours did you spend on the phone today?

4.    How many hours did you spend on emails today?

5.    How long was your break today?

6.    How many hours did you spend collaborating with others today?

Team members hours should be encouraged to complete this survey at the end of each day over the two week period.  I must iterate that it is the survey is run anonymously so no one is obliged to embellish numbers. Once the result of the data is in, it will immediately become obvious which areas managers need to focus on.

 …managers have a lot of control over the structure of the work environment in enabling flow.

Triggering Flow in Teams

Individuals within teams are different and managers have limited control on how each individual can be triggered into a state of flow. However managers have a lot of control over the structure of the work environment in enabling flow.

Establishing Quiet Zones

Many University libraries have areas that are designated quiet zones. In quiet zones, visitors are not permitted to talk, converse or make noise. The idea behind the quiet zones is to have special areas where people can go to concentrate without external distractions.

The concept of Quiet Zones can also be applied to the work environment. The current trend is to have open plan offices, but open plan offices are a nightmare for achieving flow.  Managers should consider designating certain areas of the office as quiet zones. This may be a conference room or an unused office space, but it should be clearly communicated to the team which areas have been designated quiet zones.   Such Quiet zones will give software engineers a place to go for focusing and achieving flow.

Home Working

Traditionally, working from home has been preferred by those that need to focus outside the distractions of the office environment.  Furthermore, the time saved from commuting to and from work can be used more productively.

A high number of organisations in Nigeria really struggled to imbibe the remote working culture however, the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown has forced many organisations to rethink the work environment.   And the results do speak for themselves. At our last virtual town hall at Cousant, all of our software engineers reported significant increases in productivity while stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

…all of our software engineers reported significant increases in productivity while stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zero Interruption Periods

Managers can also consider introducing the concept of Zero Interruption Periods (ZIP) during the workday.  During the ZIP, team members are not allowed to schedule meetings, attend meetings or take calls. Team members that need to interact during ZIP should be encouraged to use instant messaging platforms like Slack or Skype.  Essentially during ZIP, the office becomes one big Quiet Zone.

A note of warning here – ZIP should only be adopted for short term periods of time like when a team has a deadline looming.   It should never be adopted as permanent practice in any organisation.  Organisations hire the best people possible and should not be expected to micromanage how these professionals spend their workday.  However, most people will understand if such measures are put in place to help meet a deadline or milestone.

Employees that achieve flow usually leave the office with a real sense of achievement and fulfilment. The regularly software engineers feel this sense of achievement, the higher their job satisfaction.

Employees that achieve flow usually leave the office with a real sense of achievement and fulfilment.   The regularly software engineers feel this sense of achievement, the higher their job satisfaction. As such, it is important for organisations to continually search for ways to ensure their teams achieve flow more often and much longer.